Copyright: September 1999
By: Thomas E. Blaylock, Jr.
U
pdated: 03/15/05
 
 

CHAPTER 5

BELIEF VERSUS DOUBT

            Believers say doubt is negative and faith or belief is positive. Honest Clear Thinkers cannot accept such a statement until they look at the facts. We must prove it one way or the other. The believers could be correct. If they are right, we desire to be conducting our lives according to the facts and the truth. So let's find out the truth about this matter.

            To begin, one needs to understand the meaning of the word - Belief. One way to understand Belief is to look at it from the standpoint of popular usage. There are two main ideas incorporated in the word Belief. We shall call them Belief (1) and Belief (2) and we will separate them.

            Belief (1) is the emotional attachment to and the acceptance of, an idea, claim, or concept that has been accepted as true because of the authority that said, "It is true." It is true because of who (or what) made the claim. Thus, Belief (1) is usually applicable only to opinions and beliefs held by people who have accepted some authority as telling the truth in the areas of religion, politics, science and other emotionally charged fields.

            Belief (2) is used by many people that do so without thinking. They apply the word "Belief" to a Conclusion that has been arrived at by observation, experimentation, knowledge and logical thought. However, in some peoples' mind, Belief (1) and Belief (2) become confused. They cannot or do not separate them in their thinking.

            For instance, someone will say, "I am a Believer and so are you. You do believe the bridge ahead of us will hold up under the weight of the traffic on it, don't you? You will test your Belief by driving over it. When you get to the other side, your Belief will have proven true. Right?"

            Wrong! My Conclusion will have proven true. Consider this. The bridge is well built. I have driven over it many times and there is absolutely no evidence to indicate the bridge is not safe. I do not "Believe" the bridge is safe. I conclude the bridge is safe based on experience, observation and logical thought. That is a conclusion!

            What some wrongly call "Belief" is really Belief (2) and is a logical conclusion based on the known facts. Thus, Belief (2) is in reality a Conclusion (not a belief). Belief (2) demonstrates the use of Honest Clear Thinking.

            People often use the term "Belief" when they are actually referring to Belief (2). Even though such usage is passable common English, it is not acceptable for our purposes in discussing Belief verses Doubt. We must be clear in our language so we may better understand and better transfer information from one brain to another.

            So, whenever the term "Belief" is used, in our context (in this book), it is referring to accepting a statement or claim as true on the basis of who said it, or who wrote it. It is accepting a claim as true because of the authority that said, "It is the truth." That is the definition of Belief (1).

            We wholeheartedly agree with Belief (2). It is based on logical Clear Thinking. We do not accept Belief (1), which is based on authority. It would be much clearer for you and those with whom you speak, if you stopped using the terms "Belief or Believe" when you are actually referring to Belief (2). Instead, use the word conclude, or many other specific words such as: deduce, reason, judge, reckon, opinion, presume, infer, decide, gather, think and other words that are more in keeping with the meaning you are trying to convey. In the same manner and for the same reason, the word "Faith" should also be divided into Faith (1) and Faith (2).

            So let us examine Belief (1) referred to simply as "Belief" for the rest of this book. Do you believe two plus two equals four? You are looking for the catch aren't you? No! You don't believe two plus two equals four. You know it! Do you believe two hundred and thirty-seven plus four hundred and thirty-nine equals six hundred and sixty-six? Certainly not! To believe that is foolishness. So, you add it up. Either it is, or it is not. You do not have to believe, you Can know! So how much is it? Check the facts. (Now, do you see what I mean?)

            When we get to religious math, something very strange happens. We are asked Not to add it up. We are told religious math and the answers are a matter of faith and belief. To honestly doubt and check up on religious math is to err. To err is to commit a terrible sin. Men have been burned at the stake, beheaded and died in jail for adding it up. So have women. Religion is an equal opportunity persecutor.

            Do you need an example of religious math? One plus one plus one equals one. God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost equal one. You can also add up the genealogies in the Bible and find God created the world a bit over six thousand years ago (4004 BC to be more exact). We know that is false and in error. There is a lot more in the Bible that does not add up.

            In the flood story, Genesis 6:19 says God ordered Noah to take two of every living thing into the ark. But later, God changed his mind and in Genesis 7:2 he ordered Noah to take seven of every clean beast into the ark. Does God really change his mind? Or was the writer trying to integrate two different genesis stories? Genesis 7:8, 9, 14, 15 said Noah only took two of each beast into the ark. Did Noah disobey God? Now the figures do not add up correctly. Someone was confused about how many of each kind of sheep, cow, goat and such should go into the boat. Was God confused? Was it Noah? Could the Ghost have been mistaken? Could it be the religious reporter who wasn't there who was mistaken?

The concept of clean and unclean animals did not surface in Hebrew writings until After their captivity in Babylon (long after the supposed flood, around 350 BC.).

            The story records the exact Words and plans from God. God Said Noah was to build the ark three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. The Hebrew cubit is eighteen inches measured from inside the forearm to the fingertips. So, the ark was four hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide and forty-five feet high (about the size of the Queen Mary). Think about the size of this ship! Noah must have been a king, or a very rich man.

            In one place, the reporter tells us the flood covered the whole earth and all the mountains. In an Earlier place, a different reporter measured the flood. He said the waters rose fifteen cubits high, according to this other reporter. That adds up to twenty-two feet and six inches high. Now that doesn't add up to covering the mountains. Was the tallest mountain only twenty-two feet high back then - about 2348 BC? Ask your local geologist. (See Chapter 28 for details on the flood.)

            Some have suggested the Hebrews used the Egyptian cubit, which is twenty-two and one half inches. If the Egyptian cubit was used, then the flood reached the great height of twenty-eight feet one inch. That is hardly a mountain-covering flood. The animals were in the boat over a year in one place and less than half a year in another place. Which of these religious numbers are correct? Are they both wrong?

            Some more of these religious numbers are found in several stories about King David. 1 Chronicles 22:14 claims King David had more gold than has ever been available at one time in all nations, past and present. Did God tell David to number the people as told in the second chapter of Samuel 24:1, or did the Devil tell him as told in another place (1 Chronicles 11:1)? What was this religious reporter thinking?

            Genesis 5:27 says Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty nine years - well past the flood. Yet, the Bible tells us only eight people were saved from the flood and Methuselah was not one of them. Did Methuselah build his own boat and hide from the Holy Ghost? Or did the reporter get the wrong information and religious numbers from the Ghost - again? Or from some other place? Which account is in error? Are both wrong?

            In Genesis 46:23, Dan is reported to have had one son. In four generations, that family numbered sixty-two thousand, plus servants. If Dan had fifty sons and each son had three wives, he could not have made it. You figure it out, I can't. I don't understand religious numbers.

            There are conflicting genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1:16f and Luke 3:23f that do not add up separately or together. According to the genealogies (both accounts added together) each ancestor would have had to be more than sixty years old before they had their firstborn. Added separately they would be very, very old. The accounts are badly inconsistent. Read them for yourself. One or both are wrong. Some professors say one account is the kinfolk of Mary and the other is the kinfolk of Joseph. Have some fun! Ask them, "Which one is Mary's and which one is Joseph's?” And don't forget to ask, "Why?" And be sure to back up two or three steps.

            There are numbers given for army troops in the hundreds of thousands. In some numbers, the population would have had to be hundreds of millions to recruit such armies, not to mention food and supplies. There was not enough farmland for hundreds of miles to support such numbers. Remember, the other side had to have about the same number on their side too.

            There are prophecies that do not add up. There are simple accounts of troops, of populations and even of family members that do not add up. In one place, one figure is given. In another place where the same events are being described, totally different figures are given. There are hundreds of examples. But for now, think about how many beasts went into the ark, how long was the ark on the water, how high was the water, how old were certain men when they died, when did men have their first born and how much gold is there in the world? All are given different figures in different sections of the Bible. And yet, each section claims to be giving us the true history of these events. The Holy Ghost inspired them all. Is the Ghost confused? Were the religious reporters and writers confused? I know I am confused.

            The believers tell us that we must believe all the Bible stories. When the same event is described in more than one place and totally different outcomes of battles or prayers are related, which account do we believe? Are we supposed to believe those stories that are so obviously in error? Do we believe the one account and forget the other? Which account must we believe when we have discovered the truth that neither are correct? Does God expect us to believe the unbelievable and not use our minds to honestly doubt or think? What do you think?

            The problem with belief is first, one of semantics. We have been taught by religion to wrongly use the term - believe. We have seen that you should never use the term "believe" when you know something to be a fact. You say, "Two plus two equals four," period. Never say, "I believe" when you know something is so. If you do not know something as a proven fact, you say, "I have been told,” "I read,” or "It seems to me." Keep it honest.

            The second problem is people have been taught by religion to use the term "I know" when they really mean, "I believe,” or even a lesser more tenuous term, "I hope." You will hear terms like, "I know God lives. I know I am saved. I know God guides me. I know the Bible is the infallible Word of God. I know God answers prayer." "To know" can be correctly applied Only to proven facts. This book will examine all these "I know" and more, so you can know for sure which are facts and which are fictions.

            For a moment, we are going to go flying off on a tangent. What is the difference between the man who goes out and preaches on the street corner because God told him to do it and the man who knifes a prostitute on that same corner because God told him to do it?

            What is the difference in the man who says, "God called me to preach" and the one who says, "God called me to kill?" One will receive pay and praise for his call. The other will get condemnation and perhaps death for his call. Are they both recipients of God's voice? Did only one really hear God's voice in his head? If so, which one? Did one hear God and the other one hear the Devil in his head? If so, how could they tell the difference?

            Have we not been given a brain to Judge (Honestly Doubt) these voices in the head? Did neither of them hear God speaking inside his head? Does God speak inside of a person's head? What does God sound like? How can you know it is God? When we are ordered today by our leaders to kill the un-Godly enemy because God so wills it, are we being lied to? You be the judge!

            So back to the subject. I read in the Bible where God ordered warriors from the land of Israel to go down into a little town below Israel and kill all the people. The orders were specific. The prophet Samuel said, "Thus saith the Lord,” go down to this town and destroy it totally. Kill all the men, women, children and beasts (1Sam.15:1-8).

            In another place, God said the warriors could save some of the maidens who have not known a man - for a spoil. That is, for the purpose of intercourse and sexual slavery (Num.31:17-40). Another similar account says, “Happy are they who bash the heads of the babies against the wall.”

            Those same types of orders were given by God, not once, but many times. Examine this example from the book Samuel. Suppose you were not an honest thinker, but you were an ardent worshiper of the Jewish God. A few Friday nights ago, the same prophet of God preached to the people the word from God. It said, "You shall do no murder." Now if you go down and bash in the heads, is it murder if God said to do it? Would it be murder if God did not say, "Go down and do it?" Would you be doing wrong if you went down and did it, or would you be doing wrong if you refused to go down? Think of the dilemma an Honest man must have faced. One way or the other he must disobey God. But perhaps he is concerned so he asked, "Why must I go down?" Someone must have asked that question because the answer to the question is given.

            They were to go down and destroy that town because over four hundred years in the past that little town's forefathers refused to let the Hebrew people march through their grain fields and harvest as they went. That is like you being punished for something your forefathers did back in 1575 A.D. in England, Africa or Germany or wherever. Did God really say that? Is God really that unjust? Is God really that small minded? I doubt it.

            Here is where the Clear Thinker and the believer part company. The believer says, "Maybe God knows something I don't know. Maybe God has changed his mind. I will follow his latest instructions. He asked me to go bash in the heads so I will go down and bash in the heads." The believer rates Belief and faith higher than he rates Honest Thinking and the moral facts of the matter. He does what the holy men tell him to do. He obeys his authorities. Why? The believer believes that by some magic the holy man heard from God in his head. He believes! Belief to the believer is more important than truth, morality and honest thinking. Indeed, he is convinced, Belief IS the truth. His authorities cannot lie. Is it a proven fact that holy books, prophets, priests and preachers do not lie?

            The Clear Thinker, on the other hand, Honestly Doubts. First, he doubts God could change his mind so rapidly from "Do no murder" to "Please do murder." Second, he doubts God is so cruel and unjust that he would punish the twenty-third generation for the doubtful sins of the first. Third, he doubts the prophet actually heard God in his head. Fourth, he doubts the reason people are being asked to go down there and bash in the heads. Fifth, he doubts God would be aiding and abetting rape and slavery.

            After all, the outcome of the massacre was that Israel absorbed the new land and made it their own. Was this really what God wanted all along? Or was it what the prophet wanted?

            All things considered, the Clear Thinker has a higher, more moral opinion of God than do those who claim to believe in God.

This will hold true in the Old Testament, the New Testament and in the present day. One needs to think "Honestly" about these things.

            Belief is basically a lack of knowledge. It is accepting as true what someone else tells you is true. Belief is accepting something from an authority that one would probably not believe if he saw it with his own eyes. Here is an example. If the most pure and devout girl you ever knew told you here and now she was pregnant by the Holy Ghost of God, would you believe her?

            If you saw someone, through your own eyes, walking on the water, would you believe it was a miracle of God interfering in the physical function of matter on this earth? Or would you think that it was a scientific illusion or trick?

            If you saw a man at a party draw a bucket of water, pour it into a big crock, mumble some words over it and start dipping out wine, what would you think? Why, most likely you would think he was a very clever magician. Not once would you believe it was really happening as the result of supernatural interference into the natural properties and processes of the cause and effect of Nature and matter.

            My father was an amateur magician and had the equipment to perform this trick. In front of large audiences, I have seen him do it with my own eyes (of course, he used cheap wine).

            Why then will some people believe something that was Rumored to have happened two or three thousand years ago? If they saw it happen today with their own eyes, they would Honestly Doubt it was some sort of supernatural happening.

            The answer to these questions is, most religious people do not Really believe all the Bible stories. What they do is they act and defend these stories as though they do believe them. They are afraid to admit their honest doubts. They are afraid to admit their daughter or wife had an abortion, or that they think the priest or minister is not telling the truth. If they really believed the Bible stories and doctrines, they would be plucking out their eyes, cutting off their hands and stoning their children to death (not in that order of course). They would be leaving their family and property to preach. They would be giving all their money to the poor like the Bible of the Ghost says to do.

            Most honest thinking people want some type of proof if they are told that by believing certain things it will make a difference where they spend eternity. But most non-thinking people do not wish to look for proof. Deep down they know that what they have been taught by their religion is so immoral, so confusing and in such conflict with science and other religious teachings, that two such conflicting claims could not possible be true. The facts of science entirely disprove most of the religious claims. Proof that one of the doctrines was really true would conflict and weigh against the truthfulness of some of the other doctrines. Christians have a name for this behavior. They call it hypocrisy.

            For instance how could God be a just God and send little babies to hell because an ignorant or careless parent had failed to see that the baby had been properly baptized with the correct magic formula? Or how could an all-wise God send a bad man to heaven because he said he believed in Jesus Christ and send a good man to hell because he had never heard of Jesus Christ? How could a just God send a good man to hell because he Had heard the gospel but could not believe it because of all the confusion, chaos and unbelievable claims surrounding it?

            How could an all-good and all-wise God make a super brain for man and then refuse to let him use it to find out the honest truth about all these religious claims?

            When an outsider questions one of the doctrines of the believer, the believer seems to get mad or he leaves. In the final show down, all the believer can say is, "the Bible says," or "the church says," or "the priest (or the minister) says.” Sometimes he will even say, "God says.” In other words, he can only appeal to some authority. He can never appeal to logic, facts, or reason. There are no proofs! But he says, "You must believe and not doubt."

BELIEF HANDICAPS THE MIND AND STAGNATES HONEST THINKING.


            The real problem here is, not even one proven eyewitness wrote a single word of the Bible (we will see this later). So in order to believe, one must ignore the fact that no one knows who wrote a single original word of the Old or New Testament. It is extremely difficult to hazard a guess at when the various books were first written or compiled. No one knows for sure. One can only guess at when revisions were made and consider the myths surrounding the books. It is Known that the stories were copied from other earlier pagan and Jewish religious books and rewritten many times with additions and deletions made each time.

            When one has read both the Bible and church history, it is very difficult to believe a God died for man. The appearance of the matter is men are dying for the Gods in wars, massacres, executions, persecutions, inquisitions and tortures to this very day and even from the earliest of times. Could a good and just God have ordered all these modern abuses and horrors that have been credited to him by the church in the last two thousand years, even up to this very day? If a good and just God did not order these Modern abominations credited to him in modern church history, who then ordered these Same abominations in the Bible stories and histories?

            After the Bible was compiled in 325 AD, the new church claimed God ordered them to do these murders and abominations, which they promptly did. Is this a lie? The Catholic Church now admits it was Not God who ordered these abominations. The church has held new belated trials to vindicate some of the wronged (dead and tortured) victims. They admit it was wrong (a sin) when the church ordered these evils in the past. Is it not also possible that all the same abuses and horrors that have been credited to God in the Bible are made up out of the same stuff that makes up modern church history? Can God possibly be as Bad as the Bible and church history paints him? Is God that vicious and vindictive? I honestly doubt it! God must be better than the Bible and the church histories portray him! If God is like the Bible and church history show him to be, then he is a Devil, not a God.

            For their own reasons, many men and women have said God has spoken to them. Many claim to know what is on the Mind of God. God talked to them. The problem is, these men and women in the present and in historical times, never could agree with each other. God always spoke one message to one person and a contradictory message to someone else. Does God have that much trouble making up his mind? Does God need a computer to help him keep his promises, prophecies and pageantries straight? Or is someone lying about hearing from God? Are two or more writers lying to us?

            You have all heard the expression, "Taking the bitter with the sweet.” That is what religious believers must do. Their Bible tells them God loves them. They like the sound of that so they accept it and believe it. That is the sweet.

            But their Bible also tells them, women are not to speak or teach in the church. They ignore that. They don't believe it! They don't practice it. That is the bitter. Yet, that too is in the Bible that they claim to believe. How can a Twenty-first century woman believe in a book, which instructs men that women have no mind to speak and no morals to teach? How can they trust a book that teaches that women should be subjected to servitude, third class citizenship and whose only legitimate function in life is to be a mother to her children and a slave to her husband?

            The believer's Bible tells them God forgives their sins. They believe that. It is like getting a “get out of jail free” card, or getting your reckless driving ticket "fixed" because Daddy is the judge.

            But the same Bible also tells them God lies to his people. The reason given is that hearing God's lies, the people might believe the lie God told. The purpose of the lie is to deceive the hearers of the lie who will believe it and act upon it. By acting on the lie, they will sin and thus God can legally punish them for their sin. That is, give them everlasting torment in hell (Ez 14:9, 2Chr 18:22, 2Thes 2:11-12). They don't like that. It is part of the bitter to be forgotten, to be ignored, to be hidden. (Later we will discuss God's admission that he lies.) Do they believe God made the world from nothing in six days, or made a woman out of a man's rib, or an iron ax head floated, or an ass talked? Do they believe pants and shoes lasted forty years? - In the desert yet?

            In my estimation, one of the most vile things that man can do to man is to own one another. I am talking about slavery! Yet, of all the books known to man, none tells in more detail how to buy and sell slaves, or how to treat them than the Bible. It even tells how to go about selling your own children and family into slavery. It admonishes the slave to be obedient and loyal to his master, even if the master is cruel and beats the slave. Not one line, not even one word, is written in the Bible against slavery. That is some more bitter that must be taken with the sweet.

            Not many years ago, however, many people believed that part of the Bible. Even many slaves believed it! But thank goodness, the Honest Clear Thinkers did not believe it. They Honestly Doubted that God and the Bible of the Ghost were right on the subject of slavery.

            We see that:

BELIEF defended slavery.

            DOUBT condemned slavery.

            BELIEF said God supports slavery.

            DOUBT said no good or just God could or would support slavery.

            BELIEF said some are ordained to be slaves, some masters.

            DOUBT said compassion, morality and common sense forbids slavery.

            BELIEF said the Bible is God's word.

            DOUBT said no Good or Just God would claim it.

            BELIEF said God cursed the woman. She must bear her children in pain.

            DOUBT said we love our women. Let's make it easier for them. Thus were reborn anesthetics (the ancients had anesthetics). The clear-thinking inventor and his patients suffered tortures, fines and imprisonments (as late as the 19th century) by the ruling power (the believers).

            BELIEF said the earth is flat.

            DOUBT said why do mountains disappear from the bottom up when we sail away?

            BELIEF said the earth is the center of the universe.

            DOUBT said let's find out. Thus, astronomy was reborn. Again, clear-thinking astronomers were imprisoned, tortured and killed by the believers.

            BELIEF said man must follow the code of ethics set in the Bible. So, church and Bible beliefs became men's laws.

            DOUBT said the Bible is unjust. Thus were born civil laws, civil courts and a reasonable justice for all men, religious as well as nonreligious. No longer could one or two priests condemn a man for any reason, religious or otherwise, without a fair trial in front of a group of his peers - a victory for Clear Thinkers.

            BELIEF said man must return to innocence. Only a select few may be educated; that is, priest, scribes and a few favored others. The church destroyed universities and libraries all over the Western world. Some had been open for more than a thousand years under non-Christian governments. They had the knowledge of accumulated ages. There was also another reason for this destruction, as we will see later. The church was trying to hide its own past while selling its new version of its past history.

            DOUBT said education is for anyone who wants it and can absorb it. So, doubt began the public school and university systems. Thus began the age of Enlightenment.

            BELIEF said sickness is caused by sin, Satan and God.

            DOUBT said let's find out the facts. Clear Thinkers started the age of modern medicine and hospital care was reborn. These are all facts of history that you already know, or should spend some time finding out.

            BELIEF said the United States must be a nation governed by the rules of God and the church. That is, the people must do as the church and Bible says. So, Belief wanted a theocracy, a religious dictatorship controlled by the church and its leaders. (Nothing has changed.)

            DOUBT said the people themselves must govern the United States and religion must be totally separated from the governing process. Thus, our Free Republic was born but only because the various religions in this country did not trust each other enough to unite against the Clear Thinkers, known then as Deists. Does this tell us anything? Today, believers are still trying to unite to take away our freedoms.

            Now you can begin to understand. Honest Doubt and Clear Thinking is an active and positive force in this world. Honest Doubt has truth and mankind's welfare as its uppermost concern. Belief, on the other hand, is passive and negative. Belief does not have the best interest of mankind as its central theme. Belief concentrates on enlarging its own population, power, prosperity and property and seeks to censure and dominate those who disagree with its unbelievable and ungodly concepts.

TO BELIEF, HONEST DOUBT IS A DIRTY WORD.
TO HONEST DOUBT, BELIEF IS A DIRTY WORD.

            The Clear Thinker honestly doubts a good God could be as hateful and hurtful to man as the Bible claims. He doubts God would order his church to teach slavery, war, ignorance, hostility and cruelty. Above all, he doubts an all Just God could or would give man a brain and then punish him for using it to logically and honestly search for the facts and truth about these matters of morals, ethics, religion and social relationships.

            The Clear Thinker further doubts an all wise God could condemn forever and ever, men and women who used their minds to find out if what people say about God is true or false. He doubts such an unjust God as the Bible describes could exist.

            For those in authority, in government, business, or church, Belief is a powerful Weapon. Belief is the whip of authority used to enslave the minds and bodies of the gullible and those who are too weak minded, or too lazy to think for themselves.

            Belief is a Weapon used to badger gullible men and women into doing the will of the manipulators of religion, government and business.

            Clear Thinkers hate slavery of the body by anyone. They doubly hate slavery of the mind. Yet, the salvation and humanization of believers is only one honest thought away. Only one honest doubt separates the Clear Thinkers and the believers. Honestly answer this question and you will know in your own mind if you are on the road to being an Honest Clear Thinker - or a Believer.

Can God be as Bad as the Bible claims?

            Belief (or Faith) always has been and always will be the enemy of Honest logical thought. Since it is Honest Logical Thought that has given us our freedoms, it is easy to see, Belief and Faith are not our best friends. Belief and Faith are constantly trying to take away our freedoms and substitute the authority and rule of the Bible and church. Belief seeks to put its doctrines and practices in the place of our freedom, our good morals and our common sense. Belief is tyranny of the mind and the body. (This is to be dealt with later.)

            Hardly anyone understands even a small portion of the religious doctrines, even the holy men. Neither can they reconcile the various claims of their own doctrines. However, the holy men tell us we must take these doctrines on Faith. No matter how lacking in evidence, common sense, morality, or credibility, we must Believe that the Bible, the priest, the minister, or the rabbi tells us the truth. We must do so without one small particle of evidence that the statements are true. How could Mary produce babies and still be a virgin? How could a priest or minister give you a bath on the outside and claim that your present and future insides (sins) have been washed clean by a Just God? That is, regardless of what you do later.

            The leaders of the church speak like this: "God has guided me to speak to you today on baptism." Is that a truth? How did God do that? "I had this conviction that today I must speak on baptism." By “conviction,” they mean they had a Belief that entered their heads. My answer to that is this: Maybe your God has guided me to write and speak to you on the Clear Thinking philosophy. Who will believe that? No one. Why? It is not a religious claim.

            If it were a Religious claim, some would believe it. If I said that God asked me to write this book for you, some would believe it. If a Clear Thinker made such a claim, everyone would know at once he was lying and should not be trusted. Why then do we believe the same claims made by the holy men? Such claims are only made by and to believers. How do you know if your God's patience might not be at an end? Is it not possible that your God is more concerned with mental and moral development - and truth for mankind, than he is for gullibility (believing) and playing worship (church)? Maybe God does love you and is sending these words of truth to you so you may now have freedom to develop and evolve into super humankind. I do not know. Do you? I have not heard a voice in my head, but I Have seen a glimmer of truth and knowledge. Truth and knowledge are far superior for the happiness and well being of man than is belief.

            Yet, the ministers, priests and rabbis do not think it strange that they hear voices in their heads. When Clear Thinkers ask what God sounds like when he speaks to them in their heads, they say, "But we don't really hear voices in our heads. God gives us a conviction in our hearts." (By heart, they actually mean head.) Now, what is a conviction in the head if it is not a belief? That is all it is. They didn't hear a single word from God and they admit it. They only have a Belief God is guiding them to do or say something. They have no proof that will convince even their own minds. Isn't this called dishonesty? Isn't this asking us to be gullible and to Not use Our minds?

            So again, we are thrown back on the unknown and unverifiable belief or faith, which someone claims they have in their heads. Whatever they say or do, they claim God guided them. How do we know they are not lying? Is it a proven fact that ministers, priests and rabbis do not lie?

            What honest test do we have to separate those who are lying to us from those who are telling us the truth? Read that question again!

Nature blessed us with Honest Doubt and Clear Thinking as the test.

            We have been given a wonderful brain. Does God not expect us to use our brains to identify and separate the facts from the fictions, the true from the false, the moral from the immoral, the just from the unjust? Doesn't God know we can't tell who is lying and who is not unless we honestly doubt the wild claims of All of them and honestly investigate the facts and truth of the matter? Could God give us a mind and then get angry with us for using it to search out the honest truth about these important matters and claims? Certainly not!

            The religions ask us not only to have Faith in God, but to also have faith in the beliefs of their religious leaders. Moreover, we are asked to have faith in the minister, who has faith in the Bible, which tells of the faith of the writers, who had faith in Jesus, who had faith in God. If you are Catholic, you must squeeze in faith in the church, faith in the Pope and faith in the Councils. We must have faith. We must Believe that all these authorities are telling us the truth. We must believe they have the final true word on any issue about which they speak, because the answer comes straight from the Mind of God. We must believe they know what is on the mind of God. Is that a truth? Or is that a fiction? Why do they keep changing their mind? Why do they Disagree with each other about what is on the mind of God?

            In other words, you must let someone else do your thinking for you, someone who may have been dead for hundreds or even thousands of years. You may even be letting someone who was insane do your thinking for you. You must have faith and believe in all of it, or you will soon not have faith or believe in any of it.

            The secret to believing and having faith is to Not Think. If you Honestly Think, you will soon, Honestly Doubt. To think is to begin the process that produces honest doubt. If you think you will reject the false that is taught to you and passed off as the truth. And if you reject the doctrines, you will go straight to hell. You will not "Pass Go.” You will not "Collect $200," so says the Book of the Ghost.

YOU MUST BELIEVE THE UNBELIEVABLE

OR BE ETERNALLY DAMNED.

            Those are heavy words. Honest thinking is hard work. So the choice (according to the Bible) is either to do some hard honest thinking and end up in hell, or set aside your mentality, your honor, your manhood (or womanhood), your pride, your independence, your self respect, your honesty and let Daddy (God, the Judge) "fix" your ticket.

            The bad part of it is this. What if there is no Daddy? Or what if he doesn't care? Or even worse, what if there is no ticket? What if the ticket is a forgery? What if there is no such thing as a Religious Sin against God? We know there are social wrongs and personal wrongs, but the question is, "Is there such a thing as a religious wrong, which the holy men call Sin?" If there were a just God, could you hurt him or yourself by honestly thinking with the mind, which he gave you? Could you harm God by honestly doubting some evil thing that is attributed to him in the Bible, or claimed for him by some holy man?

            For now, think about these things! In the Old and New Testament, according to the Bible, God ordered many atrocities. God ordered children, men, women and cattle killed. He ordered human sacrifice. He ordered pillage and rape. He ordered death to those whose only crime was to honestly doubt the fantastic and unbelievable pronouncements of priests and prophets. When you are looking for the truth about something, always ask, “If I believe this or accept this as true - who benefits?”

            God ordered shameful and unjust cruelties. God changed his mind from day to day like the smoke from a campfire. God made some very unscientific statements. God made false statements. God told lies. God supported slavery.

            We are told these things in both the Old and the New Testament. Either God allowed his son to be killed, or some writers of the Holy Book lied about hearing from God. So, we have either a cruel unjust God who allowed his son to suffer and die to keep us from honestly thinking, or we have a greedy bunch of fibbers who wrote the Bible.

PICK ONE!

            Fundamentalist Christians say they believe in this type of cruel, jealous, juvenile kind of God. But, I have yet to find a single non-fundamental religious person who believes in this kind of cruel Bible God. Yet, that is the only type of God shown to us in the Bible. In the Old and New Testament, every good thing attributed to God is matched by dozens of immoralities, cruelties, atrocities, errors and falsehoods. Only fundamental religious believers, who have lost their way, could love this kind of cruel God, or expect him to love them.

            But, from where does the concept of a good and just God come? It comes from the minds and imaginations of holy men. They create for their believers the kind of God to which the people will be willing to give their time, obedience and money.

            Here is what has happened. Priests, rabbis and ministers have created a Generic God for us. This Generic God is really a pretty nice guy. Even I could find kind words for this Generic God, if it were true. But this Generic God taught to us today by our present day religions is Not the God of the Bible. It only takes twenty-six letters of the English alphabet to create a God and we are talking about at least two or three Gods here. (Don’t forget the Ghost, Jesus and the evil God, Satan.)

            People believe in a different kind of God than the Bible tells us about. Even most Believers doubt God is as vindictive, insecure, jealous and childlike as the Bible describes him. Rather, the believers believe their God (the generic one) acts and thinks in the very manner that the priest, rabbi, or minister describes him. By not thinking, people deceive themselves. They believe the falsehoods told by their biblical authorities rather than Honestly Thinking and Honestly Doubting the unbelievable claims and checking out the facts for themselves. They should do a little Honest Clear Thinking.

            For the religious believers, Belief is invincible and it is well protected by ignorance, censorship and sleight-of-mind. Does God ask us to close our eyes (Believe) so we may better see right and wrong? He might as well have said, "Don't use your legs to walk, fly instead." Honest Doubt is the method of thinking, which keeps us from deceiving ourselves. Honest Doubt, Logical Thought and Courage are the combinations that lead us to the truth. That method of thinking is called the CLEAR THINKING PHILOSOPHY.

            You may believe the unbelievable religious claims, or you may honestly doubt the unbelievable claims. But you cannot do both.

            Here is what it means when someone asks you to Believe and not doubt,

DON'T YOU DARE CHECK TO SEE IF I AM TELLING YOU THE TRUTH?

            Honest doubt is the best protection God could give man to protect him from con artists, liars, politicians and preachers. I think he did a good job!

BELIEF IS THE BEGINNING OF CHAOS.

HONEST DOUBT IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM.

The Bible

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