Thursday, February 5, 2009

PHARISEEING IS BELIEVING

For among Judeans there are three forms of philosophy.
Now Pharisees are one sect, Sadducees another,
But in fact the third, called Essenes, seems to be the most reverential discipline.
- Josephus, Jewish War 2.119

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns.
-Charlotte Bronte

***

PHARISEEING IS BELIEVING

Jesus warned people of Pharisees in the Bible, often speaking of them in a negative light. But what was it about them specifically that He found so offensive? He was actually quite clear on the matter:

***

Luke 18 (King James Version)
1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
2Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
3And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
4And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
5Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
6And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
7And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
9And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

***

Luke 11:37-54 (King James Version)
37And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
38And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
39And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness
40Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
41But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
42But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
43Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
44Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

***

Matthew 23 (King James Version)
1Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
3All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

***

So while the actual term “Pharisee” merely refers to a Jewish sect, when Jesus spoke of that sect in a negative light what part of being a Pharisee was he talking about? What common discerning features of the Pharisees seemed to really annoy Jesus?

In the first story it is plain that Jesus is pointing out how the Pharisee was too proud and thought himself superior to the lowly Publican. This is made especially clear in the last line: “for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

In the second story Jesus openly rants against Pharisee *hypocrisy.* He even uses the exact word, calling them “hypocrites!” with an exclamation point. He also speaks of their egotism throughout.

In the third similar example from Matthew again we see the phrase “12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” But we also have “13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” And many additional cries of “hypocrites!” to be found throughout.

I’m sorry that my “Luke’s” are out of order. I hope it’s not a sin or anything.

So what are our common denominators here? What is it about the Pharisees of His day that Jesus found so personally repellant?

Going by the Bible, the only source available, we would have to conclude that it’s a mixture of hypocrisy, egotism, and pride.

Now, I’ve spoken of the evils of Pride before. How subtle a sin it is. How the proud are never aware that they are the proud, and think of themselves as the humble. They’re even proud of being humble, ironically enough. And excessive pride naturally begets hypocrisy. So they do go rather hand-in-hand, is the point.

In order to really excel at being a modern Pharisee one has only to be proud of their religion, and how righteous belonging to it makes them, how much less sinful than those *other* people they are.

Speaking incessantly (and proudly) of Jesus and His path of love and inclusion and yet living the opposite one of pride and exclusion is in my opinion the defining hypocrisy of the modern Pharisee.

Judging others when you yourself are lacking is another distinctive feature.

To call one’s self a Christian requires nothing. But to actually be a Christian, you have to follow the path of Jesus Christ. And that path is the narrow path of love. Of loving all others, no matter how different they are, no matter what you think of their way of life, no matter how sinful they look to you.

Because it’s not our place to judge.

I’ve never been against the path of Jesus Christ. It’s a good path. One of the very best, in fact. There’s nothing better than all-inclusive love. Jesus is more than just all right by me.

It would seem however that the path of the Pharisee is much more popular nowadays.

The wide, easy path. The one that goes in a spiritual circle.

People are weak. The path of Christ is the difficult path, so it’s no wonder that so few Christians are capable of following it.

I wish they’d at least realize that they’ve strayed from it, but the pride keeps them blind to that forever.

For the ignorant are always ignorant enough not to be able to see that they’re ignorant, and the proud are always proud enough not to be able to see that they’re proud.

Such is the nature of human folly.

So to any Christians reading this: If you’re a proud Christian that feels that people of other faiths (or none at all) are somehow inferior…

Congratulations! You just might be a Pharisee!

54 comments:

  1. 9And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
    -----------------
    Oh, and in addition to talking of Pharisees, that Bible quote seems to say that calling a priest "Father" is against God.
    Interesting...
    Did no one tell the Church of this?

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  2. Also, it seems to me that the word "Pharisee" (in it's negative connotations) is a synonym to my own word "Hypochrist" that I used to use so often...
    Same basic meaning.

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  3. Like all things the lessons in the Bible are a double edged sword: one can chose to seek guiding principles in the pursuit of spiritual fulfillment or one can seek excuses that rationalize ungodly behavior.

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  4. Yes Pliny.

    When one sees contradictories in the Bible such as the brutality of Leviticus or the Bible's seeming approval of slavery, alongside of Jesus' "Love thy neighbor," one should have enough common sense to *choose* the one that Jesus said, the one that is love-related and not punishment-related, no? But the believers have to somehow accept it all as true, even though the two ideas are mutually exclusive.

    Forcing the believer to accept opposite and mutually exclusive statements side-by-side on faith alone is how they begin to disassemble the believer's ability to descriminate what is real and what is not. A necessary first step in the programming. "Clear the Mechanism," to quote "The Manchurian Candidate."

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  5. Another great example of this is "God is Love, but if you don't believe in him with no questions asked He'll punish you with eternal agony"

    No loving being would ever do such an insane, sadistic thing of course. So by forcing the believer to accept that (unacceptable) duality, the psychosis is established.

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  6. And if you've been force-fed the idea all your life that you yourself have to believe in it all or else you're a sinner, an evil person to be shunned, damned, etc., then how can you even help yourself that you now see all others that have chosen not to believe as you were taught/forced to believe, as sinners, evil, to be shunned, etc.?
    This kind of conditioning comes with it's own dose of delicious egotism already included in the box... It plays to the ego and inflates it intentionally, in fact.

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  7. Good post Brian.

    However, I'm sure modern Pharise will chide you to not quote the Bible if you are an unbeliever.

    You could not possibly understand the book without the help of the Holy Spirit!

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  8. i really like the points you've brought up here, brian.

    what i have always found rather silly is when you (in the general sense) bring the whole judging others thing to their attention and talk about how that is being prideful they always try to say they aren't.

    they tell you that all men are sinners, including them and blah blah, but they don't even realize that they still look down on other people.

    it reminds me of some of the things my fiance's baptist father has said. he will say that all people are sinners, and so is he and he asks forgiveness every day for "living in sin". so to himself he makes it seem like he knows that he is no better than anyone else, but then he turns around and says how sorry he feels for mormons because they believe in false religion (terribly ironic).

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  9. Good post.

    Don't forget there were/are good Pharisees (Rabbinic). As someone with Jewish sympathies it's unfortunate that the grumpy self-righteous ones were Jesus' main antagonists.

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  10. No Mac, I could not possibly BELIEVE the book without the Holy Spirit... And choirs of angels... and a personal appearance by Yaweh... And Bono as well... With the band of course... And Sonny Bono's Ghost...

    Hi Richelle! Yes, it's ironic. It's always ironic. They have no eyes to see, is I believe how they like to phrase it.

    Oneblood, I know. I tried to specify just what it was about some of the Pharisees of Jesus' day that annoyed Him. Many Pharisees were good people, of course. But the Pharisees in Jesus' time were merely the sect that was the most dogmatic and observant of scripture. We have plenty of those nowadays. And they're not a sect anymore, so the word has evolved to a new use, thanks to Jesus selecting it (and them) to use as an example of exscessive piousness leading to self-righteousness and a hypocritical adherence to dogma.

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  11. Yea, I'm thinking that they mix up their politics and their religion and that's the way they like it.

    I can't see how they can have the pro-life 'tude and the anti-welfare 'tude at the same time, but I suppose they see one as religious and the other as political.(so nya nya)

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  12. Yeah, the dichotomy between the pro-life attitude and how little they care for the already-born is glaringly obvious.

    It screams Pharisee.

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  13. Hi everyone! I had a breakthrough moment, and since I credit being exposed to all of you on DD's blog, and Brians...thought I'd share it with you. I've always been a quiet atheist, I don't rock the boat, don't really care if others are religious. But I was confronted a week ago......and didn't let it slide by. It was AWESOME. LOL I was at an "after holidays party", and there was a woman there I spotted and profiled correctly (bad as that is). Shiny loafers, hose, long skirt, little sweater set.....and about 6 kids under the age of 7 all over her. You got it...a librarian. NO NO just kidding. Hyper-religious. OK, no skin off my nose. Until...
    omg, she started working the room. She was going person to person, and as she got closer heard her talk about spreading the love of Jesus. With Pamphlets for cryin' out loud! Everyone looked uncomfortable, even those I knew to be religious themselves, but everyone was meekly taking those damn pamphlets and smiling and saying thank you. Bull shit, right? Quiet little Jude here just happened to get a little devil on her shoulder. When she got to me, I interrupted her and said "No, thank you. I do not believe in your religious ideas."
    "But if you'll just read the pamphlets and let the word of Jesus into your heart......." And I said "I don't happen to have my pamphlets of scientific literature and evolutionary process with me right now, but would you like to sit down and discuss that with me as well?" She said "I see your heart is not open, I will pray for you." And left me! ROFLMAO OK, gotta admit, was a bit nervous doing it, might have caused a scene (and I don't cause scenes!) but OMG it was liberating to FINALLY say something. Thanks all of you here for being my nudge on that. You get some credit. Or blame. ;-)

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  14. She said "I see your heart is not open, I will pray for you."
    ---------------------------
    Hi Jude!

    Uh, well done!!!

    When she said the above, what she really meant is "I see that your heart (emotional side) is not open to overriding your head (intellectual side) and letting in my brain virus"

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  15. By the way, just out of curiosity, when I put up a new post, do you people following this blog get notification somehow? Even just on your homepage at bloggers?

    I ask because I suspect that my "My Followers" widget is broken.

    Also, does anyone subscribe to this blog? If so, do you get notification when a new post is up? I believe an email is supposed to be sent out to you...

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  16. Brian,
    I don't know anything about the others, but I get updates from all the blogs I have on my "following" list EXCEPT yours.

    WTF??

    I thought it was me for a while, but if you have noticed it as well, perhaps I'm not such a goof-up??

    OK, I'm still a goof, but not in this case :-)

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  17. See mac, I just knew it!

    I've tried to fix it, but it's like set in stone. So none of my followers get notification. I knew it.

    Figures.

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  18. "However, I'm sure modern Pharise will chide you to not quote the Bible if you are an unbeliever. "

    Do people actually say that? I've heard some who say "you don't understand the Bible" when you either interpret it in a way they don't like, or just presume that to be the case if you are unbeliever. But outright demanding that those unbelievers don't quote your book...that's a messed up.

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  19. Maybe try messing around with your site feed. I'm not sure what exactly is up, but you've never shown up on other people's blogrolls (new content hasn't shown up there, that is). I just tried to test out whether that adult content advisory warning might be the source by enabling the warning for my own site. My post titles still showed up on other blog rolls though, so I am pretty sure that that isn't the problem.

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  20. Hi again Brian. I have found that those that follow a Christ like path of tend to have very progressive or liberal Theologies.

    "When one sees contradictories in the Bible such as the brutality of Leviticus or the Bible's seeming approval of slavery, alongside of Jesus' "Love thy neighbor," one should have enough common sense to *choose* the one that Jesus said, the one that is love-related and not punishment-related, no? But the believers have to somehow accept it all as true, even though the two ideas are mutually exclusive.

    Forcing the believer to accept opposite and mutually exclusive statements side-by-side on faith alone is how they begin to disassemble the believer's ability to descriminate what is real and what is not."

    Yes I agree completely. This stood out to me as a young child, yet my questions were always dismissed. Christian theology is thus a mishmash of Spiritual teachings and Fear & Control.

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  21. pboy,

    you really think that's funny? I couldn't bring myself to watch the whole thing. I thought there might've been some dark humor. But there was only dark.

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  22. Actually I think that it is bizarre! There were six video responses to him but his glib attitude was disturbing.

    I think there might be some backlash to this somewhere down the line.

    Hey, oneblood, don't shoot the messenger!

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  23. .. of course by 'disturbing', I mean hilarious!

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  24. I never liked that game, pboy. Way too violent, and I usually don't mind violent. But killing cops and hookers is not what I'd consider "fun" in any case. I think it's sad that the game makers had to do that. Sure it's an easy buck, but you're destroying society in the process...

    ***

    What this blog needs are a few Pharisees posting to it...

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  25. And so ifeth it happeneth that you comst across a putrid game of the video ilk, take to task the Scotsman who hath brought it to thoust attention.

    Because it is written:

    TWAS BRILLIG! AND THE SLITHY TOVES DID GYRE AND GIMBLE IN THE WABE!

    Love,

    Harry C. Pharisee

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  26. Yeah. Fishi is my word verification, but there's something not quite right about it...

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  27. I don't know about you guys, but the fact that the answer to his question about how he kills his prostitute is "molotov cocktails and an uzi" tickles me just a little bit. I can honestly say that I wouldn't have predicted that. Seriously though, should have used a rocket launcher or a tank or something. Maybe a tactical nuclear device. Can never be too careful about those kinds of things!

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  28. Apparenlty, I should have done this post on killing prostitutes.

    I need to judge my audience better.

    Oh, and my word verification is "deadsm"

    Sounds bad.

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  29. I have a question:

    What's your favorite Bible story that disproves the entire religion to you?

    I have a whole bunch...

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  30. Noah's Ark has like thirty thousand errors right there, I mean...

    I know that the subject is modern pharisees, but if you're more interested in killing prostitutes than that, I see the need to introduce a new topic.

    I really wrote this one for Observant. Not that he'd respond or anything like that... But I was thinking of him when I wrote it.

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  31. jude,

    good for you! i'm glad you did what you did! and fyi, you were not the one causing a scene, that women peddling jesus was the one making a scene. you shouldn't be expected to play along just because christianity is seen as the norm in this country. so props to you!

    brian,

    i don't know if i get any sort of notification because i never use my main little blogger page thingy because i never post blogs, i just comment on everyone elses.

    but if it makes you feel any better it would be a moot point anyway because i always check for any new posts from you, pliny, and seeker every tine i get online.

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  32. Could you understand the guy's commentary while his character was 'offing' the hooker?

    His accent is called 'Doric' BTW, and I can speak like that if I want, if you know what I mean.

    =

    Ah, kin spik like 'at if ah wint tul, if ye ken fit ah mean. ('cept mine is the Torry variety)

    Richelle, we hear, never checks MY blog!? Mi corazon es roto!

    The thing that 'gets' to me most about the Bible is that, in the story, demons are everywhere! Where's all the demons at now?(except on T.V. shows that is, they are hiding as hard as God is.)

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  33. The demons are where they always have been. In people's minds.

    In some of the minds that wrote the Bible, as well.

    Word Verification: Cometrac

    Now THIS is the exercise machine that I've been LOOKING FOR!

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  34. "Noah's Ark has like thirty thousand errors right there, I mean.."

    It is a straight up source of hilarity when apologists/creationists take it upon themselves to try to resolve those errors by making things even more ridiculous. Kent Hovind's "sheet of ice encapsulating the entire planet" and the idea that all erosion we have ever experienced occurred during the flood are my favorite examples of them doing that strange dance they do. You just can't get the same amusing results talking about the Tower of Babel or Exodus (though I assume it could be managed in the right crowd...).

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  35. Elijah went up to heaven on a firey chariot with two winged horses?

    Ahhh.. but a different heaven than the one we hear of in other parts of the Bible.

    But then Elijah comes back as John the Baptist, from, we must suppose, the same heaven he's been waiting in to fulfill 'God's plan'.

    I think that it's the old stand by, "Well you'll never understand if you don't read it with the Holy Spirit, knowing that it is the 'truth'.

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  36. Yes, you must believe in the Bible BEFORE you read it. To judge it on it's own merits isn't permitted. Because it's merits are pretty thin. And it's negatives are sky high... So submit to the brainwashing so you won't notice all the flaws, THEN you can read it right!

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  37. the idea that all erosion we have ever experienced occurred during the flood
    ----------------
    Oh, I missed that one...

    How retarded do you have to be to swallow that one???!!!

    I can SEE erosion happening in my YARD, for crying out loud!

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  38. It's like the Christians aren't concerned with *how* things *actually* happened. No need to get that part right. As long as they can find a way that it *could have conceivably* happened that also conforms with the "fact" that their God is real and the Bible is true. No matter how silly or unlikely or ridiculous that way might be in the light of what we already KNOW about reality through actual observation... They're just looking for their explanation, not the correct one. They assume that the two are identical, of course, since they can't conceive of the idea that they might be WRONG about any of this stuff... Which is how they can be so wrong about ALL of it, of course.

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  39. I think I need to some future posts as comic takes on "The Adventures of Harry C. Pharisee..."

    A great comic book character is born!

    (No seriously, I think it has a lot of potential!)

    I need to think about his. It's a funny concept...


    "Harry C. Pharisee Goes to the Supermarket!"

    "Harry C. Pharisee Goes to a Bris!"

    "Harry C. Pharisee Goes to War!"

    "Harry C. Pharisee Gets Lung Cancer!"

    (Well, maybe not that last one...)

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  40. It is a straight up source of hilarity when apologists/creationists take it upon themselves to try to resolve those errors by making things even more ridiculous. Kent Hovind's "sheet of ice encapsulating the entire planet" and the idea that all erosion we have ever experienced occurred during the flood are my favorite examples of them doing that strange dance they do. You just can't get the same amusing results talking about the Tower of Babel or Exodus (though I assume it could be managed in the right crowd...).

    ----------------

    I did a post on that theory a while back - I particularly liked my graphics detailing the 'Snoah Ball' as we came to call it.

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  41. Then there's 'thunderf00t' on youtube ripping Kent Hovind apart.

    Hovind has a globe in his hand and says glibly that a drop of water could cover the Earth if you spread it thin enough.

    LOL. So thunderfoot calculates that a layer of water one molecule thick would need to weigh 15,000 tons or so.

    Kent Hovind was 'out' by a factor of a TRILLION!

    AND HE is supposed to have a Ph.D!!!!

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  42. I first heard about Kent Hovind in my former church, they played his videos for us, and I noticed one of his powerpoint slides had the word "half-breed" on it.

    On the video he said something to the effect of "Don't worry if you're illegitimate kids. God loves you and he can use you in a powerful way. Timothy was illegitmate, never should've been born, and God used him."

    Right behind him his slide said "Timothy was a half-breed." Because his mom was Jewish and his dad Greek.

    That ticked me off. But what sent me over the edge was him selling the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion.'

    I drove to a shindig he had in my state and all I saw were Baptists, old school Baptists.

    I tried to be courteous but direct. Didn't work. I just hope some people decided to introduce skepticism into their worldview from our conversation.

    -----------------------------------

    Oh yeah. During our exchange he actually tried to "explain" the term 'half-breed' to me. He said that if a white cow and a black cow had a baby it would be a half-breed, he asked me if I was familiar with the term 'mulatto.' And then! And then! He said that he was Norwegian and his wife was Irish and thusly his kids were 'half-breeds' I couldn't believe the chutzpah of this guy.

    And this was after he equviocated about the slide's existence.

    The Protocols were next. He said I should read it before I question why he sold it. He might've well had Mein Kampf out.

    I'm an idealist but at that point I knew it was hopeless and walked away.

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  43. My fav story that proves the bible false? The Old Testament + the New Testament = God changed his mind.

    word ver = "pubedal"

    (for those of you who can't get four hour erections even WITH Cialis...)

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  44. Word Verification " PICKLEDS"

    I think that's what I'll do. I'll Pick Ed's answer as to the contradicting bible stories.

    ReplyDelete
  45. "Richelle, we hear, never checks MY blog!? Mi corazon es roto!"


    well now i feel bad. to be honest, i didn't even realize you had your own blog.

    you comment so often on brian's blog i didn't know you could possibly have time for your own blog! ;)

    but now that i know, i will be sure to fit it in with my routine blog check-ups.

    that way you don't have to say anything else to me in spanish that i have to google.

    :)

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  46. Oneblood, is "Harry C. Pharisee" yours, or did someone else make it up?

    I really love it. Pretty funny.

    ***

    Richelle, te queremos mucho aqui.

    That orta keep you busy, heh heh...

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  47. Richelle, you can go to pboy's blog, but be warned:

    There's a distinct absence of good on it.

    :-)

    (Actually I rather enjoyed his latest post)

    ReplyDelete
  48. Sí Harry C. Pharisee es mío, y si usaras este nombre querría mucho dinero.

    Honestly you could probably come up with another cooler or just as cool name and we could do shtick.

    Watcha think?

    It's the Incredibly Unloving and Self-Righteous Pharisee Bros.!!

    ReplyDelete
  49. "So to any Christians reading this: If you’re a proud Christian that feels that people of other faiths (or none at all) are somehow inferior…

    Congratulations! You just might be a Pharisee!"

    -----------------------------------

    No need for congratulations...I am a Pharisee!

    You people aren't really inferior, it's your integrity that's bothersome.

    On a side note, If a Christian sneezes I say, "God bless you."

    If anyone from the 4 billion or so of you non-Christians sneezes I say, "You need Jesus so you can get a blessing when you sneeze."

    ReplyDelete
  50. I am beautiful.

    Look at my face...it's like manna from heaven.

    True, my beard is longer than my shmeckel, but I've got a rock hard throbbing ten inch wallet!

    Hey ladies! I'll be whatever you want, except sincere and, and, what's the word? Loving.

    Judge you!

    ReplyDelete