from Bill Henderson
Retired businessman and volunteer at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology
As a child my mother made me go weekly to Sunday school and I often
wondered about the truth in the stories we were told in the weekly lessons
about various miracles and so forth.
As a result of my perfect attendance I received a bible as a reward. I
began to read it and thus began asking questions my mother could not
answer. Among other things, why in the commandments, god says he will
punish people three or four generations down the line for the sins of
their grandparents and great grandparents. Not very rational, even to an
eight year old.
The more I read, the more I realized that the whole thing was quite
ridiculous. One thing especially, the core of the Christian religion rests
wholly on the alleged resurrection. The church we went to had a big banner
over the altar "If He is not Risen, our Faith is in Vain". Now if god
wrote (or inspired) the four gospels, why in the name of peace can't he
get the story straight? Read all versions of what happened after the
crucifixion up until the ascension into heaven, they are all different,
the number of witnesses, who saw what, who was there, when events took
place, etc. The only logical explanation is that the whole thing was made
up.
I could go on about the Bethlehem story, all the world being taxed by
Caesar, (just a minute, Nazareth was outside the borders of the Roman
Empire, thus not subject to a Roman tax) and why travel miles to pay
taxes, I am sure the Roman tax collectors were more efficient than that,
they surely came and collected and not expected you to travel miles across
the desert carrying sums of money. Highwaymen would certainly be aware of
all this and would have a field day. And if wise men came from the east
following a star, then the star must have risen in the west for them see
it as they traveled from the east, otherwise the star would be behind
them. No astronomical object rises in the west anyhow. But you get the
idea.
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