More Light is Shed on the True Character of Joseph Smith

Have you ever wondered why so many of the early apostles and Book of Mormon witnesses left the church? Among other reasons, it was because Joseph Smith was trying to fuck their daughters.

Steve Benson has put together a well-referenced article about his (Smiths) advances on Sydney Rigdon's daughter Nancy. Smith locked her in a room with him and made his advances, threatening that if she tried to expose him, he would ruin her reputation. She quickly rejected him and went public. Like all the other women in church history who rejected him, he labeled her as a "child prostitute".

Please click here to read this article. It is well documented and sheds light on the true character of the sexual predator, Joseph Smith.

Smith would do anything to get an extra woman in his bed. This included ruining the reputations of all the women who refused him. He even went so far as to try and use revelations in order to get the women to consent to his plural marriage scam.

Read the article. If it doesn't anger you, then nothing will.

What Do I Believe?

To people who don't understand atheism, this post if for you. I get asked all the time, if there is no god, then what is the purpose of your life? Since you don't believe in god, you don't believe in anything. Since you don't believe in sin, you think you can do anything you want without consequences.

I'll start off by sharing what I don't believe.

I don't believe that I should have to take anything on faith. Faith, by definition, is the belief in something which has no evidence. Maybe faith works for you, but not for me. I can't believe in something just because an ancient book said so.

Without god, life has no purpose. Really? Why? Why does there have to be a purpose? Even if it is all just a big cosmic mistake that we all happen to be here, why does it matter? You are alive. You are a person with feelings and desires. Enjoy that life. Even if your life is a mistake, enjoy it while you have it.

Let's just imagine that I'm right for a second. Just bear with me. When you die, that's it. You're dead. No afterlife. No heaven. No god. But all of your life, you lived with the belief in an afterlife. Now you're dead and there's nothing. Your life had purpose while you lived it. Your life had purpose, even if that purpose was to believe in a false god. Why does belief in a god have to be the only purpose? It doesn't. A rock is not alive, so what is its purpose? That rock exists, so it must have a purpose, right? So everything that exists, must have a purpose. Why? What about a giant floating meteor out in space 300 million light years away from earth? What is its purpose? My point is that just because something exists, doesn't mean that it has to have a purpose. Your life is no different. Your life has whatever purpose you give it.

Since you don't believe in god, you don't believe in anything. A very common assumption. True, I don't believe in god. But why does the lack of a belief in god mean that I believe in nothing? I believe in mankind, science, love, beauty, family, integrity, education, honesty, laughing, fun, work, life, friends, service, etc. I believe in many things, just not fairytales.

Since you don't believe in god, you don't believe in sin, and therefore can do anything you want without consequences. Strangely enough, that is true. However, just because I can steal something, doesn't mean that I will. You see, above I just listed a bunch of things that I do believe in. I can know a certain action is wrong without a belief in god. No, I don't believe its a sin to kill, BUT I do believe that it is wrong. Not because I'll be punished if I do it but because it's just wrong. It's wrong to take other peoples stuff. It's wrong to hurt people. It's wrong to say mean things to someone. These things are wrong just because they are wrong, not because god said that they are. Are you trying to tell me that without god in your life, you would have no self control at all? Now that is sad. I can be good to other people without god being involved because I just know what is right and what is wrong. You do too. It is an inherent human instinct.

This has to be true because I know and have heard many stories of believers who have done terrible things to other people. If belief in god makes you good, then why do some believers do bad things? Why do not all atheists go out on crime sprees? It is because the knowledge of right and wrong is not from god, but is from within yourself.

I am no different than you. I have a job, a family, a home. I have bills to pay. I have doctor visits. I have a lawn to mow and weeds to pull. I have a car that breaks down sometimes. I deal with life and all its issues just like you do.

Since an atheist doesn't believe in god, he must believe in the devil. Wrong! Since you don't believe in Peter Pan, then you must believe in Captain Hook! Stupid, right? I don't believe in god, therefore I don't believe in his enemy. To assume that all atheists are devil worshippers is just wrong. If I don't believe in your imaginary god, then why would I believe in his imaginary arch enemy? Don't make the mistake of thinking that all atheists are devil worshippers. Fact is, they don't believe in the devil either.

Another misconception is that I threw god out of my life on a temper tantrum because god wouldn't give me everything I asked for. I'm hoping that if I ignore god, then he will feel sorry for me and give me everything I want.

No, that's wrong too. I don't believe in god beacuse he isn't real, not because I want to "punish" him for not kissing my ass. It is true that I prayed for certain things and did not receive them. You think I left god because he didn't give me what I wanted. I actually left god because I realized that he isn't even there to give me or not give me what I pray for.

People see what they are looking for. If you are looking for god, you will see god in everything. I'm not looking for god, I'm just looking. And what I see is life. I see a beautiful planet. I see beautiful people. I see good people doing good things. I see bad people doing bad things. But I don't see god. I see a book called the Bible and I see that it is full of funny stories. I see real life and I realize that just because a funny book exists, doesn't mean that it is true, because lots of books exist with funny stories but that doens't make them all true. I just look and I see what there is to see.

It's simple. It's beautiful. Why complicate things by throwing in an imaginary friend? Be yourself. Be good because you know it's the right thing to do.

I Can't Prove God Doesn't Exist...

...but you can't prove that he does!

Many people think that since I am challenging the existance of their god that it is my duty to prove he isn't here. I can't do that, any more than I can't prove Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny aren't real either.

However, the existance of the god of the Bible is very doubtful. All one has to do is take a look at the Bible with half a brain and analyze what it says. If it's claims can't possibly be true, then the god that it describes can't be true either.

One story that needs a lot of imagination to be true is the global flood and Noah. God was tired of the whole world sinning so he found the only righteous man in the world and told him to build a big boat. You see, it was gods plan to flood the earth and kill every living thing. The animals would be spared by having two of each kind, male and female, get on the boat during the flood.

That would have to be one gigantic boat! You see, not only are there millions of species of different animals in the world, they all need to eat! It would have been a monumental task to gather all the animals as well as enough food for all of them for nearly two years.

The Bible says that god caused it to rain for 40 days. The continual rain covered the world in water and everything not on the boat was drowned.

40 days? If you know anything about weather, then you know that rain comes from evaporated water. Raining for 40 straight days means that the oceans would have to give up water; the resulting rainfall would just fill up what had been previously lost. Further, there are places in the world where it rains constantly and the earth has never even come close to being completely wiped out.

As you can see, take a Biblical story, apply a teeny bit of common sense, and viola! It is nonsense. Besides that, science has never found any evidence that there was once a global flood.

I've talked at length in the past about the Garden of Eden and the nonsense of the magical apple, talking snake, and all that jazz. An all knowing god would have done better. He wouldn't have needed a magical apple. And we all know that humans beings reproduce sexually. We don't pull out a rib, rub on it, blow on it and it suddenly becomes a woman. That never has and never will happen.

Bill Maher asked a great question: "What if you had been told all your life that Jack and the Beanstalk was a completely true story and that the story of Jonah and the whale was a fairytale. Would you be defending Jack instead?"

Why can't people see that the Bible is full of nonsense? Why can't they see that the magical apple being the source of all evil is no more absurd than Pandora's Box being the source of all evil?

Why is one fairy tale staunchly defended by millions of people and the other just told as a bedtime story? If I had one wish, it would be that people all over the world would be able to see and understand that a fairytale is a fairytale, even if it is found in the Bible.

I can't prove the Bible isn't true. But I can't prove that the Lord of the Right trilogy isn't true either. Even if millions of people believe it with all their hearts, that doesn't make it true. People grow up not questioning the Bible because it's what society accepts as normal. However, if you grew up in China and were introduced to the Bible for the first time as an adult, you would laugh while reading it. You would be able to see right away that it is nonsense.

To my readers who are believers, you have been told all your life to never question the Bible. Questioning is blasphemy. The only reason you believe it is because your parents told you to. And their parents told them to. And so on and so on.

Do you believe that the ancient Greek myths about Zeus and Hercules are the literal truth? No, you believe it is a myth. Well guess what? The ancient Greeks did not view it as myth. They viewed it as literal truth.

So what is the difference between your myth and someone elses? NOTHING! They are all made up stories. The one difference is that you live in a society that accepts one and rejects the other. And strangely enough, you believe in the same one that your society believes in. Hmmm. Interesting.

Why don't you find your own truth instead of jumping in the collective boat of flow goers? "Everybody else believes it, so I do too." That's lame. In fact, it's plain out pathetic. Use your brain. Read the Bible and see it for what it is... a compliation of magical fairytales.

I can't prove that the god of the Bible doesn't exist, but I can shed serious doubt by simply reading the book that describes him. If that book is full on nonsense, then so is the "god" who authored it.

Believers, you not only have the burden of proof, you need to disprove all the thousands of other gods before you will have a valid case.

Think about it. Thousands of religions all over the world think they have the only truth. Your religion teaches that you have the only truth. Everyone elses god is false, except mine. How can you be so sure? How do you know that someone elses god isn't the true god? To an outsider, like me, you all just look like a bunch of brainwashed, pathetic, non-thinking, fools running around crying "Lo here" and "Lo there".

"My god can beat up your god."

You all sound like a bunch of whiny children who want each others parents to fight. It's funny. The child who says, "My dad can beat up your dad" is a chickenshit who is not only too scared to fight his own battles, but knows it deep inside.

I can't wait for your god to get his vengance on me for my daring to question him. The very fact that you think your god will damn me to hell for not believing is evidence enough that he is not merciful but insecure, jealous, and angry. I defy all your pathetic gods. So far, not one of them has been able to strike me down with a lightening bolt.

I also find it funny that I sarcastically claim that my god, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is the true god and that he was consumed for me. All of you can immediately see how stupid that is and yet your god (who only has a different name) is completely and totally true.

I am constantly amazed at how smart human beings are on one hand and yet how dull and gullible on the other.

Stop living your life for an imaginary god and start living your lives for each other. If it was not for the radical beliefs of certain individuals, the attack on September 11, 2001, would have never happened. People think religion causes people to be nice to each other but it actually causes them to fight and kill each other. The medicine that you think is holding this country together, is what is slowly poisoning you to death.

Think about it. Think, people. That's all I'm asking. Dare to question. I openly defy god and yet my life is just fine. I'm no better or worse off than anyone else. Think! Question god. This is the information age and we can explain many things without god that we never could before. We no longer need god.

God doesn't warm your home. Science does.

God doesn't power your car. Science does.

God doesn't magically cause your phone and computer to work. Science does.

God doesn't make airplanes fly. Science does.

God didn't design the internet. Science did.

That electric blanket that keeps you comfortable at night... thank science.

Running water in your home... thank science.

What has god ever done for you besides make you feel guilty for just being alive? Nothing. Folks, your god does nothing but take your money and make you feel guilty for not giving more. God is just a business and you are the victim of a 2000 year old scam!

An Ex-Mormon Tells Their Exit Story

I was recently contacted by an ex-Mormon atheist who was kind enough to tell me their story of growing up in the church and why they left. This person, who wishes to remain anonymous, has given me permission to share their story.

"I was born into the church in Northern UT. My ancestors converted to the church from Europe 4-6 generations ago and headed out for Utah. I was never very stoked on church -- never felt any connection to anything they said, never felt like prayers meant anything and one of my earliest memories is of my interview with the bishop before I got baptized. At the end he shook my hand and said "I'm so proud of you for making this choice." I was kind of shocked and remember thinking "Wait, I had a choice?" I had a couple of people make that same statement to me that day and I was just kind of confused -- I had never been offered a choice.

"I was a good kid growing up, followed all the rules and went to church every Sunday and graduated from seminary. I met my now-husband, when I was in high school. He was several years older than me and not a member. He ended up joining the church because I felt like it was really important for my family, and because I had been brainwashed into wanting to get married in the temple (they made it seem so magical, like a fairytale wedding). My husband had been born in the JW church but had "escaped" (his words) when he was 14 and his parents divorced. He joined the church to make me happy and to "infiltrate" (again, his words, lol). He had a great time talking to the missionaries and bishop and seeing how everything worked and what everyone believed.

"After a couple of years we got married in the temple. By the time we got married, my husband had introduced me to several of the problematic aspects of the church (namely, Joseph Smith's polygamy). So, by this time, although I half-believed the church still to be true, and though I wanted to do the "right" thing by getting married in the temple (mostly to be a "good example" to my many younger siblings and several younger cousins), we had already had sex and we lied our ways through our temple recommend interviews. The fact that neither of our bishops or stake presidents (we were both interviewed by two of each, in our respective home wards) could tell by the "spirit of discernment" that we were lying about not having sex, not associating with any group that was against the church ("anti-mormon" literature) and having a testimony of Joseph Smith, just helped affirm to us that the church didn't have any magic powers. Also, once at the temple for our endowment sessions and sealing when none of the temple workers could tell that we weren't "pure" (after being told horror stories of couples being called out), it was obvious that we were right and that the church was good at making up scary stories to control its members but that they didn't actually have any guidance from god.

"A few months after we were married, I started really digging into the history of the church and reading about Joseph Smith's polygamous marriages (conveniently, growing up, the only person I had ever been taught as being a polygamist was Brigham Young. Joseph and Emma were portrayed as having this epic love story. Brigham and all of his wives was treated kind of like silly joke - "Oh, that Brigham and all his wives! What a jolly guy"). It was a pretty hard time for me. I was pretty angry and upset that everything I had been taught my entire life was not only a lie, but that the men who started everything were such bad guys. It was quite the shock. I was obsessed with the research for a few years and was in a pretty dark place for awhile.

"We went to church on and off (couples ward) for the one year that we lived in Logan, though the garment wearing didn't last more than a couple months. Even ignoring all the lies in the history of the church, it was obvious just how pointless and boring the whole thing was and we only went when we got pestered enough by home teachers or whoever.

"Fast forward 10 + years, we are now living in California and have a young child. We are FANTASTIC. Couldn't be happier. We are agnostic/atheist and life has never been better. We haven't been involved in the LDS church since our temple recommends expired in 2001 -- though we did get plenty of use out of them! We visited every temple we could all over the US, plus England and Canada -- around 30. The temple rituals were fascinatingly weird and we wanted to check out as many temples as we could while we still had the special membership card! My family all still live in Utah and my parents and grandparents are all TBM. They know we are inactive, but don't know yet that we are "apostates".

"All of my siblings and cousins who I was trying to be a good example for by getting married in the temple? All of them have left the church now. One of my brothers and one of my sisters are about to start the process of having their names removed from the records of the church. Guess my brilliant plan didn't work. :)

"And it's going to soon be our turn to "come out" -- whether now just to get it over with, or in a few years when our son is supposed to be getting baptized, we're going to have to finally take a stand and announce our disbelief. It's definitely not something I'm looking forward to. We've really only gotten away with it for so long because we live so far away from everyone.

"After reading your story and so many others, I'm am so GRATEFUL that I got out of the church when I did. I was only 20 and really hadn't invested anything (besides my youth and wedding, I guess). I can't imagine the disappointment and anger one would feel after giving 20-30-40+ years of service and money and time and energy to a myth started by a complete scoundrel. That would be horrifying."

Atheists Have Better Sex!

Atheists Have Better Sex!

What Is An Answered Prayer?

To a believer, anything is an answer and that is proof that god is real.

If I pray that someone finds a new job, no matter what happens, god answered it.

If the person did get a job, then god guided them to the right employer. If the person did not get the job, then god wanted them to work somewhere else. But no matter what happens, it's all part of the great plan.

This is why you can't debate with a believer; because no matter what happens, they see it as proof that god answers prayers. Little Johnny was sick and now he's better; god healed him (it had nothing to do with his own immune system). Little Johnny died. God had a different purpose for his life.

They say that every prayer is answered, even if the answer is no. So that basically means that even if you pray and absolutely nothing happens, god is still there.

What really bothers me is when prayers are not answered and believers justify it. They say stuff like, "god knows what's best for your life."

What I don't understand is how they can see god in everything when the outcome of a prayer is completely random. Little Johnny is sick. Someone prays that he will get better. He does get better. Praise god! Why can't these people see that little Johnny would have gotten better anyway. God did not do it. The kids immune system did it.

And when I question god, all these believers get so offended and always ask me, "Who are you to question god?" First of all, what kind of a stupid question is that? Secondly, I question because I fail to see how Johnny getting better is an act of divine intervention. People get sick every day. Most get better; some die. It is completely random. Yet, no matter what happened, god had it all planned out. It was his plan for Johnny to get sick and get better. But poor little Suzie... it was in gods great wisdom for her to get sick and die. Even though people prayed for Suzie to get better, she died anyway. Yet that is still an answered prayer. God just said "no".

So if the outcome of any situation was gods will no matter what, then how can you keep giving credit to god and not to just random chance or the course of life?

I am going to roll a pair of die. Two numbers will be shown. God knows in advance what those numbers will be. I pray for a 1 and a 2. I roll and get a 3 and a 3. It was gods will that I get a two 3's. I roll again. I get a 1 and a 6. I keep praying for a 1 and a 2. After I roll 32 times, I finally get my 1 and my 2 that I prayed so faithfully for.

Why did god take so long to answer my prayer? If he was eventually going to answer it, why didn't he just make it happen on my first roll and save us both the time?

A believer will try to tell me that the roll of the die is just random chance (which it is), but I will take on their mentality and argue that every roll is gods pre-determined will. They will think I sound pretty stupid when I keep insisting that each outcome is gods will and that if I roll enough times, god will eventually get tired of messing around and just give me what I want.

Well, folks, I see no difference between the roll of the die and any other event that happens in life. Some people get sick and get better. Some people get sick and die. It's no different than the roll. It's just an outcome. Yet to believers that outcome, no matter what it was, was gods will.

So no matter what happens, it was gods will. So how can you tell the difference between gods will and complete random chance? It just amazes me when people see god in everything when it is just life taking its course.

They justify the unpredictable outcome by stating that "god knows best" and "his ways are higher than our ways." So in otherwords, no matter what happens, happens. Why do people see this as proof that god answers prayers? If the outcome is completely random and unpredictable, how can you know for 100% sure that god did it?

Because you have to have faith! Duh.

Faith is the act of believing something that has no evidence. So your god, which has no evidence, is in charge of every random outcome. Makes perfect sense.

How about the real-life explanation which is simply that life happens. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it sucks. There is no invisible god pulling all the strings. This is no more absurd than the idea of the Fates, who control everything. The Fates are just a myth, but god is totally real!

To a believer, complete random chance is absolute proof that his imaginary god exists. It baffles my mind that there are millions of people on this planet who use so little of their thinking power.

I could use the same argument that a completely random outcome proves that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is real. To everyone, that is an absurd idea. But change the name from FSM to GOD and suddenly it is completely acceptable. What is the difference? Just the name.

I wonder how mankind has progressed as far as we have with over 90% of our population believing in this nonsense.

Now you hear about so-called miracles all the time. Go to church and you'll hear people tell about how they were hard up and then they paid their tithing and hubby got a raise at work. You'll hear lots of little stories like this.

What you hardly ever hear is an actual miracle. In the comments of a previous post, I shared how, as a young man, I was having trouble in school because I couldn't see well. I knew that from the scriptures, Jesus could heal peoples eyes because he did it on several occassions in the scriptures. Why not me too? I received a priesthood blessing so that my eyes would focus clearly. Didn't happen.

I guess the answer to that prayer is that it is in my best interests to have bad eyes. How that is in my best interests, I'll never know. But god knows because he is in charge of it all. Yep, a young child with unquestioning faith gets shut down by god.

When I shared this story, I actually had one Mormon guy criticizing me for expecting a miracle. Yet, I was taught all my life that Mormons have the power to act in gods name and that god is a god of miracles to the faithful. Then when I actually expect a miracle, TBM's criticize me and tell me I don't understand how it all works.

I used to do that too... make excuses for god. No more. I'm calling it the way it is. If god is a god who answers prayers and performs miracles, then there is nothing wrong with a young Mormon expecting a miracle. The collection of unanswered prayers and blessings over the years has shown me the true nature of god: no answers and no miracles... no god.

Happy End of the World!

I wonder who feels like a jackass now? Those fanatics were so sure that this time, this was it. Well, that's what happens when you put all your time, energy, and money into bullshit.

Once again, religious fanatics have foolishly predicted the end of the world and we are all still here. Big surprise. Religion gets it wrong again and again and again.

We live in the information age and yet still have caveman mentality.

"I do not understand," says Robert Fitzpatrick, the idiot who dumped his life savings into an ad campaign in New York City. He and several others are now homeless and wondering what the hell to do now.

"Wohlberg, who admits to doing drugs and living an "unholy life" before finding religion, fears that those who believed in what Camping preached will turn away from God as a result of his fake claims."

We can only hope.

Knowing

I was in the home of a TBM the other day and I noticed a tile near their front door with the following saying on it:

"Faith is not believing that God can; it is knowing that He will."

In Mormonism, simply believing is not enough. You don't get up and bare your testimony saying, "I believe it's true." No way! That will get you laughed out the front door!

You must know! With every 'fiber of your being' (a phrase Mormons love to say) you must know it's true.

There is no such thing as belief in Mormonism. In most Christian denominations, you must simply believe in order to be saved. In Mormonism, belief will get you nowhere. If you want to be saved, you must know!

But knowing has its consequences. By having a sure knowledge of the truthfulness of the church, walking away has serious implications. By once having had a testimony and then walking away, one is committing the unforgivable sin: denying the holy spirit.

This is the sin of denying Christ in spite of the fact that you have a sure knowledge of his existance. All Mormons who know it's true are bound to stay in the church if they don't want their souls to end up in outer darkness forever with Satan.

It seems strange to me that a murderer will get off easier in the next life than someone who simply quits going to church. But this is Mormonism. It would better for me to go out and rape all the girls I want and still be a TBM than to leave the church and not rape anyone.

Murderers and rapists go to the lowest degree of glory (the Telestial Kingdom), which is (according to Joseph Smith) so beautiful that if we saw it, we would kill ourselves to go there.

People who simply walk away from the church get to spend an eternity with Satan in outer darkness, where there is no glory at all.

This is what "knowing" will cost you.

May 21, 2011

I was driving down the freeway the other day and I passed a billboard with a warning:

May 21, 2011, is the day of Armageddon; the end of the world.

Folks, you have one week to find god and accept him into your hearts!

http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/outreach/tracts/may21/

Now, being the unbeliever than I am, I am going to call BULLSHIT to the whole thing. In one week from now, when nothing at all has happened, I wonder what their excuses will be when they are wrong, as they always are, on predicting the end of the world.

I wonder how much money is wasted putting up billboards and printing tracts that could have been used for a good cause, rather than spreading their fairytale bullcrap about the end of the world.

Why are religious fanatics so obsessed with the end of the world anyway? If there is an end of the world, it will be because these fanatics made it happen in the name of god.

So here I am, predicting a week in advance, that the end of the world will NOT be on May 21, 2011. Am I a prophet? No. I'm a free-thinker.

When nothing happens in a week from now, I hope it will make a few people start actually using their brains!

Click here to read about the idiot who put up his life savings to fund this ad campaign.