This man,
Russ Bellville, tells about finding his way out of Christianity step by step as he encountered contradictions beginning in childhood. He makes connections between a screaming child in the grocery store put in line with a threat from his mom about getting nothing from Santa Claus and threats of hellfire from Christian authorities to church youth they wanted to keep in line. He says "I must have been about twelve years old when I figured out that God did not exist." As an adult he became what he calls a "positive Christian atheist.
Russ wrote:
As A Positive Christian Atheist, I believe there was a black man ("skin like brass, hair like wool", go find it in your Bible) who lived around 2000 years ago in Judea. He taught people that they should love each other and treat each other well. He spoke in theistic words and metaphors of the time to illiterate people with no understanding of science. Then, for raising a rebellion against rich merchants, the government executed him. Afterwards, his fan club became a cult, made up some fantastic stories about wine making and water-walking, started lots of wars, and killed many people because they didn't believe the exact same set of fantastic stories.
I searched till I found the description of the black Jesus. It's in Rev. 1:14-15. I will quote verses 12-15:
Today's New International Version wrote:
12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
Quite a few versions of the Bible say his head and his hair were white, but a number of others say the hair of his head was white. If the hair and head were white, this raises the question: What is meant by "head"? Does it simply mean the colour of his hair or does it include the colour of the skin of his face, neck, and ears? If the latter, how do we account for his bronze-coloured feet? In previous readings I had assumed this was a visionary man like we read about in Daniel, whose feet were made of different material than his head. However, Russ Bellville obviously was not reading it that way. For this reason, I quoted a version that says the "hair on his head was white."
Regarding the Bible and God, Russ says, "I believe if you need a book and a God to divine wrong from right, you lack or ignore a basic empathy for others." For him, "God is ancient shorthand for life, the universe, and everything." He goes on to say:
Quote:
I believe in your right to have faith in any story or gods you choose, but I will not refrain from pointing out something silly, contradictory, or just plain sinful from my point-of-view. I believe we'd all get along better if we kept the god stories to ourselves and solved our problems with reason and reality with which we all can agree.
For more on Christian Atheism, see the following links:
Christian Atheists
Athiests for Jesus
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