By G.M. Gates ~

What if Christianity is lying about the Bible? What if the original Bible in Hebrew was manipulated by the Church? What if the Old Testament was still being still being changed, hundreds of years after the life of Jesus? What if your pastor knows this but won’t tell you, because he’d lose his job?

When I was attending seminary, I heard a joke that went like this:

What do you call someone with a Master’s of Divinity? Answer: an atheist.

While this is a joke, I had to wonder how true it was. Are there pastors, preaching in the pulpit, who no longer believe in the faith of their youth, but they feel like they can’t escape?

Put yourself in their position. Could you imagine what it’s like to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a degree in theology, only to discover that the true history of the bible is distorted? What would this do to someone? What would they think?

First off, they probably can’t tell anyone. They’d be alienated from people they love. They’d also be destroying numerous people’s only source of hope and inspiration. They’d be alone.

If you’re a pastor and you read this, I sympathize with you.

But this article isn’t addressed to pastors. It’s for the person sitting in the pews.

I don’t really know how to tell you this, but your pastor is probably lying to you; and they feel like they have no choice, because the church is their paycheck.

So I am here to tell you what they can’t or won’t tell you.

Here it goes….

The original Jewish Bible (aka the “Old Testament” by Christians) was written in Hebrew. The Christian Old Testament was written in Greek by Hellenistic Jews. These writers produced The Greek Septuagint. It was influenced by the Greco Roman world, more than it was influenced by the Jewish world.

Now, a well informed Christian will tell you that the Greek Septuagint is a reliable Bible. It was written in the second century B.C.E. However, this is misleading.

The original Septuagint was the first five books of the Bible only. These were the books written in the second century B.C.E.. It included Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy alone.

A fairly informed Christian will disagree with this. But they are sincerely wrong.

The church is lying. And many Christian theologians are involved in the coverup.The Christian church added other books to the Septuagint, and edited them, up until the fourth century of the common era. It was still being revised by Lucian of Antioch after the life of Jesus of Nazareth!!!!

So if it was being edited, just how edited was it?

Tell your Christian friend to grab a bible. Tell them to read Zachariah chapter 12 verse 10.

Now, here it is in the Jewish Bible:

“And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplications. And they shall look to me because of those who have been thrust through [with swords], and they shall mourn over it as one mourns over an only son and shall be in bitterness, therefore, as one is embittered over a firstborn son.”

Here it is in the Christian Bible:

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that the Christian church deliberately added to the passage, and did this intentionally.

If they changed it here, where else has it been changed?

I could continue, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll stop here. I encourage you to research this for yourself.

The church is lying. And many Christian theologians are involved in the coverup.

Please share this article with someone who may benefit from this information.

Expose the church’s deception!

By Jason7 ~

Recovering x-Christian here. Struggling spiritually.

My life used to revolve around church. All my friends were from the church. My ex-wife & 4 kids were all heavily involved with the church. We were there every Sunday. We took my kids there for Wednesday night children's church. My family & I lived in a carefully constructed, sheltered Christian bubble.

My life revolved around the Bible & I taught my family that it was 100% truth. We listened to Christian music & frowned on secular music with its cuss words & loose morality. We didn't smoke. we didn't openly cuss. We surrounded ourselves with like-minded Christians & had no non-Christian friends.

We thought of ourselves as Holy & set apart by God to be his light in the world & to spread his love.

However, underneath my outer Christian shell was a soul that was struggling intensely.

I started questioning things that didn't make sense about my religion & God himself. I asked myself & others why God would allow evil in the world. I watched a documentary about modern day sexual slavery. At that present time, there were brothels in Cambodia filled with children as young as 3 who were being sexually tortured & raped every day. I became so angry that God would allow things like that to happen to innocent children.

I started thinking that God wasn't such a loving God after all. When I voiced my doubts & struggles with Christianity to my family members, I was frowned upon & considered less spiritual than my undoubting family. They didn't question anything about the church, or the bible, at least openly.

Most Sundays after church my in-laws would say what a great sermon it was, how it moved them emotionally & spiritually. They would say "that was such a good sermon, wasn't it"? I would say that I didn't get much out of it & they would frown & act as though I was troubled or less spiritual than they were.

I feel somewhat lost spiritually. Eventually I had a crisis in my faith that was unreconcilable. The chasm between what the bible taught & my real-life experiences had grown too wide to bridge back together.

Fast forward many years...

I now consider myself a non-Christian. I believe in the Universe & karma. I am open spiritually, however, I am struggling. There is now a hole in my soul. That hole used to be filled at least in part, with Christianity, the church & my church friends.

I feel somewhat lost spiritually.

I used to read the bible every day. It gave me a sense of security & made me feel somewhat grounded. Now I read very little of anything. I wish I could pick up a book everyday & be led spiritually by it, like I used to believe the bible did, but I don't know if anything like that exists.

Can anyone help me?

“You are under spiritual attack! The devil is whispering in your ear. These doubts are all lies!”

Oddly enough, other religions use the devil as an excuse too when members start questioning their religion. It’s also the devil when you start questioning the doctrines of the church you go to. Where do these questions and doubts come from? From a place of honest inquiry and desire to know the truth? Or are spirits and ghosts telling you that your faith and holy book is irrational?

You have yet to demonstrate that demons and the devil exist. When people attempt to prove this, they always have stories lined up about “demonic oppression.” When pressed for these stories, they usually come back to the source of 1. Someone had scary dreams or sleep paralysis. 2. The person was “lost” at the time, but was conveniently was under the influence of hallucinating drugs. 3. They knew of someone who got possessed, which more than likely had a mental disease. I had someone who worked at a mental facility say “it’s interesting how all these ‘demon possessed’ people seem to improve after medication.” 4. They will attribute arbitrary life experiences to demons: just like they do to God. Most have perfectly natural explanations. (We all know that one lady who blames demons for everything!)

In Mark 9:17-27, there is a story about a supposed demonic possession in the Bible. One main aspect of Jesus’ ministry was casting out demons. Demon possession, so it seems, was a relatively common occurrence in those days. Demon possession was also super common in the hundreds and of years after that. There were so many reports of possessions and exorcists that you will lose count of them! Oddly enough, reports of demon possession started to dwindle as our understanding of mental illness increased.

It seems rather odd that the descriptions of the demon possession in the Bible seem to fit with someone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. 

Thought: Why does the occurrence of demonic possessions seem to decrease with our ability to scientifically investigate? 

Demon possessed people were a dime a dozen back in the day, but when is the last time you encountered someone who you knew was demon possessed? I can’t think of a time.

It might be stated that demons don’t act in that way any more. Instead of frothing at the mouth, the demons have “revised” their manifestations to being vague things like: 

• I feel spiritual oppression, 
• I am having doubts, 
• I have a desire to sin, 
• I am interested in why evolution makes sense, 
• I am starting to notice problems in the Bible.

These things must be demonic oppression! Or do they have to be? It seems that every vivid supernatural event that has occurred took place in the distant past, safe from any sort of inspection or test to prove authenticity. What we see today is always toned down, a lot more vague, and requires a lot more imagination to be true: a mere shadow of what is described in the Bible. If “the supernatural” is real, it seems to be manifesting itself in a way which is fully consistent with completely natural occurrences. Instead of a possessed person flailing on the ground, a possessed person now just “denies God,” or “makes convincing lies about the Bible,” or “sings songs about the devil.” Demon possession is simply just not really brought up in church anymore. Why is this? Is it because there is no good way to determine if a person is possessed or not? What is the difference between demon possession and demonic oppression? How do we even tell if someone is being oppressed?

Isn’t it remarkable that nearly every proposed encounter with the devil or demons occurs when consciousness or perception is altered? Seemingly, every time some gets “spiritually attacked,” it’s either while they are in and out of sleep, messing with drugs, or it’s dark outside. You really never hear stories of someone seeing demons walking down the street in the middle of the day while in their right mind. What’s the deal?

Are the demons afraid of photons?

Can demons access your brains to put scary images there?

Are demons scared of meds that makes a crazy person sane?

Do demons attack when someone does hallucinogenic drugs?

What’s more likely: the previous thoughts, or that demons and the devil are figments of our imagination. This would be consistent on why certain people have “spiritual experiences” and other just don’t have any. It’s as simple as: some people are mentally prone to have these hallucinations/ dreams, and others are not.

Lastly, the devil and demons and hell are all very powerful tools that are utilized by religion to keep people from questioning their beliefs.

What happens when a person starts to question the Bible? There is an automatic accusation that demons or the devil are involved. A “seducing Spirit” is used to explain doubts of Christianity.

One of the reasons I am no longer a Christian is the double standard that is set for other religions. They are able to recognize the false aspects of another religion, but justify the SAME exact aspect that is also found in Christianity. They are able to recognize child indoctrination in other religions, but it becomes “Training up a child in the way he should go” when Christians indoctrinate their children. Atrocities and murders committed by Muslims and Catholics are automatic proof of the falsehood of that religion, but atrocities and murders committed by the Israelites in the name of God is okay because “God has good reasons for it that we may not understand.”

Regarding doubting and questioning beliefs, the double standard continues. When a Muslim or Mormon starts to question their beliefs, the Christian cheers them on! “Yes! Keep doubting! Keep searching for problems in the Book of Mormon! You will find that it is false!!” The Mormons will bemoan the fact that another Mormon is “questioning the truth.” The other Mormons say: It MUST be that the devil or demons are putting lies in his head!

However when a Christian starts doubting the Bible, the tables are turned: “No! Don’t doubt! Don’t keep questioning! Don’t keep searching for problems in the Bible! The devil is tempting you! Don’t fall for it!” It is the same exact threat Mormons and Muslims use.

Literally every religion or cult uses the unfounded threat of the devil and demons to scare members that are questioning the religion. We know for certain that, in fact, no devil or demons are tempting ANYONE to leave Mormonism. It is Mormons just trying to justify why anyone would leave what they perceive as “The Truth.” We can see, clearly, that demons and the devil is just a scare tactic that is used to keep -otherwise reasonable and rational people- believing an irrational religion.

The blinders come on when Christians use the same exact tactics to keep members believing their religion. Now questioning and doubting are bad things.

An objection might be made that “The devil is a mime: he mimics the truth, but changes it just enough to where people believe lies instead of truth.”

This sounds great to reassure someone in their already-held belief, but the observer outside of that belief can see this excuse was just pulled out of their rear end with no evidence whatsoever! They also see that other religions use this excuse as to why Christianity is similar to THEIR religion. According to them, the devil influenced Christianity. What mechanism do we have to determine who is right? It appears we have no such reliable mechanism: it just comes down to each group finger pointing at the other, and claiming the other group is being used by the devil. The casual observer who does not hold either belief can clearly see that the similarities between the two beliefs are because the two beliefs are just both adapted and modified versions of another similar religion. It is no secret that all religions are influenced by, and borrow from, nearby religions: Christianity included. Each newer belief branches off from an older, previously held belief. It is no surprise when two closely related religions have similarities and differences. No “deception of the Devil” reason is needed.

The devil works in mysterious ways indeed. It appears there is no good reason to worry that a literal devil is out there running around trying to deceive people. It appears the only way in which demons manifest themselves - after science has destroyed the myth of going crazy due to demon possession - is just tempting people to leave their religion, or tempting people to sin.

The way the devil and demons behave in the modern day is indiscernible from how the world would appear with no demons and no devil.

The automatic counter would be: “Aha! You see, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing the world he does not exist.”

“The greatest trick the leprechauns pulled is convincing the world they do not exist.” — austinrohmHowever, we have no way to tell the difference between a Devil who just wants to remain hidden and appears hidden, and a Devil that just does not exist. Both would appear exactly the same. I could say: “The greatest trick the leprechauns pulled is convincing the world they do not exist.” I could use the same reasoning for leprechauns as a Christian does the for the Devil: yet both have the same caliber of evidence.

Stop letting other Christians intimidate you with unprovable threats of mythical creatures such as demons. Demons are no more real than a centaur or unicorn. The moment you stop fearing demons is the moment you notice that things in life- like unfortunate circumstances, losses in the family, cars breaking down, night terrors, bad dreams, thoughts of self-harm, and other aspects life - are just that: life. Life happens to all of us. And better to go talk with a professional who can actually HELP you with these issues than ask for prayer for the demons to stop op pressing you.

There are no demons; there is no such thing as The Devil. There is no spells, magic, curses, possessions, or demonic oppression. Giving up these beliefs is super odd at first, but give it time. When enough time passes, and you view life through a demon-less perspective, the idea of scary invisible monsters meddling with your life becomes a little far-fetched, and frankly absurd.

Time to toss these ideas in the same trash can as we put superstition, fairies, and leprechauns in long ago. Time to stop being afraid of demons and devils that just simply do not exist.

First of all, what a kick in the face to the countless people who are starving, homeless, died at younger ages than I am now, etc. Second of all, her little lecture was exactly like defending an abusive parent, because even though an abusive parent may do things to their kid/s like assault, molest, insult, etc., but at least they allow them to sleep under the same roof and eat from the same kitchen. 🙄 My sister just doesn't get it, not that any Christian does.

She apologized (although probably fake) for yelling at me, but I still needed some time away from her for the rest of the evening. I've spent some time with her since then and it's been better, but that incident of her snapping at me the way she did still lingers in my mind. Granted, I suppose I should've chosen my wording better (LOL), but on the other hand after all these years she should know better than to yell and/or snap at me like that.

My sister was living with our mom and stepdad at the time. Remembering her quote "This is a Christian home, we don't cross that line!," part of me wants to ask her "But were you the head of your Christian home?"

Now I'm once again on the verge of having no communication with her, in any form. Which would be a bigger challenge now that I'm back in my home state.

PS - Does this story remind anyone else of "God" commanding us to love him more than our family, and of Jesus stating he came to turn family members against each other?

I'm married to a Christian woman. We've been married for over 26 years now. I'm just now asking myself how she puts up with my outspokenness. Our relationship began when she responded to my description of myself in a "Personals" column she read in the newspaper. She said all the guys mentioned their physiques and/or money, stuff like that, but she liked my frankness. (She forgot I also mentioned, "Tired of Platonic relationships.") The second night we went out together, I told her, "I'm not a Christian," knowing that was important to her. She answered that she didn't consider it a problem. After we were married, I'd attend church services with her, and remembered after one of them, saying, "These people act as if they really believe this." Attendance with her went on for years, and since we moved, this meant two or more congregations, until she settled for one in particular. Even then, after one service, I told her, "They're only telling each other stuff."

Years later, I had to break the news: I wouldn't go to church anymore. She was disappointed, even when I explained why I attended when I felt that way, and I said it was to be with her, that's all. I added that attending was making me physically ill. After then, I'd drop her off at the church, and go meet up with my freethinking friend. I'm thinking this was 15 years ago. And still, I make biting comments about religious claims when they appear on the news; she says nothing.

Just this morning, she was watching Fox news. They made a big deal about the coach prayers before football games, and I told her how stupid that is! “Do you think a god who ignores the prayers of children as they are being raped in sacristies cares about helping a team win a football game?"

Let's face it: Religions depend on constantly repeating and adapting their lies – for centuries. A chief component of tradition- indoctrination consists of merely repeating memories of people, places, and stories that never happened. Experiences as a result of believing some things do not mean they are true at all. (My brother had nightmares after watching the bad witch in the Wizard of Oz. That didn't make witches real.) Even ordinary memories can't be depended on to be accurate, though hindsight can be enlightening, Take a deep breath and think about this: Casey Stengel said, "You can see a lot if you observe." You can hear a lot if you really listen.

I'm thinking about the religious rituals I was, we are, exposed to when repeated B.S. incantations are accepted as enlightened knowledge. I'm talking about rituals of litanies, and how substituting new ones for them can lead to mental and psychological freedom.

Let's think about how repeating blind beliefs maintains and reinforces bullshit. Learning by rote is the foundation of religious and political indoctrination. Learning by rote doesn't mean the learner understands or thinks about what is "learned," Usually it involves merely repeating the words teacher expects to hear! Religions are much more interested in the psychology of human beings than in doctrines. Religions know humans like to take the easy road, accept easy answers that aren't answers, and learn without thinking or questioning what's being taught. Belief is cheap, thinking is not gratis like "grace;" it's costly to think for oneself, personally and socially.

Let's face it: Religions depend on constantly repeating and adapting their liesIt's in the DNA of every god's speakers to convince their trusting followers to believe nonsense, even going so far as to exploit their personal agonies resulting whenever "God-enabled" tragedies happen. My beloved wife would say, "Shame on them." But apparently, they have no sense of shame. Has lying to others and themselves become so habitual, they don't pay attention to what they're saying? In my experiences with them, it has.

Is there a way out of the religious labyrinth, the squeezing maze, the never-learning-from-experience pattern of repeating habits? Maybe there is a solution. We're raised in a society where some things are habitual and accepted - not arrived at by logic or seriously thought about. To deal with amens and litanies, we have to observe and listen, and learn to consider the opposite of what they tell us. They are often lies and fables passed down through millennia, learned by repetition! Those amens, slogans, and litanies, are repeated so often they become "truths" though there's no evidence for them. Constantly repeating those unthought about cliché’s short-circuits the brain's ability to think, to observe, to question. Since "What can be asserted without evidence can be denied without evidence" is true, why not use denial to assert knowledge over blind beliefs? Do it.

My proposal: counters creeds with chants, with Litanies of Facts, using laughter and "That's Nonsense!" or "Is not so" whenever religious amens and claims to truth pop up. Keep repeating to yourself "god is not good, is indifferent and absent, god is not great" or powerful, because... and give examples to yourself why you've found these to be true, and if you feel like it, repeat them to those proclaiming the opposite. As you do, meditate about them. Maybe someone else will think about what he or she suspected, doubted, but feared to say themselves. Saying "That's stupid!" or LOL-ing the ridiculousness of beliefs may not change what believers claim to believe, but you'd be surprised how much freedom of mind you and they will have, just by repeating mantras of thinking and reasserting. Enjoy the feeling.