Jesus was Illiterate at best

I’m a natural born skeptic.

I am open to persuasion, given the relevant facts.

Open-minded enough to say “I was wrong” and change my paradigms & personal beliefs on any given subject.

The more I read into the history of Jesus of Nazareth – the more I re-enforce my belief he simply did not exist, or at very best was an historic no-body.

One of these factors, why I have come to this conclusion - are his writings.

More to the point…the total lack of one word in writing, from Jesus own hand.

So why didn’t Jesus bother to write down his own gospels? Even a note to the milkman, to leave an extra bottle on Saturday.

Logic would dictate a God-man would be perfectly capable of recording his own philosophies, using the full range of languages available, so it would be comprehensible to someone from Japan or for that matter Sweden.

Is it even a given, he was keen to articulate ‘his word’ to as many mortals as possible, based on the fact he choose the most unreliable method to record his time on earth?

The perfect human God-man, relied on sin-filled-humans with all their open frailties, to be his biographer.

To make things worse, he employed more than one of these imperfect scribes.

Given the illiteracy rates, at that point in history, a dangerous ploy at best.

He banked on peoples memories to write-down what they remembered, decades after his death.

It makes you wonder if there where there large tribes of ‘idiot savants’ wandering the sands at that time – able to record Jesus words verbatim, decades later.

Who reading this can remember ‘word for word’ the best-mans speech at their wedding?

The God-Man also relied totally-on everyone, with whom he encountered, understanding Aramaic fluently. There was not one universal language at that time, as there is today, so translation must be another daily obstacle, for anyone dictating his life.

If one believes The Bible, Jesus was an orator with no peer – so why did he suffer ‘writers block’ when it came to written language?

If he was a great teacher, he was one that was unable to use the blackboard.

Anyone reading this who believes The Bible, it says in Luke 4:16 and 4:20 he could read – so taking this at face value, you would have to conclude he could in-fact write as well.

It also says in John 8:3-1(best known for "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.") something about Jesus knelling and writing in the sand - but what he wrote, is not recorded?

Even if Jesus had of written something profound in the sand that day, his later-day scribes didn’t deem it significant enough to be recorded, or perhaps no one else got to see it, before it was scrubbed-out forever?

For all we know, Jesus may have been doodling a ‘happy face’ in the sand rather than a great enlightenment, proving my initial tenure – it was him who was best placed to record his own story, not mere mortals.

A conclusion one could make given what we know, is that the scriptures, the record of his teachings - were a low priority to him.

Deliberately opting to write nothing when you are perfectly capable, seems a strange choice to make, but ‘believers’ don’t appear to see this as being an issue.

The story and ‘message’ of his life was more important to his followers, that him personally.

Frankly I don’t think I’m being unreasonable here, raising these gaping anomalies, in the fictional stories of Jesus.

So I’m sticking to my belief: Jesus didn’t exist.

But I’m open to be proven wrong.



Footnote: In my previous article, I drew your attention to the fact there is no contemporary records of Jesus existing any-where in any neutral historical records of the time.

‘The Legacy of Mary’ – Vatican City approves 12 as The Age of Consent!

One of the biggest jokes, are those throngs of Christians who trumpet their ‘conservatism’ as something to be proud of, yet all too conveniently avoid practicing what they preach.

This pious bunch consider being ‘conservative’ as a badge of honour, expecting everyone else should look at these self-appointed moral zealots, as holding some form of higher ground.

They also tend to run scared, or scuttle back under their rocks, when they are confronted with their hypocrisy.

Have you ever considered how these ‘conservative’ groups manifest their conservatism, in a societal context?

What happens in countries where large groups of conservatives live, and form the majority of the population?

What would be say a ‘conservatives’ position, on say 'the age of sexual consent'?

Sixteen years old, perhaps as exists in New Zealand and Australia etc?

Eighteen, even?

I’m about to show you what a pack of hypocrites, these so-called conservatives and their leaders are, by using something tangible and measurable, like this ‘the age of consent’.

Before, I start (and for the record), here in New Zealand the age of consent is 16 years. This is an across the board age limit here – irrespective of marital status or sexual orientation.

Now let’s look at where the largest populations of say, Catholics live, and spot-light the age, these Christian Catholic countries see fit to condone two consenting adults (or, as we’ll sadly soon find-out, children as well) are capable of making a decision to engage in sexual intercourse.

BRAZIL [150,00,000 Baptised Catholics] 14 if married
MEXICO [ 90,000,000 Baptised Catholics] 12 if married
PHILIPPINES [ 60,000,000 Baptised Catholics] 12 irrespective
ITALY [ 60,000,000 Baptised Catholics] 14 irrespective
USA [55,000,000 Baptised Catholics] 16 varies state by state

Of the 15 top Catholic nations I surveyed the average age of consent was slightly over 14 years-old.

Taking this another step, how does this directly compare to countries, where the moral bankrupts are located?

You know those places where evil ‘non-believers’, are found in large numbers?

Here’s the top five (based on population) Atheistic countries, and their respective ‘age of consents’.

JAPAN [80,000,000 Non-Believers] 13 irrespective
VIETNAM [66,000,000 Non-Believers] 18 irrespective
RUSSIA [50,000,000 Non-Believers] 16 irrespective
GERMANY [40,000.000 Non-Believers] 14 under circumstances
FRANCE [30,000,000 Non-Believers] 15 irrespective

As a direct comparison of the top 15 Atheist Countries through-out the world, the average age of consent was bang-on (no pun intended) 16.

I don’t know about you, but I think 14, let alone 12 is definitely far too young for anyone to be considered an adult.

So to be fair and impartial, I am encompassing atheistic countries like Germany, in my condemnation.

The fact still remains 12, is the age of consent in six of the 15 top Catholic countries around the globe.

Only four were 16 or over.

In the secular countries, six of the top 15 I surveyed, thought 16 year-olds were in a position to make the decision – an age, I personally concur with.

None said 12 years-old was O.K.

I can only gather, ‘blessing’ such a low age of consent in conservative Catholic countries is the legacy of Mary being impregnated by God, at the tender age of 14 or 15?

Biblically inspired even, or are its adherents simply following the orders from Rome?

The Vatican certainly appears to be all for the age, to be at the lower end of the worldwide scale.

Rather interestingly, my research turned-up the Vatican City has the lowest consent age in Europe, at just 12.

That’s right folks, The Pope and his ‘conservative bunch of male virgins’ think 12 years-old is an age when two ‘kids’ can start f*cking!!

According to my moral compass, if not The Catholic Churches, a 14 year-old is too young to undertake the responsibilities of parenthood (the end result) - let alone a 12 year-old.

But the secularist doctrine has no leaders, is not dependent on mass-breading and indoctrination of the young at all costs, for its survival.

So a message to all you ‘conservatives’ - tidy up your own back yards – starting with allowing 12 year olds to f*ck.

“Hello you have reached The After-Life Directory Service, how may I help you?”

Let me start this article, by stating its stories like this, that make African internet scamsters, look like a wise investment.

It takes gullibility to a new level, well below ground level, close to the earths core.

We are talking ‘Franks Box’, named after its inventor Frank Sumption.

It’s better known as ‘The Ghost Box’.

The Ghost Box scans the radio frequencies, between operating broadcast stations.

Doing so, will produce the intermittent and faded verbalisations…….of the dead!

Its believers have dubbed the device - a ‘telephone to the dead’.

Purportedly, Thomas Edison regularly answers his calls from ‘the land of the living’.

If you've always wanted to call your deceased Aunt Molly to see where she buried the loot, you now have the chance.

Call after 7.00 P.M the rates are cheaper.

But, clearly this is serious stuff, and one of its major proponents Chris Moon wants us to be beware of the dangers of the uneducated operating ‘The Ghost Box’.

In the hands of the uninitiated, it may be John Wayne Gracy or Ted Bundy that picks-up the receiver and not Aunt Molly.

So don’t go treating ‘The Ghost Box’, merely as a toy or paranormal oddity.

Respect it’s authoritay and seek professional advice.

The background to ‘Dear God by XTC’ (1986)

“If anyone gets upset at this song then they deserve to get upset at this song. If they’re that anal about their religion that you can’t have a different opinion without them wanting to firebomb your house, then that’s their problem”.

Of all the Atheist anthems floating around – this is my favourite.

I guess being such a massive XTC fan, has somewhat ‘blinkered’ my opinion but there is something about this song’s lyrics, that strikes a note with me.

It’s a song that I can play time & time again, without losing its appeal.

So I decided to research the song itself, dig deeper and find-out more about its origins, production etc and the video-clip you see below.

Here’s what I found-out about XTC’s ‘Dear God’.

· The song-writer Andy Partridge had first written a book by the same title, arguing against the religious brainwashing of children, in the form of letters sent to God. This formed the inspiration for the song.

· Partridge had pondered the existence of God and concluded there was none, figuring a child’s letter to God would form a poignant irony.

· The opening and ending verse is sung by the then eight year old Jasmine Veillette, the daughter of a friend of producer Todd Rundgren.

· Jasmine was frightfully shy, and Todd who produced the album ‘Skylarking’ insisted the group leave the studio whilst she sang.

· In the video a boy lip-syncs her vocals

· For such a powerful, popular song Andy Partridge didn’t want it even on the album in the first place. It was only when he heard the finished piece, he relented. As he put it “I didn’t want it on because I didn’t thing I done it well enough. I thought it had failed tremendously and I asked to have it nipped-off the album”.

· Partridge particularly hated the lyrics. In his own words “It is such a big subject and I’ve been wrestling with it for years, but how can you cover it, in three and half minutes?”. “Human belief is too big a beast to bring to the floor in such a short time”.

· Partridge had been trying to find a tune which would go with the lyrics he wrote in 1985, and he stumbled upon the finished piece after playing around with Paul McCartney's song ‘Rocky Racoon’ in the wrong key. “ The tune had a few incarnations. It started as a kind of skiffle rag with a much bluesier melody but after several blacksmith like bending and bashing sessions (oddly, in my kitchen) it gradually morphed” is the way he describes the composition process.

· Partidge describes the songs added strings as “mock Gershwin”.

· The song was released (16th August 1986) as a B-Side to ‘Grass’ from the same album, but rapidly gained popularity. ‘Grass’ is another song worth checking out.

· The original track was recorded in the front-lounge of the sound engineer, Dave Gregorys, Swindon flat (January 1986)

· The original album Skylarking (October 1986) did not have ‘Dear God’ as the last song, instead it featured ‘Mermaid Smiled’. It was only after the popularity of the single, that the song was added to re-issues.

· Many retailers refused to stock the album with ‘Dear God’ or the single, and radio stations in the U.S by and large considered the song too controversial.

· One radio station in Florida that played the song in 1987 received a threat it would be firebombed. The band and the record company were inundated with adverse letters, and the occasional ‘physical threat’ from Christians.

· As they say ‘any controversy is good controversy’ , and the song is single-handily attributed for XTC breaking into the U.S market.

· One of the more bizarre reactions to the song occurred in Binghampton, NY when the then 18 year old Gary Pullis held the secretary of his school at knife point in the principals office one morning and demanded that Dear God be played over the school's intercom system. He was later arrested and taken away for psychiatric evaluation.

· For any Kiwi’s reading this, the single was released in New Zealand but never charted. XTC were a popular band here, having had a number-one hit in 1979 with ‘Making Plans for Nigel’. They also make it into the Top-Ten’ with ‘Generals and Majors’ (#2 19/09/1980 ) and ‘Senses working Overtime’ (peaked #3 03/05/1982) They toured New Zealand in September 1980. Because of Partridges bouts of stage-fright, the band toured only intermittently.

· ‘Dear God’ reached No. 15 on the Billboard Album Tracks chart and received the Billboard Best Video award for 1987. The song proved the groups most successful in the U.S. and was also nominated for the 1987 MTV Best Director, Best Concept, and Best Innovation awards.

· The album ‘Skylarking’ reached No. 90 on the UK album chart and No. 70 on the US album chart, which was a travesty. Most critics rank ‘Skylarking’ as XTC’s best album – infact it often crops-up in peoples ‘Best Albums of All Time’ – admiration I concur with.

· A skiffle version by the bands was released in September 2004 on Fuzzy Warbles Volume Five in the U.K.

"Dear God,hope you got the letter, and...I pray you can make it better down here.

I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer but all the people that you made in your image, seethem starving on their feet 'cause they don't get enough to eat from God".

"I can't believe in you Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but... I feel that I should be heardloud and clear. We all need a big reduction in amount of tearsand all the people that you made in your image, see them fightingin the street 'cause they can't make opinions meet about God,I can't believe in you".

"Did you make disease, and the diamond blue? Did you makemankind after we made you? And the devil too!"

"Dear God, don't know if you noticed, but... your name is ona lot of quotes in this book, and us crazy humans wrote it, youshould take a look, and all the people that you made in yourimage still believing that junk is true. Well I know it ain't, andso do you, dear God, I can't believe in I don't believe in".

"I won't believe in heaven and hell. No saints, no sinners, nodevil as well. No pearly gates, no thorny crown. You're alwaysletting us humans down. The wars you bring, the babes youdrown. Those lost at sea and never found, and it's the same thewhole world 'round. The hurt I see helps to compound thatFather, Son and Holy Ghost is just somebody's unholy hoax,and if you're up there you'd perceive that my heart's here uponmy sleeve. If there's one thing I don't believe init's you... Dear God".

Background to XTC 'Dear God' - Everything you wanted to know about XTC 'Dear God'



Note; If you have something to add to what I’ve uncovered, be sure to let us all know, in the comments section below.

WHEN XIANS ATTACK!

ATTENTION: PLANET EARTH!

We are the Xian’s.

We come from another universe, one invisible to puny minds, such as the ones you human-beings possess.

Vastly superior-life forms, to the point many humans consider us to be Gods.

We have the capabilities to monitor your every thought, watch every individual’s movements 24/7, yet remain cloaked from your detection devices.

We can save lives, stricken people with disease, cause floods, create beauty - nothing is beyond our capabilities, even death itself.

Paying homage to our superiority is not optional, it is mandatory, for resistance is futile.

You must now obey our laws to obtain salvation.

Individual freedom is banned.

Failure to do acknowledge our superiority, and adopt our way of life will mean you will be exterminated!

Now where have I heard that story before?

It seems strangely familiar.

President Lugo gives hope to all middle-aged males

Wow, for a bloke in his late 50’s the current P.M of Paraguay, is proving to be a randy old bugger.

Considering what facts have come to light recently, it’s little wonder he's beaming ‘from ear to ear’, in the above photo.

So move over the French P.M.

President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay has you trumped – big time!

The 3rd woman, this month (so far) has come forward, and said her child was fathered by, the virile el’ presidente.

When the first of his bastards, became public news and hot-gossip in Paraguay, a couple of weeks back, Fernando reluctantly accepted paternity.

Now another two ‘young things’ have come forward to say “Bishop Lugo knocked me up”.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the now president of Paraguay was once a Catholic Bishop.

He resigned as bishop of the San Pedro province in 2004, and announced he would run for the presidency two years later, but was still registered as a bishop until last year when Pope Benedict XVI relieved him from his vows of chastity.

Evidently these vows to ‘keep ones cock in ones pants’ meant little to this Bishop, come President elect.

And when I mentioned those’ young things’ above, the horny Bishop was partial for his concubines to be at least half his age, preferably less.

By my math’s, the one he fessed-up-to-knocking-up, was just 17 when he starting practicing making babies.

So cheers to you Bishop/President Lugu.

You give hope to all middle-aged men, but mate at this rate, one begins to wonder – which one of the newborn, in Paraguay is not yours?

Pascal’s Wager in reverse - Are Priests are the biggest gamblers in the world?

For those of you unfamiliar with Christchurch, The New Zealand Trotting Cup, held at Addington Raceway, is one of ‘the’ social occasions in the local calendar.

It’s fair to say Cup-Day is an institution, in these parts.

The same crew and I, go every year, and we always frequent the less-desirable area of Addington – the public bar under the main grandstand, because it saves us getting dressed-up, and the beer is cheaper.

Amongst the guys (females are banned!) there are a couple of horse-owners, shareholders in ‘a nag’.

One of these shareholders in our group, has an interesting partner in his syndicate, he’s a Catholic Priest.

This priest normally don’s his civilian attire and appears at our drunken table to say hello and chat about the races, he’s not a permanent fixture, but someone we catch up-with on the day.

Now this is hardly the environment, one would expect to encounter, deep and meaningful philosophical discussions.

This is ribald, drunken de-evoluted men at play (only clothing distinguishes us from chimps)

Last year one of the newer lads, upon finding-out the priests profession, said to him “I didn’t think you lot were allowed to gamble?”

His reply forms the basis of this blog.

“Priests are the biggest gamblers in the world”.

Now at the time, this one passed right over my head, due to inebriation.

On reflection, it was a very profound, philosophical answer, given it was off the cuff, and the circumstances were hardly the debating chamber at Oxford.

When you think about it, Priests and others in the service of God are the biggest gamblers in the world.

They are gambling with their life-spans as well as their sex lives (clearly this is important!) – that their reward will come in the next life.

They hold in their hands a betting slip that is ‘all on the nose of one horse’.

What happens if they backed the wrong horse?

A sort of Pascal’s Wager in reverse.

Popes Pilgrims still on the run.

In July of last year, some of the 200 Indian pilgrims bound for Catholic Youth Day in Sydney, took the opportunity of a stop-over in Auckland to ‘do a runner’.

In total 33 of these Catholic pilgrims took their chances and absconded.

14 of them are still missing, nine odd months on.

At the time, New Zealand Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer told Radio New Zealand, the mass defection was “shocking” and “there was no reason to believe the missing pilgrims were not genuine”.

Freer may now wish to now change her initial statement, given it is obvious New Zealand Immigration have been taken for a ride by her representatives & the countries tax-payers continue to pay for their lack of vetting, and gross abdication of responsibility for their sponsored charges time, whilst stopping in New Zealand.

This was a large escorted trip, sponsored by N.Z Catholic Church, using local billets – but when the ‘shit hit the fan’ the Church didn’t want a bar of the massive cost trying to find such a large group of absconders.

Imagine the screams of indignation we would have heard if the so-called pilgrims had their applications for temporary visas refused in the first place?

Those cries would have been lead by Freer personally.

All the Kiwi tax-payer got was 'shocked indignation' at the time, and now a deafening silence from the very organistation, entrusted to care for them in the first place!

Not one ounce of moral responsibility to ‘pick-up-the-pieces’.

But hey, what else do you expect?

Why do Christians never let the facts get in the way of a good story?

I wanted to expand upon the premise I gave below that: Jesus Christ did not exist based on the known evidence, and the implications of faith over-ruling facts.

From the reaction to this post and others of a similar vein, it appears ‘the want to believe’ or ‘faith’ trumps even common-sense & logic.

Facts themselves fail when put-beside faith.

I appreciate there are well established & powerful vested interest groups that need these myths to continue, or they would immediately become redundant, with little prospect of finding a real job, one suspects.

So what would it take for a Christian to say “the story of Christ I was told is not true?”.

Let me run these scenarios by you, and get your feedback.

Scenario One: A new set of Dead Sea Scrolls are found, pre-dating the oldest known set of scriptures by 150 years. They depict Jesus missing years, what he got up to in his teens and twenties. The picture they paint, is at odds with the divine, miracle-worker. The manuscripts tell stories of drunkenness, fights and sexual conquests of a man called Jesus of Nazareth.

Scenario Two: A new set of Dead Sea Scrolls are found, pre-dating the oldest known set of scriptures by 150 years. They depict Jesus missing years, what he got up to in his teens and twenties. The picture they paint, is one of his majesty and compassion. Hither-to-unknown miracles are outlined in its parchments.

Both set of scrolls are analysed and authenticated.

So which set of scrolls would be accepted as being genuine, or should I re-phrase this and say – which set would be believed?

Only the second set fits the established storyline.

Only the second would receive a blessing, from within the established theology.

The first scrolls would either be ignored or called a hoax, not because of any other reason than to accept what the contents said, would mean a complete re-write of the life of Jesus, and bring into doubt his divine heritage.

To believe what was written to the first set of scrolls, would turn Christianity on its head - but is that enough justification to dismiss them outright?

So, why do Christians never let the facts get in the way of a good story?

Churches are largely at odds with Western Democracy

We often see criticism levelled against religion as being ‘an enemy of science’.

But rarely do we see religion called ‘the enemy of democracy’ & when we do, the focus is often on Islam.

Westerners are quick to criticise regimes such as Iran, which inter-weave politics & religion, and over-look what is going on in their own backyards.

The very foundation of modern secular world is that broad term we call democracy.

That’s people, getting to have a say about their future – not solely politicians and church leaders.

Have you ever stopped to think, that the political system we embrace is the antithesis of that which operates in the dominant religions operating in the world?

It’s not just the Middle-East where religious groups repress freedom.

To properly analyise what this, we need to take a look at the political structures of the major Churches to see how they operate, and then reflect on the compatibility with the freedoms we enjoy living in a secular democracy(cut and pasted off The BBC’s page on Religion, for the benefit of the theists, who always question my sources)

CATHOLIC CHURCH: the hierarchical nature of Catholicism sets it apart from other Christian churches. It is a pyramid with the Pope at the top, followed by cardinals (who have the right to elect a new pope on the death of the current incumbent), archbishops, bishops, priests and laity. All major decisions rest with the Pope and his advisors.

ISLAM: Today there are significant differences in the structures and organisation of religious leadership in the Sunni and the Shi'a communities. There is a hierarchy to the Shi'a clergy and political and religious authority is vested in the most learned who emerge as spiritual leaders. These leaders are transnational and religious institutions are funded by religious taxes called Khums (20% of annual excess income) and Zakat (2.5%). Shi'a institutions abroad are also funded this way. There is no such hierarchy of the clergy in Sunni Islam. Most religious and social institutions in Sunni Muslim states are funded by the state. Only Zakat is applicable. In the West most Sunni Muslim institutions are funded by charitable donations from the community at home and abroad.

Catholicism and Islam are the two dominant religions on this planet, and which one of the two, operates on a democratic basis?

The short answer is, neither.

Were, ‘brownie points’ to be issued for ‘democratic traits’ the Islamic system, would secure more, but both churches are variants of what we know as dictatorships, one on a macro level, one on a micro-level.

The system the Catholic Church functions under bears a striking resemblance to European fascist regimes of the 1930’s , except I guess you could argue, those historic dictators first came to power via the democratic system, voted for by the people not a small cliché of clergy.

The irony here is, despite running a totalitarian regime, The Catholic Church relies on ‘freedom of religion’ for its very existence, along with complaisant followers, who don’t have the fortitude, or are too scared to question ‘the system’.

For example evidently New Zealand’s Catholics are happy with edicts to ban contraception, stop stem-cell research etc.

The reason of course, no garden-variety Catholic would come out and say openly “I think condoms would prevent AIDS in Africa” at local parish level is - no one would listen anyway!

Even if 99% of Catholic parishioners worldwide believed supporting the distribution of condoms in Africa, was the correct action to take given the circumstances – those in Rome’s corridors of power, could or would ignore the will of the people.

Why should the non-Catholics amongst us, grant special privileges, like a tax-free life-style, to a group that wants to play by its own rules, and rejects the very system we ‘spilled blood’ to keep?

So why does secular society, like here in New Zealand, allow groups in our midst to operate outside the bounds we consider to be fair, for the rest of us?

Allows them to set-up a sepearte schooling system, that selects children on the basis of their parents religion?

The N.Z National Front can’t come-out and say “we don’t want none of them Jews n’ blacks”, without facing state sanction.

Yet, the same state authorities endorse sexism in Churches up and down the country, by taking the default position.

Even if The N.Z Government, made it illegal for Churches to select employees in a non-sexist fashion – the Churches in New Zealand don’t take orders from the state anyway!

Their mandate comes from overseas, exploiting the very freedoms, that they themselves reject outright.

Churches also ‘play politics’ in the public arena when it suits them.

This is not to say, all Churches operate in a totalitarian fashion, many have embraced democracy and the ability for the people to have a say has seen the ordination of woman, relaxation on discrimination against homosexuals etc, and a whole raft of liberalisms - all born of a groundswell from its followers.

So therefore, political pressure can be placed upon those in charge of religious entities, where a system of democracy exists within the Church itself.

But, where a Church rejects democracy outright, society must start asking questions –“why are we letting them get away with this, under the name of religion?”

So should the adherents question the morality of sexism and facism - if they had any fortitude and spine – which patently they don’t.

What proof is there Jesus Christ was even real?

Let me confront your belief system, by stating:

Jesus did not exist.

That’s right Xian, Jesus Christ did not exist.

Go ahead - prove me wrong!

What proof can you offer me that would make me believe Jesus of Nazareth was ‘a real person from history’ & not just someone from the pages of a book, I consider mostly fictional?

So let’s forget about Jesus as the messiah, being The Son of God etc, basically anything written in the gospels.

Those texts in The Bible were not eye-witness reports of Jesus anyway, composed anecdotally well after his supposed time on earth.

I am after ‘3rd party’ validation of his life.

So it's contemporary historical reports from neutral sources that talk of a Jesus of Nazareth, outside The Bible, I want.

I don’t think I’m asking for much here, given this is a major figure in history, and there’s over a billion people who support the proposition that not only he existed, but he was ‘the Son of God’.

Written stories must therefore abound, stories of his life and miracles must surely be part of regional folk-law?

Proving ‘Jesus Christ the historic figure’, should be an easy task.

A piece of piss.

So someone ‘of faith’ please give me evidence that a person we now call Jesus Christ existed and was not imaginary – without using scriptural references.

Government grants Indulgences over Easter.

Let’s get things straight for starters peoples, Jesus resurrection did not happen over Easter, so the dates we currently observe, have as much validity as say picking the Northern Winter Solstice for his birthday.

Oh shit, that’s right, that’s what happens already, sorry.

To most Kiwis, Easter is a weekend off, a time to over-indulge in the consumption chocolate, relax.

For decades the religious-relevance of Easter has faded, and with it have come calls for regulations to stop retailers opening en masse on Friday and Monday.

Currently it’s only the likes of the neighbourhood dairies and petrol-stations that have ‘an indulgence’ from The Labour Department, to open on these sacrocede days.

Apparently Christians in New Zealand don’t see any hypocrisy popping into Mr Patel’s shop and grabbing a packed of Rothmans & loaf of bread on Easter Friday and Monday – but are up in arms at the prospect at Mr Patel’s neighbour, the bookshop, opening.

Also against the principal of business’s choosing to make their own decisions as to when they open and close, in harsh economic times like this, are The Unions.

So secularists & business’s face fighting ‘the axis of evil’, Unions and Theists, over the perennial issue of why can’t a Garden shop open, on one of their busiest & most profitable long-weekends of the year? Why can’t the consumer wake-up on Easter Friday and think “I’ll go get those pair of shoes I need”?.

Even though we have a so-called right leaning Government in New Zealand, its unlikely business pressure groups will ‘get much change’ out of the National Party (antipodean political wing of Opus Dei )

My bet is what we will see, are more rebellious retailers, who are prepared to risk facing fines opening on Easter, doing so.

The share number tide of this movement will swamp The Labour Department, to the point their staff can never hope to issue prosecution-notices all ‘law-breakers’, making the exercise one in futility.

Employees, who get time-and-half plus a day-in-lieu to work, will opt to staff the business’s happily and without coercion.

Consumers, can choose to buy the latest Radiohead Album, new pair of jeans or not.

Those that want to go to Church and have a day (historically misplaced, never-the-less) in quiet observance, still have that opportunity.

The weekend will always be ‘Easter’ after-all.

N.Z Catholics: A flock that can’t baa without permission

"Reason is the enemy of faith” [Martin Luther]

For centuries the Catholic Church has continued to stymie medical research, and the progress of science - in the name of dogma.

Galileo’s show-trial and the threat of imprisonment for ‘so-called’ heresy, the burning of Gregor Mendel’s papers are just two examples, that immediately come to mind.

Stem-Cell treatment can be added to a long list of breakthroughs with the potential to save lives & produce better quality of life for billions – yet, the people in power in The Catholic Church are doing everything in their power, to ban its progress.

Whether you like to accept or not, The Catholic Church continually tries to prevent the most basic of human rights.

That’s the right for couples/individuals to choose contraception – especially in countries, where over-population has resulted in misery and death & use of condoms would also reduce AIDS infection.

So where does the average ‘run of the mill’ N.Z Catholic, stand on these issues?

I would suggest, most adult Catholics in New Zealand practice some form of artificial contraception, in defiance of Church edicts.

Catholics in New Zealand, can see the benefits of stem-cell research, prevention of genetic abnormalities in newborn, and in-vitro-fertilisation etc.

Some believe in cloning animals, some don’t.

All of these contrary views Catholics are happy to espouse over a jug of beer or in their living-rooms , but never directly to the local parish.

Needless to say many Catholic couples have taken advantage of IVF etc (then, rather ironically, christened their kids Catholic!)

Faced with a battle against say Cancer, Catholics readily employ medical cures that fall outside the bounds of their religion, yet play ‘deaf and dumb’ when the local Bishop calls for them to be banned.

They are willing and seemingly happy, to be sheep, and lead around the pasture.

Can’t they see by not speaking-up, and remaining the ‘silent majority’ – they are in fact giving tacit approval for the stand the Catholic Church takes on a whole range of issues?

So when is that ‘silent majority’ going to have the gut’s to speak-up and say “that’s wrong” and fight for what they believe as individuals is right, and of benefit to their family, friends and the rest of mankind – rather than letting their Church run rough-shot over their own personal beliefs?

So Catholic reading this, why continue to let ‘the’ Church be your spokes-person on a range of issues – when you don’t personally believe in what they are saying?

If you feel, the reasons for you saying nothing are that “no one in ‘the’ Church would listen to what I had to say anyway” – then why the hell do you practice Catholicism in the first place?

Why not simply worship God in your own way, believe in what you think is right and throw-off the yoke of Papalism?

Does that learnt, blind obedience, steam from religious indoctrination you received as a child perhaps, and that of your parents before you?

Share tradition, may-be?

Are we observing the age-old principals of Papal infallibility alive and well in New Zealand, manifesting themselves in ‘a flock that can’t baa without permission’?

Isn’t it high-time for ‘garden variety’ Catholics in New Zealand to speak-up and not be scared to do so?

You tell me.

PS: There’s a message in this song, if you’d like to follow the lyrics below, which seems befitting.





She turned the nightlight on a blew him a kiss.
He stared back through is green crayola eyes.
She traced his likeness from off the back of a disc.
Next to the boxtop promise of the biggest prize.

Joining a fan club with my friends.
Filling our bathtubs with tee shirts and 8 x 10's.
He looks so dreamy, I'm in love from afar.
When I'm picking up a fallen star.

Downstairs the late show's blasting 'age of the rock'.
The greedy monks playin' last Sunday at the milky way.
Mom's writing checks to the minister in the corner singing 'digdown deep'.'
Cause if you wanna go to heaven all you gotta so is pay to pray.

Joining a fan club with my pen.
Filling my bathtub with Holy water and amens.
He looks so dreamy,I'm in love from afar.
When I'm picking up a fallen star.

Shake that woody.
Shake it for me St. Pinocchio.
You've paid your money, now watch that money grow.
Joining a fan club, best be warned.

He turns me on when he wears that lampshade crown of thorns.
We'd be so dreamy, Sharing his black caviar.
While I'm picking up a fallen star.
Joining a fan club is a big mistake.
I still get heartburn when I think about all of the stamps I ate.
I wished I'd loved him, Before fate crashed his car.
Say a prayer for the fallen star.

Does God get a holiday on Good Friday as well?

The ‘Sunday News’ had a little snippet of an article, which garnished my attention, and appealed to my dark sense of humour, but not I must add, my innate empathy for the victims.

An elderly retired priest from Pennsylvania accidentally drove his car into a group of churchgoers following a Good Friday service, killing an elderly woman and injuring four other people.

Police and witnesses said the priest had just finished assisting with an afternoon service and was driving around to the church entrance, when his car sped into a small group standing under a shelter.

Parishioner Angela Thomas, who helped tend to the injured, said the priest told her the car accelerated by itself.

"He told me the accelerator of his car went on its own and he could not stop the car”.
To the non-superstitious this is clearly this is a tragedy, an awful accident – nothing more.

To Christians however the question that befits deep pondering, is that old-chessnut “Why would God let this happen?”

This was one of Gods greatest servants here, on a sacred day, worshippers to his cause.

Those most deserving of his protection, were the victims.

Surely just this once, God could have ‘pulled-out the stops’ and short-circuited the vehicles electrics?

May be God could have rendered the elderly priest sick for that morning, so he would have never attended that fateful service on Friday.

There were literally hundreds of options open to God to prevent this tradedy occuring.

Yet, he did nothing.

Was taking advantage of the day-off and off fishing or on the golf course perhaps?

Anyone would think there was no God.

Ray Comfort: ‘Cults Sects and Questions’

‘This book gives a clear explanation of the Hare Krishna and Children of God movements, exposes the errors of Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons and Christian Scientists and answers questions such as “Where did God Come from?”, “Why does God allow children to stave?” and many more’.

‘Show me one [mistake], I get you can’t; in fact I’ll give you $100 if you can prove to me there is one mistake in the word of God’

‘If there is ever conflict between Science and Scripture, the problem must be on the science side’.

‘To withhold the rod is to put your hand in the hand of Satan and co-operate with him in sending your child to hell!’


‘Cults Sects and Questions’ is another of Ray Comforts late 70’s books (as I’ve indicated previously, frustratingly Ray didn’t deem it necessary to denote a date on any of these publications, but at I’m fairly sure this one was 1979)

Mercifully for yours truly it was an easier book to digest than the previous efforts I have reviewed.

This was because the format was broken down into Ray answering a series of self-imposed questions, one per chapter, 37 chapters over just 172 pages.

Major questions like ‘How can we know there is a God’? and ‘Where did God come from?’ intermingle with the less relevant & some of Rays ever-present pet hates ‘Rock Music’ and ‘Jehovah Witnesses’ – plus a new target ‘The Hare Krishna Movement’.

For anyone who is interested in cults and sects, the book would be a major disappoint to you, as it was to me. Cults fascinate me.

37 Chapters, just 7 were on cults and sects (I’ve included Mormons in that mix)

The way I approached the book was to go straight to the chapters, that interested me and see what Ray had to say on a whole range of poignant, deeply philosophical issues, and tackle them.

I have therefore spared you the evangelically orientated chapters like ‘Why do I need to go to Church?”, “What would you say is the key to successful Christian living?” etc.

So here we go, grab yourself a cup of coffee and an aspirin.

Most of the time I’m just repeating what’s written verbatim ,in an abridged form the original texts so we can get through the writings.

Trust me, this is enough.

My snide comments are in the brackets.

Chapter 1: ‘Where does God come from?’

We can not gaze into space and understand that space has no end. There is no brick wall at the end of space, because if there was, what would be behind the brick wall? It just goes on and on……never ending. The thought of infinity hurts my brain – I can not understand it [fortunately for mankind, those with bigger brains can] The Bible teaches us that God is eternal, without beginning and without end. We being finite, can not understand a world without time. Time is just a dimension that God has created and subjected man to [move-over Einstein, Rays in town] Eternity and infinity are too much for our tiny brains to comprehend.

Chapter 3: How can we know there is a God? Surely it’s naïve to believe in something you cannot see? [too bloody right!]

True we can not see God, but we can see the genius of God by works for His hands [if you can’t see him how can you be sure it’s a he and not the celestial version of a lady-boy from Phuket?] We can see by the order of creation that a Creator must exist; reason, logic and common sense point to that conclusion [even if science and that messy thing called evidence doesn’t] It is the epitome of foolishness to say our world with its seasons, weather patterns, trees, flowers, birds etc…was the result of some explosion in space of which our earth was a part [which bit of these scientifically quantifiable counter-arguments do you not understand there Ray?] How can we say that the human body “just happened” with no intelligent creator behind it? [earth to Ray, it’s because of guy called Darwin who explained the origins to mankind 150 years ago and advances in genome research shows us we are 98.3% identical to certain chimps] The motive for saying there is no God is deeper than just ignorance [Oh I see, for a moment I thought it was just me denying scientific evidence in place of religious rhetoric]

Chapter 8: Why does God allow evil?

Why does God allow evil? – quite simply, because if He punished it immediately I’m sure we would have been snuffed out the moment we were born. [God the infanticidal Judge Dread] God says our very thoughts are an abomination to him. If He punished sin immediately [the logical thing to do], there would be no one left [ death being Gods sole punitive option]

Footnote: Nowhere in this brief answer does Ray even attempt to answer the question posed.

Chapter 10: Why does God allow people to die of starvation?

Ten thousand people a day die of starvation, according to a United Nations survey. Thousands more die from disease daily: we have earth-quakes, floods. droughts and pestilence. These are only a few of the evidences which show us that something is drastically wrong with our relationship with our creator [and there I was thinking earthquakes were fault movements as the plates moved] All of humanity’s problems stem from rebellion to The Word of God. Since mans rejection of God we have lived in this fallen state, where our weather patterns are chaotic, animals devour each other [pray-tell how does a carnivore survive other wise?] our crops are diseased, and multitudes are suffering and dying from sickness and disease. These are stark reminders that what The Word of God says is true [if raining-down misery on mankind is part of your Gods providence, can I take a miss or choose another one?]

Chapter 13: Why is it that God doesn’t answer prayers?

It has been said that God always answers prayer. Sometimes He says “yes” sometimes he says “no” and sometimes He says “wait a while” [at statistically the same rate as praying to the moon or your favourite stuffed toy] Sometimes God will answer a prayer in a different way than we have first anticipated. [hey, that’s exactly what happens sometimes when I beg to my stuffed toy] The fact is, many of us pray for things that God knows would only hinder our walk with Him [like say a cure for cancer?] so for our own good He withholds them from us [die ya bastard!]

When we are first born into God’s kingdom we generally get our prayers answered immediately [there’s thousands of studies which prove this] but as we grow God teaches us patience by letting us wait.

Chapter 14: Why do Christians suffer?

Nowhere in the Word of God does God promise that living for Him will be easy. The fact is, Christians do have problems, they do get sick, but god heals us when we are sick and takes us through our problems [try telling that one to an amputee] The non-Christian suffers in vain, the Christians with a purpose [very reassuring I’m sure for a Christian suffering the ravages of disease]

Chapter 15: Why believe the Bible when it’s full of mistakes?

Show me one (mistake), I bet you can’t; in fact I’ll give you $100 if you can prove to me there is one mistake in the word of God [Leviticus describes bats as birds, Moses tell us insects all have 4 legs etc etc. But what the hell did a bunch of primitives know? And by the way is that USD or NZD? With the exchange rate the way it is I’d prefer it in USD, thanks Ray] There are plenty of seeming contradictions, but no mistakes. I not only believe it is infallible, but I believe every word of it, literally [in case the world hadn’t noticed] - for example about Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the whale etc. I believe it because I understand that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise [WTF are you talking about with this God creating foolish things?]

Read the book of Job for its scientific accuracies about the moon not having it’s own light, the earths free float in space, the treasures of the snow, Read in Isaiah 40, written 3000 years before Christ, about the earth being circular [ perhaps Galileo should have used it in evidence in his infamous heresy trial]

Chapter 16: Science tells us that the earth is millions of years old [make that billions] – doesn’t this conflict with the Bible?

In reference to this question I see no conflict between the Bible and science, because the Bible doesn’t say how long it was before Adam fell. Because there was probably no ageing or decaying process when man was first created [if you are flummoxed at this, think The Flintstones]
he may have been on this earth for millions of years before he sinned [throwing rocks at other units of chimps, I bet] Another thought [oh God no, not another one! Please no more, have mercy on the rational!] is that when God created man He would have created him with an appearance of age. If a biologist had appeared two minutes after man was created, he would therefore have judged the man was fully mature, probably about 30 years of age [I got the feeing he was making this up as well] The same process would apply to all creation. If a geologist had appeared on the scene two minutes after the creation of a mountain he would have said [using radiometric dating I’m presuming?] it was millions of years old, because it was created with an appearance of age.

If there is ever conflict between Science and Scripture, the problem must be on the science side.

[By now I was struggling, with the book, and went-out and walked the dog, to get some fresh-air]

Chapter 26: What about the heathen in darkest Africa who have never heard of the name Jesus Christ – surely they won’t be condemned to hell because of their ignorance?

Every person ever born has a conscience: we all know right from wrong and God will judge us all as we have lived in regard to that conscience. The Bible tells us every man will give an account to God. If you are really concerned about the heathen, become a Christian and go tell them yourself [ like say starting a syndicated Evangelical TV programme in a poor needy country like Mozambique , rather than California?]

Chapter 30: What authority is there for or against women being prominent in Church work?

There is no authority in the Bible for a woman to have a place of supremacy in the church. When she takes it she steps out of her right place. She goes against the plain teaching of The Bible when she takes the place of the authoritative teacher in the church. [get back in the kitchen bitch, and cook me some eggs]

Chapter 34: Recently in Sweden it was declared illegal for parents to physically discipline their children – do you agree?

In this chapter Ray writes, under the subheading ‘How to Chasten your Children’ the following pieces of Christian enlightenment and child-rearing tips, could be found …..

-Always inflict the punishment so as to make him cry. This sounds cruel, but if he doesn’t cry he will harbour anger and resentment [oxymoron time folks] Tears bring release.

- I realise that discipline is not easy; it must be consistent and it must start early.

- My own mother is always telling us how well behaved our children are, but little does she know how we got them that way! She would turn grey if she knew, I cane her perfect grandson, but she loves the result.

- The Word of God says that if a father provides all other necessary things to raise a child and yet fails to discipline him, the child is a bastard and may as well not have a father.

- To withhold the rod is to put your hand in the hand of Satan and co-operate with him in sending your child to hell!

As you can appreciate by the end I had well and truly, had a guts-full of this load of crap!

My blood pressure should be down by the end of the week.

Which weird religious practice is that?

As an atheist I am often bemused, and at times concerned, at the worrying excess’s of religious practitioners.

They get-up to some crazy shit.

As it happens even these devote believers, snigger & ridicule the idiosyncratic practices – but only when it’s not their brand of belief.

Yesterday a group of Auckland, Christians undertook a mock re-enactment of Christ’s crucifixion.

Some of those involved, took their job as Roman soldiers, far too seriously.

The poor guy playing Jesus Christ ended-up in hospital, sporting wounds from over-vigorous use of whips and crown of thorns.

For someone who doesn’t hold any superstitious beliefs, it’s hard to fathom what is going-on in these peoples minds.

What would drive someone to get so wrapped-up in their beliefs, they would ignore the not just the stupidity of what they are partaking-in, but more worryingly for their fellow humans, the suffering of others?

In the year 2009 no one seems to care, that somewhere on this planet fellow humans are at this moment flagellating, tattooing, jumping into fires, kissing rocks, immersing in water, wearing strange clothing etc – doing all sorts on nonsensical & demented stuff, all to get close to their God.

In India recently a 7 year old was married to a frog as part of a ritual to a rain-god.

This Indian practice would doubtlessly be deplored & ridiculed by Christians in this country.

But how can come these very same Christians ignore ‘talking snakes’, ‘people living inside whales’, ‘unicorns’ then symbolically eat their Gods flesh and drink his blood – and not think this is just as absurd as marrying pre-pubescent girls off to amphibians?

Christians see it as their ordained right (with money brings privilege) to go to all corners of the globe telling strangers “Our God is better than yours and unless you convert our all-powerful God will burn and torture you for eternity” and demanding they adopt their weird practices, in place of the existing weird practices.

Why does one group of religious fanatics believe-in say ‘Kaparot’, the Jewish practice of passing ones sins to a chicken, and not others, who laugh at the mere thought anyone could be so stupid, whilst ignoring their own foibles?

What could inspire an outwardly normal, educated Jew to believe in animal sacrifice?

Look at it this way, in my household Zombies movies rule. There is nothing better than returning from the video-shop with a good gory ‘intestine splattered’ zombie horror film, and watching-it with my teenage sons.

Whilst we males in the household derive perverse enjoyment watching the apololyptic visions of flesh-eating living-dead roaming the barren wastelands of earth, destroying civilisation itself – we know it’s a just a film.

Mere furtive creation, of some dark-humoured script-writer.

We know that the dead don’t come back to life.

Try telling that to The Christians!

So exactly how do Kiwi Atheists think and act?

This morning on the way to work, I came across a young-lady cyclist with a puncture.

Being a cyclist myself there is nothing worst than being left stranded, or having to walk any distance in cycle-shoes.

So I threw her racing-bike in the boot, rear wheel in the back seat, and off we went.

As it turned-out she worked only 500 metres from where I was heading, so it was no big deal.

The young lady was extremely thankful of the ride and me getting her to work on time, and as the conversation progressed she asked me why I picked her-up? To which I replied “One day that could be me on the side of the road and I’d like to think someone would assist me”.

Then from left-field she piped-up with “Oh I thought you were a Christian”.

Well as you can imagine, this statement bought forth raucous laughter and great merriment from a godless, heathen like me.

“I’m a rabid atheist” I replied forthrightly, trying to keep the car straight, tears of laughter still welting in my eyes.

“What could have made you presume I’m a Christian?”

“Well there’s a Church service leaflet on your floor”.

The penny then dropped.

She was a Christian, and naturally believed I was one too.

The presumption was in her mind - only a Christian could be nice to a stranger.

“Nah I said, that’s from my son’s choir on Sunday and he’s another non-believer as well”.

So to any Christians reading this, I’d be interested in your feedback on this scenario.

Do you think a Christian is more likely to act in a charitable way than an Atheist?

BIRTH CONTROL IS SINFUL IN THE CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES and also ROBBING GOD OF PRIESTHOOD CHILDREN!! - I TELL YA!

For time immemorial, Religion has tending to attract nut-cases of all colours, like ‘moths to a flame’.

To this considerable-list of the delusional and unbalanced, we now need to make an honourable mention, of a new Christian author called Eliyzabeth Yanne Strong-Anderson (for those of you with speech impediments, avoid pronouncing her name)

And just to prove it’s not just her name that is longer than current dole-queue’s, so is the title of her debut book.

BIRTH CONTROL IS SINFUL IN THE CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES and also ROBBING GOD OF PRIESTHOOD CHILDREN!!

The capitalisation and exclamation marks are all hers.

This heavy use of captalisation is key to Ms Yanne Strong-Andersons sales-pitch, if Amazon is anything to go by.

Try biting into this bio:

THIS IS A HOLYSPIRIT MANUSCRIPT BOOK: WHEN YOU BUY THIS BOOK YOU WILL BE READING A HOLYSPIRIT DIRECTED BOOK FROM GOD; & *CHRIST JESUS. THIS BOOK IS GODS HOLYSPIRIT VOICE: THE CALL FOR ALL CHRISTIANS & CHURCHES TO REPENT FROM ALL THEIR SINS: EVEN FROM FALSE CHRIST TEACHINGS. BIRTH CONTROL SINS HAVE CURSE THE CHURCH WITH SPIRITUAL WHOREDOM & FALSE WORSHIP. RESULTING IN THE PERSECUTIONS: AGAINST THE HOLY PEOPLE. THIS BOOK MAY BE REVISED: BECAUSE OF COMPUTER DICTATORS: MANY WORDS IN THIS BOOK: MADE HAVE BEEN CHANGED: TO>>DISCREDIT: THE AUTHOR. BUT IN TRUTH: I AM A HOLYSPIRIT CHOSEN ANOINTED DISCIPLE FOR GOD & CHRIST JESUS. EVEN FOR JEWS, MUSLIMS & GENTILE SINNERS. MANY PEOPLE WILL LEARN HOW TO> BECOME REAL BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN: THROUGH THIS HOLYSPIRIT BOOK & THROUGH THE PROTECTION & SUPPORT OF MY HOLYSPIRIT LIFE!! JOHN 3 & 15. ALL NATIONS WILL OVER COME THE SINS OF BIRTH CONTROL. *BECAUSE HOLY DOMINIONSHIP IS ONE OF THE FIRST COMMANDMENT IN GENESIS 1;26-31. ALL BELIEVERS: WILL COME TO A HOLY VOW OF REPENTANCE: THROUGH GODS RESTORATION & THROUGH GODS ADOPTION VOWS. YES!! THE KINGDOM OF GOD & HEAVEN!! IS AT HAND!! FOR ALL WHO BELIEVE IN THE ONE CREATOR GOD & CHRIST JESUS OUR HOLYSPIRIT ETERNAL LIFE SAVIOR: SURELY YOUR NAMES WILL BE WRITTEN IN THE LAMBS BOOK OF LIFE!! *WHEN YOU SUPPORT & PROTECT MY HOLYSPIRIT LIFE. WE ARE BRANCHES >JOHN 15 MY WEBSITE: http://groups.msn.com/ChristianPowerHealthProsperityAndSoulREMEMBER: GOD HAS MADE ME A HOLYSPIRIT VOICE FOR THE BRIDE OF GOD & CHRIST JESUS IN 1996 GOD TOLD ME TO TEACH THE GOSPEL ON CABLE TELEVISION IN TUCSON ARIZONA. *CONCERNING THE SINS OF THE CHURCHES: & CONCERNING THE>LACK OF GIVING TO THE POOR & ORPHANS: CHRISTIAN CHURCHES SHOULD: BUILD MORE:> WATER WELLS: & BUILD LOW INCOME HOUSINGS: MATTHEW 25 & ISAIAH 61.

Don’t fret Kiwi’s, this publication is available on Fishpond for the princely sum of $322.97.

At less than fifty cents a page, it’s a steal for any Christian couple.

But considering it's the equivalent of fifty jugs of beer, I'm giving it a miss.

Catholic Church Want Adult-Toy Billboard Banned.

Well boo-hoo, wop de f*ck, a Wellington billboard has upset the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, who want it down.

On the billboard advertisement for D.Vice designer sex gear, four parishioners are pictured in a church.

Three have their eyes closed, hands clasped, praying but the fourth, a woman, is smiling and below her is a tagline describing a sexual aid and its price.

The firm's marketing spokesman, Rene Bros, said the campaign showed people thinking about sex while doing everyday tasks such as ironing, going to the bank or attending church.

The underlying question to ponder first and foremost is: what business is a billboard of this nature, to a bunch of celibate old men?

Let us not forget, and stand-proud as a nation, basking in the knowledge New Zealand women are amongst the largest consumers of love-toys per head in the world.

Nice ‘garden-variety’ Catholic housewives form a significant part of that market, and keep Union Carbide’s shareholders happy as well.

Bishop Dew and crew need to remind themselves, the products of their ‘good Catholic education’, employ the likes of ‘chocolate body paint’ or ‘naughty bunny vibrating ring’ (pictured above) to enhance their sex lives, and nothing he says will change this.

Whilst the hierarchy of The Catholic Church, have long since given-up on what to do with their reproductive organs – the rest of us Kiwi’s haven’t.

To have some modern-day self-imposed eunuch, like Bishop John Dew, telling Kiwi’s the rights and wrongs of sex is the equivalent of a teetotaler arguing the relative qualities of single malts.

Doesn’t this bunch of old codgers with dog-collars, know every-time they utter platitudes of this nature, most New Zealanders laugh and ridicule them?

Isn’t it high time the Catholic Church employed a sharp media liaison officer, to vet what comes out into the media from Catholic Inc, to prevent mass (get the pun) amusement of the kind we have here?

On the D.Vice site I found, what initially I thought would be the perfect gift for Bishop Dew, to while-away those lonely nights, in his single bed.

Here.

But then after a more thorough inspection of the web-site, I rescinded that suggestion.

I later found something else I felt was more appropriate, for a man of his ilk (and no it isn’t a blow-up choir boy).

Here.

Atheism on the rise in New Zealand.

Reinforcing ‘the bleeding obvious’ a Massey University study of 1,000 students, published last week, shows there has been a sharp rise in the number of New Zealanders with no religious affiliation.

The study revealed 40 percent of students surveyed had no religious affiliation compared to 29 percent 17 years ago.

That’s a 38% fall in those of a religious persuasion in less than two decades, and at this rate of decline it will be sooner rather than later, when non-believers will form the majority of Kiwi’s and religious institutions will crumble.

In-fact only one third of respondents indicated they considered themselves ‘religious’.

When asked if they believed in God, 53 per cent said yes, but in a somewhat contradictory twist to their answers, half of those cast doubts on a ‘real interventionist’ God.

20 percent believed in some form of higher power and about third said they didn't believe or didn't know or care.

Fighting a rear-guard action and trying to put a positive-spin on the survey, Kiwi God-botherers highlighted the fact religion in New Zealand is on the decrease but belief in God has not diminished.

Having read the grim statistics and faced with falling patronage and aging adherents, N.Z Churches need to start facing the distinct prospect of Churches closing their doors.

Belief on God won’t pay for the staff ,it’s money in the Sundays plate.

Also organised religion in this country will soon find, that from this increasing pool of atheists, will come larger numbers of the more vocal and militant non-believers, who want to a truly secular country.

That’s people like me.

There will be more & more New Zealanders who want to end religious privilege and politicians will be forced to act accordingly.

Meet Australasia’s Biggest Sex-Offender: Catholic Father Denis McAlinden

Hard to believe, this is the smiling face of ‘evil’.

Press reports from Australia, indicate Father McAlinden’s grooming tactics, began with the archetypal ‘bag of lollies and chocolates’ and progressed from there.

McAlinden then found opportunities to be alone with his young victims for extended periods and molested them in his car or while getting them to sit on his knees in empty churches.

When opportunity arose, he was not adverse using the privacy of the confessional booth – a perfect vehicle for a deviate of his nature.

N.Z Truth Magazine (26th March 2009) describes McAlinden as “addicted to preying on girls under the age of 12”.

One victim said he stopped his abuse when she began menstruating, around 12.

The truth of the matter is Father Denis McAlinden is likely to have been Australasia’s worst known sex-offender.

Despite the scale of longevity of his criminal activities, McAlinden died in Western Australia in complete anonymity, whilst on the run from Police, unpunished for his crimes.

The true number of his Australian and New Zealand victims, and extent of his crimes, will never be known, but offences must surely number in the hundreds if not thousands.

Over his five plus decades of abuse, victims and their families repeatedly reported his offending to Catholic Church authorities in New South Wales and Western Australia.

The in-house ‘punishment’(if one can term it that) meted-out to their brother in Christ was to shuffle him ‘back & forward’ from his home diocese in Newcastle, NSW to Western Australia, Papua Guinea and then to the East Coast of New Zealand, via Hamilton.

No one in the Catholic Church on either side of the Tasman bothered to warn parishioners he was a predator and a threat to any child in his care, nor to take the obvious course of action.

That was to, report him to the civil authorities.

It took till 2007, two years after McAlindens death, for the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic diocese to publicly apologise for their 50 year policy of inactivity & remaining silent in the face of the overwhelming evidence. And, that was only after victims ‘went public’ and their lawyers came knocking.

Such is the magnitude & length of his offending, investigations have subsequently shown McAlinden had a ‘tainted record’ dating back prior even to his arrival in Australia from Ireland in 1949.

The now deceased Catholic Bishop of Waikato, Edward Gaines, surely must have known McAlinden was ‘a bad apple’ when he was shoved into his care for six months in 1984. By that stage McAlinden has been in no less than 10 different dioceses, all of which he was forced to leave 'under a cloud'.

For the current Catholic Bishop of Waikato, Dennis Brown (N.Z Truth Magazine, 26th March 2009) to belatedly express his indignatious “horror” at McAindens offending is to completely ignore the ‘public record’ and more to the point, the files that the his church (now facing civil action from victims) keeps from public view.

The very files Bishop Brown and his cohorts (plus their Corporate lawyers, well versed in defending cases of this nature, by now) well know exist, and would reveal the complicit role successive Bishops both here and in Australia had in this sordid affair.

The time for expressing “horror” was when the first of these complaints of ‘inappropriate touching’ was issued - less than a year after his arrival in Australia.

In case Bishop Dennis Brown, needs reminding that first known complaint was in 1950, thirty-four years before his name-sake in a dog-collar arrived in New Zealand.

Bishop Brown wants to take a reality check.

Father Denis’s dubious record, dating back three plus decades and more, must have ‘swept before him’ before his arrival to Hamilton, and it’s therefore hard to consider Bishop Gaines any less complicit in this cover-up than the three Bishops (1949-1995)in Australia overseeing him.

Unequivocally, half-a-centuries of allegations of abuse by Father McAlinden, were systematically ‘buried’ and stymied by The Catholic Church in both Australia and New Zealand.

By default victims were created by The Catholic Church, and then ignored.

The preservation of The Churches name was paramount - little else.

This fertile ‘hunting’ ground was exploited mercilessly by a heartless pedophile of McAlinden’s nature.

Given what we know, it is little wonder, Catholic Father Denis McAlinden gained the dubious distinction as Australasia’s Biggest Sex Offender, and the Catholic Church in Australia (including N.Z claimants) now faces paying millions-out in compensation.

If God is against Abortion, Pedophilia, Slavery, Racism etc why doesn’t he simply just say so?

Whilst doing my recent article on Adam and Eve, I came to the realisation, that the Christian Bible, turns a blind-eye to a whole range of what believers term sins, and what mainstream secular world often deems illegal practices.

Polygamy.

Abortion (not illegal in most countries, but clearly a bone of contention)

Pedophilia.

Illegal Drug taking.

The list goes-on.

The Bible deafly is silent on a whole raft of sins – unlike its followers, who come up with all sorts of erroneous ‘join the dots’ links to scriptural passages, to try and justify their stand based on ‘Gods word’ - when in reality there are no specifics.

Cobbling passages together and placing them under another banner, doesn’t answer the crux of this dissertation:

Why didn’t God didn’t simply come-out and say “Child Sex is not permissible” etc and put it down in print for the benefit of mankind??

Why not include one line to say “terminating pregnancy is not on”?

Another line to indicate “One wife is ample”?

Remember this is the God fella here, not some mortal who forgot to look at his research notes.

Therefore we need to ask ourselves - who made polygamy, abortion, pedophilia and drug taking etc, sinful?

Clearly not, the God geezer from The Bible.

Nor evidently for that matter, does the God bloke give a rats-arse about similarly un-important subjects like, contraception, slavery, racism etc.

Glaringly Mr God didn’t say “boo” directly on any of these themes and Christian theologians over the centuries, have been left instead to interpret and cut & paste where necessary – all to justify their stands on a gambit of ‘sins’ which mainstream society recognises as crimes/injustices - but for which there is sadly not one iota of direct mention in their holy book.

Conversely the God bloke had time in his memoirs to include things that are of greater concern to him personally, and clearly more relevant to the day-to-day existence of his playthings.

So instead of telling us not to enslave another human, priority in his best-seller, is given to more important matters at hand, like:

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord” [Deuteronomy 23:1]

“Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head”.[ 2 Samuel 16 or something]

"...do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear material woven of two kinds of material." (Leviticus 19:19)

“But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination." (Leviticus 11:10)

One can only conclude God chappy thinks it’s more important issuing sanctions on footwear and eating oysters, than child sex.