Jesus the Great Moral Teacher

       Having recently read through the four gospels in the Bible, this time as an atheist rather than as a Christian, I could easily see how Jesus was neither a great teacher nor a moral teacher, in fact many of his teachings are immoral. Sure, there may have been a few good things he taught, but first of all not all his "good" teachings were actually his own teachings, and second of all any of those "good" teachings are in the middle of a whole bunch of immoral horrible teachings. Saying we should listen to Jesus just because of a few good teachings and ignore his bad ones is like throwing high-end dessert into a pile of dog shit and saying we should still eat the dessert and just ignore the dog shit. Sorry, not happening.

     In this blog post I want to discuss some of the teachings of this teacher that has been hailed by western civilization as one of the greatest teachers that have ever lived. My hope is that you will easily see how Jesus is not only not a great moral teacher but in fact one could make a case that he was an extremely immoral one. Without further ado, here are the teachings of this great moral teacher:

    Jesus taught that if you do not forgive people their trespasses God will send you to hell for your trespasses. Jesus makes this clear as He teaches in the Lord's prayer to ask God to forgive us as we forgive others their trespasses, and then follows this by teaching that if we don't forgive others their trespasses neither will God forgive our trespasses (Matthew 6:9-15). If there is any ambiguity with this passage, as some attempt to create ambiguity by saying God simply doesn't have fellowship with believers who won't forgive others (even though that would be the same thing as going to hell after you die), Jesus even more strongly affirms this teaching in His parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35). This means no matter how badly someone has hurt you, even if someone has brutally tortured and murdered a loved one, or set your house on fire with everything in it, or burned your entire family alive in a gas chamber in Auschwitz, if you do not forgive them you will go to hell, and it doesn't matter how good of a life you have lived either, or how good you have been to other people, because somehow anything you have done that has not been up to God's standard has offended God just as much as you have been offended by somebody brutally murdering and torturing a loved one or gassing your entire family at Auschwitz. To have a standard this high for salvation, to require somebody to forgive after events as extreme as I just described to enter the Kingdom of God, and to completely ignore if they are actually good people living good lives, is clearly extremely unjust and cruel.

    Jesus followed the extremely unethical and immoral Old Testament Law and told others they must do the same to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus makes it abundantly clear that He came to keep the Old Testament Law, that the Old Testament Law will never go away, and that those who want to enter the Kingdom of God must obey the Law as well if they want to enter the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5:17-20). Jesus even criticizes the Pharisees, the religious teachers of the day, for not enforcing the Old Testament Law that a child that is rebellious and disrespectful toward their parents are to be stoned to death (Matthew 15:1-6). Keep in mind this is the same Law that states if a woman is defending her husband and grabs another man by the genitals her hand is to be cut off and she's to be shown no pity or mercy (Deuteronomy 25:11-12). This is the same Law that allows a man to force a woman to marry him after his army just slaughtered her entire family and country (Deuteronomy 21:10-14). It's also the same law that forces a woman to marry her rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). I imagine by now you get the point. Anyone that follows a Law like this and then teaches others they must follow this law as well is not a great moral teacher.

    Jesus says it is necessary to be as gullible as a child to enter the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17). When any teacher tells you that you have to be as gullible as a child to join their cult you should run the other direction as fast as you can.

    Jesus taught that those who abandon their families will be blessed (Mark 10:29-30; Luke 14:26-35). Yep, completely abandoning your families is totally fine if you are doing it to follow Jesus. He also explicitly tells others they must be so committed they don't even look back to make sure their families will be at least be taken care of before they leave (Luke 9:59-62). I think this one speaks for itself.

    Jesus taught that those who believe without actual evidence are more blessed than those that do (John 20:29). When Thomas the Apostle demanded to see Jesus in the flesh and actually touch Him to know for sure He was raised from the dead and finally does so, Jesus tells him those who don't see are more blessed than those who see. When a teacher tells you it is better to believe something on hearsay rather than on actual evidence it's time to walk the other direction, not to become more committed.

    Jesus taught that it's foolish to plan for the future (Luke 12:16-32). According to Jesus it's foolish to plan for the future, even to plan for things that are essential for living. Instead we should completely ignore these things and seek God and His Kingdom and trust God to provide for us. This is clearly one teaching the rich televangelists ignore.

    Jesus taught that if a man can't stop lusting after a woman with his eye or masturbating to the fantasy of being with her he should gouge out his right eye and cut off his right hand (Matthew 5:28-30). Since God created men typically with an incredibly strong, naturally built in sex drive He's going to judge men even for having the desire to have sex with a woman he is not married to, and hell is so bad you are better off cutting off your hand and gouging out your eye now to avoid hell. This is some pretty intense shit and unless Jesus was a eunuch I highly doubt He followed His own advice. 

    Jesus taught if a man divorces his wife the man forces HER to commit adultery (Matthew 5:32). Not exactly sure what the logic is behind the woman being guilty of adultery because of her husband's action, but given the misogyny found throughout the entire Bible I suppose it does make sense that it would blamed on the woman.

    There are other things, such as Jesus refusing to heal anyone that wasn't Jewish (Matthew 15:21-28; Matthew 10:5-6), or the fact He Himself was a liar (John 7:10, 18:20), or that infirmity was the result of sin (John 5:14), the fact the He came to bring division not peace, especially in families (Luke 12:53), or the fact that He was such a great teacher that He spoke in parables so people wouldn't understand Him (Luke 8:10-18). I trust by now you get the point. Anybody who teaches this much immorality and follows a law as immoral as the Old Testament is not a great moral teacher and is not someone that should be followed by anyone.

What Is Evolution?

    Evolution is a scientific theory often attacked by religious groups because it contradicts their belief that all animals and humans were created separately by God, and that humans are a special creation of God that are the prime focus of His creation. He created man to have a special relationship with them, and He values humans more than any other creation and has given humans rule over the earth. Because of religious beliefs there are lots of misunderstandings about evolution, both intentional and unintentional, and in this blog post I would like to make what evolution is easily understood for the layperson.

    

    So what is evolution? Simply put, evolution is the scientific theory that all living organisms (which are all organisms that share the self-replicating system of DNA) descended from a common ancestor. The original or universal common ancestor began reproducing through the self-replicating system of DNA, and over millions of years it has filled the earth with its wide variety of different offspring. This offspring includes things as different as humans, dogs, crocodiles, bananas, peas, etc. Yes, we share a common ancestor with bananas and peas, which have the same self-replicating system of DNA we have.

    How has a universal common ancestor led to such a wide variety of different living organisms? The original or universal common ancestor has led to such a wide variety of living organisms through an accumulation of genetic variations over millions of years. Genetic variation is simply changes in things such as bone mass, height, size, intelligence, strength, speed, etc. Generic variations happen when there are slight differences in the genetic codes of one organism compared to another one, or there is a mutation in a gene during reproduction. It is an accumulation of these genetic variations over many many many generations or over the course of millions of years that lead to the wide diversity of living organisms we have on our planet.

 

    What are ways genetic variations accumulate? So genetic variations are slight differences or mutations in the genetic code of one organism compared to another, and result in differences such as size, strength, speed, intelligence, etc., between individuals, but how do these genetic differences continue to accumulate through many generations and lead to a new species forming? There are four main ways evolution creates genetic variations that are then accumulated: natural selection, mutation, genetic drift, and gene flow. 

    Natural selection - Traits or features that allow an organism to survive longer than its peers and/or to reproduce more offspring than its peers continue getting passed on through many generations of offspring until it dominates the population of that organism. Many traits or features can be beneficial for passing on genes and over many many generations these traits or features can accumulate and form an entirely new species.

    Mutation - Errors can occur when an organism's genetic code is being copied during reproduction, and on rare occasions this can result in new beneficial features or traits that give an organism a survival advantage when then leads to natural selection taking its course.

    Genetic Drift - Certain traits or features come to dominate a population (typically a small population) sheerly by chance events, which could be due to natural disasters, things such as hungers, etc. (https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/natural-selection/population-genetics/a/genetic-drift-founder-bottleneck). If the traits or features that come to dominate a population through chance events prove beneficial, this could lead to an accumulation of genetic variations as the population increases and natural selection takes over.

    Gene Flow - When one population of a species migrates from one area to another and begins interbreeding with another population of the same species genetic variations are created. A practical example of gene flow would be if when European settlers arrived in the Americas they began interbreeding with the Native Americans. The Native Americans are now having the genetics of European settlers introduced into their gene pool and new possibilities for genetic variations are created, for example it may now be possible for there to be blonde hair and blue eyes in the Native American population where there wasn't a gene for that trait being passed through the population previously. (https://www.britannica.com/science/gene-flow)

    How do we know evolution is a fact? Evolution is bedrock scientific theory (theory meaning it has been observed and tested repeatedly and confirmed more strongly every time), and due to the nature of the evidence supporting evolution it would be nearly impossible for the entire theory to be overturned. Four lines of evidence that could have easily been the death knell for the theory of common ancestry but have instead strengthened the theory are homology, genetic evidence, the fossil record, and geographical distribution. (https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/her/evolution-and-natural-selection/a/lines-of-evidence-for-evolution)

    Homology - If certain species have evolved from a common ancestor one would expect to find similar features or bone structures that are clearly the same but have been adapted and changed for different purposes. This is clearly seen in that humans, whales, bats, and dogs all have the same forelimb that has been adapted and changed for different purposes, such as walking (dogs), swimming (whales), holding things (humans) and flying (bats). The forelimb of all of these species has the same bone structure and five digits at the end of the forelimb, despite how widely different these forelimbs are used. 

    Genetic Evidence - First, all living organisms share the same self-replicating system of DNA, something that would be necessary in order for common ancestry to be viable and so would be expected under the theory of evolution. This one simple piece of evidence could have completely eradicated the idea of common ancestry among all living organisms once and for all if every species or most species had a unique form of self-replicating genetics that were incompatible with the self-replicating genetics of other organisms.

    Second, the more recently organisms have split from a common ancestor the more similar genes in their gene pool will be, and the more distantly organisms have split from a common ancestor the more differences there will be in the genes of each organism's gene pool, due to there being more time for mutations and genetic variations to occur in each organism's gene pool. How closely related organisms are can be traced through the similarities and differences in the genes of two organisms' gene pools. If two species inherited the same gene from a common ancestor, for example, the more similar that gene is in each species' DNA the more closely those species are related. Genetics can then reflect and more strongly affirm the evolutionary paths one would expect to see among different living organisms if they evolved from a common ancestor. 

    The Fossil Record - Organisms die and become fossilized in rocks, and over time those rocks become covered with other rocks above them that later animals are then fossilized in, and this continues on for millions and millions of years and creates the geological layers we have today. The order and change of species from the oldest rocks on the bottom to the newest rocks on the higher layers reflects the evolutionary path of common ancestry one would expect to see if evolution were true. One can see the path of organisms evolving into other organisms over time through the different layers of rocks. This could easily have dismissed evolutionary theory as well had the rocks had no special order of fossils from the oldest to the newest, and all living organisms (including some that are alive today) are spread out haphazardly together among all the layers.

    Geographical Distribution - If common ancestry were true one would expect to see unique species on isolated islands or continents because their ancestral species became isolated on that island or continent and evolved uniquely to survive in that specific environment. For example, with common ancestry one would only expect to see Marsupials in Australia and nowhere else in the world because the common ancestor of Marsupials became isolated on that continent by water and led to the all the Marsupials that live in Australia today.  One would not expect to see Marsupials all over the world because their common ancestral species was isolated to Australia and the common ancestor of Marsupials evolved uniquely in response to that environment it was isolated to.

I hope this helps those who read it better understand evolution and why it is a scientific fact. Understanding evolution is important because it helps give us an objective way to look at the relationship of our species to all other species and to have an accurate view of the reality in which our species lives. We cannot have a fully formed and healthy worldview without being fully informed of how the reality within which we live works.