A Powerful Nutshell Version of a Pastor Walking Away from Christianity
~In this post I will briefly discuss the intellectual reasons I left Christianity, with a focus on the doctrine of hell, the second coming of Jesus, and the historical context of the New Testament.~
I suppose I should begin this blog by giving a nutshell version of an answer to the question I’m asked on an exceedingly regular basis:
“What made you leave Christianity?”
Of course I could spend pages and pages unpacking my reasons, but as I said, I’d like to provide you with a nutshell version which I can always unpack in future posts and videos.
If I were to give you a one liner of a reason, it would be this: Once I understood the actual historical context of Christianity (especially considering the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD and its impact on the 1st century Jewish people and the development of early Christianity), my faith began to unravel, and my intellectual departure from the religion unfolded.
In other words, once I began to understand under what conditions the New Testament (especially in this post the NT, but the bible as a whole) was produced, it all began to fall into place, or out of place if you’re fond of the term “deconstruction”.
No Fear of Hell – Let the Domino Fall
The first major domino to fall for me was the doctrine of hell, particularly as a place of eternal conscious torment. Losing the traditional doctrine of hell opened up to me a world of fearless freedom. Once I knew that hell wasn’t what Christians have for so long thought it was, I was free to ask the hard questions that so many people are bound by fear not to ask.
The traditional understanding of hell is of an other worldly place of eternal separation from god. A place of eternal conscious torment with absolutely no end in sight. A place of wailing and of the gnashing of one’s teeth. A place where sinners, unbelievers, and the reprobates will exist timelessly regretting their earthly “choice” of not having a saving faith in Jesus Christ.
But is this really what the bible teaches about “hell”? What I discovered was that it most certainly does not teach this at all whatsoever.
Understanding the historical context of the New Testament sheds the light of truth on this absolutely non-existent place people call “hell”. There are those who know that there was a place outside of the walls of ancient Jerusalem referred to as the Valley of Hinnom, or in Greek, the transliterated word, Gehenna (the New Testament word translated as “Hell”). This information isn’t new or uncommon. However, what most people fail to understand and mostly have no knowledge of is much more interesting and an incredible discovery that has the power to dismantle the traditional Christian faith in the snap of a finger.
70AD – the Most Overlooked and Crucial Event in Christianity
It all boils down to one catastrophic event that turned the world of the Jews upside down with nothing left but absolute confusion and existential crisis and chaos. Josephus, the ancient Jewish historian, eye-witness of the destruction of Jerusalem, and one of the most important sources about the times and events of the destruction, said,
“Now, the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple, and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus imperator, with the greatest acclamations of joy. And as for the Jews, they had no rest from their sorrows, while the city was burning, but were in a constant agony, and expected nothing but death every hour. The multitude also of those that were carried captive during this whole war were in the utmost misery and want; and for those that were left behind, the famine reduced them to the last degree of weakness.”
Josephus, The Wars of the Jews (click to purchase from my Amazon Affiliate page)
(Sounds a bit like hell doesn’t it? That’s because it is……..literally.)
It’s safe to say that the majority of Christians today, and of much of the past, have not even a clue how enormous of an event this was to the Jewish people of the 1st century. It was THE most significant event, both for the absolute transformation of the Jewish religion and practices, and for the development of early Christianity. Indeed, most Christians aren’t even aware that the event happened.
This earth-shattering, world-changing (for the 1st century Jews) event was the catalyst for the development of most of the New Testament itself (and quite possibly all of it).
(If you’re a Christian and you’ve never read the works of Josephus, I highly encourage you to do so!)
Why Does the New Testament Exist?
There is a reason we have not a shred of New Testament manuscript evidence prior to 70AD (in fact, we have nothing earlier than somewhere between 150AD and 250AD). This is because, at the very least, the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Revelation, and the epistles of John (AT THE VERY LEAST), were written after the destruction of Jerusalem. Yes, you read that right: after 70AD. Why is this important for me to highlight? It’s of massive importance!
I point this out to emphasize the fact that the majority (if not all) of the New Testament was written as an attempt by post-70AD believers to make sense of and interpret the events surrounding 70AD in light of their Jewish history and faith.
Jerusalem had been utterly destroyed. The temple, the holiest of holy places, the literal dwelling place of god, was demolished by the Roman army. “How could this happen?! How could God let this happen?! Where is God now?! The Holy of Holies, the presence of God was gone, and the Romans trampled the place under their feet! How are we to understand this?!”
Well, there was only one way believers could understand it. They lean on the history and theology of the Old Testament. They lean on what they know from their sacred texts. They were god’s chosen, covenant people, and their god dealt with them in terms of the covenant he had made with them. There were blessings and their were cursings. When Israel obeyed god and remained faithful, they would be blessed, according to their Old Testament scriptures. When Israel disobeyed god and became unfaithful, they would be cursed or judged. And, how did this judgment manifest, according to their theology?
By being destroyed and/or taken captive by the hands of pagan nations/people. They believed that god would use other nations as a tool of judgment. This is what their story, the story of Israel, contains time and time again. Judgment from god by the hands of other nations for Israel being unfaithful to the covenant.
Focus – See It For What It Is
By now the picture should be coming into focus for you.
If not, let me put it plainly: the gospels and Revelation (at the very least) were written well after the destruction of Jerusalem as an attempt to explain and interpret the event in light of the Jewish history, religion, and theology.
This is why we have statements in the New Testament that have Jesus saying “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” “When you see armies surrounding Jerusalem, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,” and the “coming very soon” warnings. When the New Testament speaks of the second coming of Jesus, the coming in judgment, it is absolutely and 100% referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. The believers saw this event as the judgement of their god by the hands of the Romans. They have Jesus as their prophet foretelling the destruction, warning the Jews to repent, because it was near and coming soon. In fact, there were those who were “standing there who would not taste death until” it happened. “This generation will not pass away until all these things pass.”
He’s Not Coming Back
Realizing that the return of Jesus is just a reference to the judgment of god on unbelieving Israel in 70AD (according to the New Testament), I now understood that what I had been waiting for and preaching to prepare for was never going to happen. It was never even the idea for there to be some future coming of this Jesus figure. It was an explanation of past events that turned a world upside down.
The New Testament’s hell, the coming of Jesus, judgement, wrath, covenant curses and blessings…it all was an explanation. A making sense of.
The New Testament has absolutely nothing to do with human beings living in the year 2023. In fact, the entire bible has nothing to do with human beings in 2023. The New Testament was relevant (theologically speaking) to 1st century believers. It was an attempt to help them re-invent their religion, to re-invent their faith, and to re-invent the practices of their religion. It’s an ancient story, told by ancient people in their historical context, that we continue to massively misread and misinterpret to this day.
Jesus is not coming back. There is no judgment to be feared. There is no hell by which to be threatened. This is gospel, is it not?
It’s time to wake up and move on. Move on to what? It’s time for your path of self-realization.
Departure – Leaving God and Finding Self
This is very much a nutshell version of my departure. The details could be made into a book (and most likely will). The details were enough to take a pastor, a genuine, sincere, devoted Christian and pastor, and completely set him on a new path. The details were enough to bring me to a point of giving up what had for so long given me identity, purpose, and passion, of walking away from all that I had thought I had known and loved. And, as painful and gut-wrenching of a process as it was, and as much loss as I had to go through to stay true and uphold my integrity, I can say today that it was worth it. Beyond the religion, outside of the programming, the box, the ancient entrapment, I found true peace that surpasses understanding. Not without cost! But ultimately, philosophically, existentially, and personally, absolutely worth it.
Visit me here often to find out more about my journey and my path to self-realization.
Interact!
Let me know what you think! Comment your thoughts and questions below! And, don’t forget to subscribe for future content.
Hello Rick,
I read your article this morning and wanted to respond. It appears that you think that the bible is no longer relevant. In a way, I can agree with that sentiment, since most people see the bible as a set of rules designed to teach people how to obtain their “stay out of hell card”. After my 30+ year journey as a Christian, reading, studying and questioning things in the bible I have come to believe that the bible teaches broad principles that can make life easier if they are believed and followed, but the point is not to use these things as a way to avoid going to “hell” forever. The bible, when rightly translated and interpreted does not teach that “unbelievers” will suffer and go through torment forever. It teaches that every person who has ever lived will one day realize that God “saved them” before they were ever born, but we all go through a period of blindness which lasts for a longer or shorter period of time, and the things that we see as painful judgements and punishments are not administered to exact vengeance, they are designed to correct us and restore our vision. And they are not eternal. When the bible talks about God “predestinating” people, it is not talking about their eternal fate, it is talking about the journey they are assigned on the way to their final salvation and redemption. “The elect” is another term that is misunderstood. It is not referring to them being elected to salvation to the exclusion of any others. It is used to designate those people who will be saved first, and who will then be prepared as vessels to bring others to salvation in the ages to come. Contrary to what most people believe, our chance to “believe and be saved” does not end at our death. Hebrews 9:27-28 has been mangled in translation to teach that error. The message that I am copying and pasting below has a section on this fiasco.
My belief in the apocatastasis, or “the restoration of all things” in Jesus Christ is one reason I am writing this. Another reason is because I believe you are tossing the bible aside because you think it was only relevant to a certain people living in a past time period. I believe that the bible speaks about things that are yet to come, things that will make 70AD look like a walk in the park. Below is an excerpt from a message I sent to a Christian apologetics website. It deals with some of the reasons I am a “Christian Universalist”, and it also deals with some of the realities that everyone on the planet will have to deal with at some point in the near future.
(begin excerpt)
I wanted to send this message to Stephen Meyer, but I hope whoever it gets to first will also read it through before sending it on to him. This morning I watched this video – https://youtu.be/o2u54a1FL28 and wanted to mention two subjects where I believe the discussion that went on in that video may have taken a different turn if two widely held, but mistaken Christian beliefs had been acknowledged. While it may not be possible to eliminate from Christianity all of the things that atheists find to be stumbling blocks, any attempt to engage them has to be based on the best grasp of truth that we have available. Until we see Jesus face to face, there is going to be a lot that we “see through a mirror dimly (literally in an enigma)”, but there are also some things that we can be blinded to simply because us humans interpret everything through a “lens”, “framework”, or “world-view”. Depending on the way that lens is “ground” we may not notice things that are right under our noses, or we may misinterpret what we see. I would like to point out a couple of things that I believe are misconceptions, which if cleared up might eliminate roadblocks keeping some atheists from coming to faith. I know that a lot of Christians will accuse such an effort as compromising the truth in order to accommodate unbelievers. To that I would respond with a quote from a bible teacher named Chuck Missler, who said something to the effect of “The only sure-fire obstacle to discovering the truth is to be convinced you already have it.” A lot of Christians are extremely hesitant to examine the foundations of what they believe. They will claim that their beliefs come from the bible, but they will get militant and hostile if you try to get them to examine the “lens” that they are reading and interpreting the bible through. They don’t realize that there is a lot of material in the bible that they are reading right past without even noticing it or questioning what the implications are. This is particularly the case with the first of the two misconceptions I mentioned earlier. These misconceptions have a bearing on how we look at the future of “unbelievers”.
Of the small percentage of Christians who read their bibles, most of them read right past Ezekiel 16:53 – 61 and do not notice how it conflicts with Jude v.7. Or for the few who do notice a potential conflict, they interpret these verses according to the “eternal torment” framework that they have been taught to use. Instead of seeing the phrase “the captivity of Sodom” as a reference to people in Ezekiel 16, it is taken as being a reference to a city and the geographical area which will be restored and changed. That is what I did for years. Then I came across a website that offered a different way of dealing with this contradiction between Ezekiel 16 and Jude v.7. It centers around the fact that the word which is translated as “eternal” in Jude does not actually mean “eternal” but “age-enduring”. This website showed a lot of ways that the word ‘aion” in its various constructions had been translated in a myriad of ways in our bibles. In some verses where it is translated as “eternal”, the Greek text actually has it in a plural form. How can there be a plurality of eternities? This website also documented the tortuous grammar that our translations impose on what is in the original Greek text. Like when αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων in Revelation 20:10 is translated “forever and ever”. This verse has the Greek copulative καὶ in it four times,and translates it correctly as “and”. The only place καὶ is not found is between the words αἰῶνας and αἰώνων. The Greek text has the word τῶν there which indicates another word as a genetive being used in a RELATIONAL sense (in this case it is the word αἰώνων). It doesn’t make αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ito an idiomatic way of saying “ages and ages ADDED, one after another forever”. Both αἰῶνας and αἰώνων are plurals and the αἰῶνας are a part of, and RELATED TO the αἰώνων. It is not as though there was no other way to communicate the idea of “forever” or “eternal” in Greek. If that was what God wanted to communicate in this verse, there are several words that He could have inspired John to use to get that idea across unequivocally. He wasn’t forced to pile a plurality of “forevers” on top of one another the way translators make it sound.
Another passage that is typically read as teaching “eternal torment” and which has elements that go right over most reader’s heads would be the account of ” the rich man and Lazarus” in Luke 16. Very few people who read that passage as a literal account of the afterlife stop to consider the implications of viewing it that way. Why in the world would God have to put a great gulf to keep the people in Abraham’s bosom from deserting and going over to “the other side” where the rich man was being tormented? Yet this is the first reason that Abraham gives to the rich man as to why Lazarus can’t be sent over to him with a little water on his finger. I have yet to hear an explanation for this that doesn’t raise more questions than it answers. The fact is that this is not a literal account, it is a parable pointing out the elitist and discriminatory attitude of the Jews. Just like the “rich man”, their patriarch Judah had five full brothers who were also born to Leah (Luke 16:28). The Jews were of the “royal” tribe which is hinted at in the purple robes that the rich man wore every day. They also had Jerusalem and the temple along with the priestly ministry which is hinted at in the fine linen mentioned in Luke 16:19. And they had been entrusted with the Word of God. The Jews had all of these things upon which they could “feast sumptuously” every day. Lazarus is symbolic of Gentiles who the Jews excluded from all of these benefits and saw as unworthy. If one does a word search for the terms “crumbs, table, dogs” in a bible concordance, you will find all of these terms used in Luke 16:21, Matthew 15:27 and Mark 7:28. In Matthew and Mark they are used when a Gentile (the Syro-Phonecian woman) is found begging for a favor from Jesus. At one point a long time ago, I looked in several bible “chain-reference bibles” to see if any of them had a cross-reference between Luke 16:21 and Matt 15:27 or Mark 7:28 and not one of them did. I wonder why that was, when those same bibles had cross-references for verses that had only one or two terms in common and these three verses have 3 terms in common. Could it be that they don’t want people to see the symbolism in the “Rich man and Lazarus”? I recently read an article which said that the reason Jesus had driven the money-changers out of the temple area in anger was because they had crowded out any Gentiles who wanted to pray in the court of the Gentiles by stuffing the whole court with their tables and customers.
Another couple of verses that are usually read through the “eternal torment” interpretative lens would be Romans 14:11 and Philippians 2:10, which are usually taken to be referring to unbelievers finally being forced to admit that they were wrong about Jesus just before they are tossed into hell. I guess it depends on how one sees God as being glorified, but since Philippians 2:10 says that the bending of every knee and confession of Jesus’ lordship by every tongue will be to the glory of God the Father, and I don’t think God is glorified when He is seen as getting a forced confession by acting like a schoolyard bully. The old testament passage that these two verses refer to shows what will glorify God more than a forced confession or the destruction of a foe. Verses 21 and 22 of Isaiah 45 show that it is His saving power that He takes glory in. Verse 24 shows what the “confession” or “oath” consists of and it doesn’t fit the idea of a vanquished, unbelieving foe grudgingly confessing that they were wrong. On the contrary, it shows them receiving good things from the Lord. “He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him.’ “. Even though it says that those who are incensed against the Lord will be ashamed, it doesn’t say that they will never be converted and saved. The reason they are bending their knees and swearing that they have righteousness and strength in the Lord is because they are ashamed when they finally recognize that they don’t have these things in themselves. As long as people think they have any righteousness or strength of their own, they will rebel against the Lord. To convert us, all the Lord has to do is start to continuously reveal more of Himself and of His glory and at some point the difference between our puny selves and the Lord’s power and glory becomes so great that we can no longer deny it. We find ourselves flat on the ground like Paul on the road to Damascus, Isaiah bemoaning his fallen condition in Chapter 6 , or John falling on his face as a dead man in Revelation 1:17. In all of these cases, the person who is “floored” by the presence of God is also picked up and restored by Him. Every person who has ever lived will go through this process at some point.
There are many other verses and passages in the bible that are taught either incompletely or from a skewed interpretive slant, but I will end this part of my comments with one final example. It is a couple of verses from the book of Hebrews where translators violate the commandment not to take away from God’s word, and in some translations they also add to His word. The verses are Hebrews 9:27-28. In verse 27 of the Greek text, there is a definite article found between the words translated as “unto” and “men”. That verse should be translated “And as it is appointed unto THOSE men, once to die and after this a judging”. If you look at the context of the passage, it is clear who “those” men are. The whole chapter is a comparison of the ministry of the Levitical High Priests vs the ministry of Jesus. The Jews recognized that the High Priest died a “symbolic death” on their behalf when he entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement bearing their sins for them as it says in Exodus 28:30. We know this because they left written records of their sage’s discussion on the topic. When those men (the High Priests v.7) entered the Holy of Holies once (once a year) and placed the blood on the Mercy Seat, they all died symbolically because they bore the judgement for the sins of all Israel (per Exodus 28:30). If there were to be any mis-step of the high Priest during this ritual, there was the possibility that the sacrifice would not be accepted by God, atonement would not be made for the sins of the people, and the High Priest as well as all the people could literally die as a result of un-atoned sin . There were two times when the High Priest ran this risk, since he actually entered the Holy of Holies TWICE on the Day of Atonement. The first time was to offer blood from a sacrifice to atone for the temple, himself and all the priests and their families. After these had been purified he was allowed to continue, and would go back outside where he would appear to the people, (FIRST APPEARANCE) who would then watch him offer the sacrifice that would provide the blood of atonement for all of them. After bearing the people’s sins into the Holy of Holies, he would place the blood on the Mercy Seat (the animal’s blood was symbolic of his own death as a type of the Messiah acting as a substitute for the people). Once this was successfully completed, the High Priest’s ministry of this ritual WOULD BE JUDGED. That is what the last part of v.27 is talking about. It is interesting that in the first part of the verse translators TAKE AWAY the definite article that is there in the Greek text, and in the last part of the verse, many older translations ADD a definite article, the word “the” in front of the word judgement when there isn’t one in the Greek text. So in one verse they both add to and take away from, the Word of God. Most modern translations have corrected the mistake in the last part of the verse, but people still interpret the verse as dealing with “THE” (final) judgement when that is not what the verse is referring to at all. In any case, after the High priest’s ministry was judged to be acceptable, he would leave the Holy of Holies and APPEAR THE SECOND TIME to the people who were eagerly waiting outside to know if they had atonement for their sins. This “second appearance” of the High Priest after their sins have been covered by the blood is what Hebrews 9:28 is talking about when it says “He will appear a second time, apart from sin”. If the High Priest covered their sins by applying the blood correctly, and then left the Holy of Holies and re-appeared, they were saved, if not…. Luckily for them, the High Priest always made it. (Actually God ordained that they would always make it since the whole ritual pointed to and was a prophecy of Christ’s work, which had to succeed.) So a Hebrew reader of the Letter to the Hebrews would recognize everything from 9:24 to 9:28 as having to do with the events taking place on the Day of Atonement. And they would have translated the Greek words τοῖς ἀνθρώποις as “those men” (the High Priests). Verse 28 actually makes this clear, because it begins with an comparative adverb – outos which is defined at http://www.blueletterbible as –
– οὕτω hoútō, hoo’-to; adverb from G3778; in this way (referring to what precedes or follows):—after that, after (in) this manner, as, even (so), for all that, like(-wise), no more, on this fashion(-wise), so (in like manner), thus, what. –
Verse 28 goes on to say that “Christ was offered once to BEAR the sins of MANY”… . Again, because of their familiarity with Exodus 28:30, the author’s Hebrew readers would have instantly recognized the mention of one man (Christ) bearing sins for many as being a comparison to what the High Priest did once a year on the Day of Atonement for all of them WHEN HE ENTERED THE HOLY OF HOLIES BEARING THEIR SINS FOR THEM. There is a much closer comparison between Christ’s work of bearing sins for many with the High Priest’s role on the Day of Atonement than there is for the situation of individual men when they die. Besides all of the things mentioned I have mentioned already, seeing these two verses the way I have laid it out also eliminates the need to make “exceptions” for the many times in scripture where people are raised from the dead and actually DIE TWICE, and for those whom Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:51 DO NOT DIE AT ALL.
Hebrews 9:27-28 is just one of many passages that get a very “partial” treatment when they are taught on. Words get mistranslated, added, or left out. One tiny point of comparison gets emphasized, while several other major points of comparison are ignored. The result is a misappropriation of what is being said. If you would like to learn more about how inconsistent and sloppy translation has obscured the biblical evidence for Jesus Christ saving ALL of mankind, a lot of good material can be found at the “scholar’s corner” link at the left side of the banner at the top of the page found here – http://www.tentmaker.org Some of the books are a bit long, but they are well written & thorough, and you don’t need to be a scholar to understand them. There are plenty of good tools available for tracing the usage of relevant Hebrew and Greek words throughout scripture, as well as looking at how those words have been translated.
People often dismiss the universal salvation of all men in Jesus Christ out of hand by claiming that it makes light of sin and mocks God’s justice. This claim is far from the truth. God will punish sin, but He does so with a view of the judgement’s effect on the offender, His focus is not on Himself and defending His honor and justice. Paul said in 1 Cor. !3 that love does not seek its own things, and the Apostle John tells us that God is love. John doesn’t use an adjective form of the word agape to say that God “is loving”. He uses the noun. As far as I know, God’s other attributes are described with adjectives, but not in this case. Love is God’s essence and nature, all of His other attributes flow from that including His justice. The goal of God’s judgement is to bring about repentance, correction, faith and restoration.The bible is full of verses that teach God’s plan to save all of His creatures, but because of the legally oriented mindset of the leaders arising from among the Latin converts, which became the largest segment of the western church after the 4th century onward, we have been trained to read right past them. The early Greek-speaking church saw God primarily as a Father. Because of their Roman background, and the pride Romans took in their legal system, the Latin church saw God primarily as a judge. When they gained the ascendancy they forced this viewpoint on the rest of the church. The Romans were also big on using centralized top-down authority and control. A “legal” view of salvation combined with authoritarian, top-down control over people’s thinking were just two of the factors that allowed a lot of the bible’s truth to be either not seen or to be mis-interpreted. It also made for people who were afraid to question what they were being taught. Even now, by the way some Christians react when someone brings up the topic of Christian Universalism, you would think that just the act of questioning the doctrine of eternal torment was enough to make the questioner worthy of undergoing that punishment.
At the start of this message I mentioned that there were two misconceptions I wanted to talk about. The “eternal torment” doctrine is one of them. The other has to do with the nature of the universe and how we view the bible’s description of creation and also how we view “the end”, which should actually be called “the goal”. That is the main idea behind the Greek word ‘telos’, and the goal God is bringing about is not so much on a total end of everything but a major transformation. Some things will pass away, but there will be some continuity also.
In the interview with Tom Holland and Douglass Murray, you referred to some scientists coming to faith once they came to believe that the universe had a beginning, that it was expanding and that it was finely tuned to enable life. As a Christian, I can agree that the universe had a beginning, but I am not sure you will agree with me on what has happened since that beginning took place. I also agree that the universe is finely tuned and oriented towards life. But because of the work done by Halton Aarp and others who question the mainstream ideas about doppler shifts, I do not believe that the universe is expanding, and I also do not believe that the big bang theory on how the universe began or is organized is correct. I know that the “gap theory” of a previous order of creation between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 has fallen out of favor in recent years, but for several reasons I feel that it is actually the correct view. I believe that the original creation of the universe is documented in Genesis 1:1. I don’t know if it was a “big bang” or not, but I do not believe that the way the big bang theory is formulated is correct. In any case, one reason that I believe Genesis 1:2 is describing a previous order of creation “becoming formless and void” is because there is also a uniform set of ancient accounts found coming from cultures on EVERY CONTINENT that says the same thing. The details found in these accounts sound so outlandish that anthropologists and mythologists wrote them off as being the result of hallucinations that were handed down by superstitious primitives who were high on their homemade drug concoctions. But these researchers also acknowledged a problem. They recognized the ridiculously long odds involved in all of these cultures coming up with the exact same story when they were separated so far from each other, had no way to copy each other to “get their story straight” and were supposedly high on drugs to boot.
In addition to a uniform set of “myths” about the destruction of a previous order of creation, there is also an equally uniform set of petroglyphs and pictographs found on EVERY CONTINENT, and many of these depictions on rock are just as outlandish as the myths. But there is an increasing body of evidence that these petroglyphs are not exaggerated depictions of “stickmen”, birds or other creatures, but are instead depictions of plasma discharge formations that the ancient people saw occurring in the atmosphere of earth. Dr. Anthony Perrat, the lead scientist in charge of high energy plasma discharge research at Los Alamos national labs happened to be at a conference where someone was doing a slide presentation on these ancient petroglyphs and when he saw them his jaw hit the floor. Many of them were identical in form to the plasma formations he had created in his experiments at Los Alamos. He did a research paper on the similarities, and he was even able to explain why there were slight variations among certain classes of petroglyphs that were otherwise mostly similar. He found that without knowing where a particular variation of a petroglyph had been found, he could predict what latitude each variation of that petroglyph was located at. He did this by situating the petroglyph’s basic outline over either the north or south pole, and then using geometry, he sketched out how that basic form would look if viewed from a different latitude. By doing this he was able to accurately predict where a particular petroglyph had been found. The first 30 minutes of this video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6meaU1QcSdA has Dr. Peratt showing side by side examples of petroglyphs and the corresponding plasma discharges that he created in his lab work. At about the 43 minute mark there is started a discussion of round plasma discharges with a series of dots around the perimeter. Counter-rotating “cylinders” nested within each other is a common form of plasma discharge, and the “dots” around the perimeter are the “birkeland currents” that are generating these rotating cylinders. This type of plasma discharge is what I believe Ezekiel is describing in chapter 1 when he talks about “wheels within a wheel” with “eyes” all around the rim. There are a lot of things in the bible that I believe have an plasma/electrical component. The pillar of fire and cloud that the Israelites followed in the desert is one. The destruction of the Assyrian army outside of Jerusalem is another. The Assyrian army was notorious for the amount of iron weaponry they carried, which made them an easy target for an electrical discharge. Anyway, Dr. Perrat’s career was blackballed as a result of his publishing papers on the similarity between petroglyphs and his plasma formations.
The most dramatic example of electricity playing a role in biblical events is what will take place at “the time of the end”. The sun will be darkened and the moon will turn to blood. The earth and the heavens will be shaken, the sky will roll up like a scroll, the elements will melt in fervent heat, etc. All of these things are consistent with, and the necessary outcome of, the mechanism that I am about to describe to you. For quite a while now, it has been well known that the sun spins out a wavy “sheet” of charged particles along the plane of its equator. It is called the “heliospheric current sheet”, and the people responsible for maintaining communication satellites have to adjust their satellite’s operating parameters every 8 -10 days when one of the “ripples” in this current sheet passes by the satellites. This is so the electrical charge doesn’t destroy the computer programming and the hardware. Well, it has recently been shown that there is also a rippling “galactic current sheet” that spins out from the Milky Way’s center and behaves in much the same way as the sun’s current sheet. There is mounting evidence that our solar system is currently encountering one of the ripples in that galactic current sheet. There are unprecedented changes taking place on all of the planets, in the space between the planets, and around our sun. You can see a list of these changes on the screen starting at about the 2:35 mark of this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV115dVn9_w
Two of the major factors involved with encountering this galactic current sheet is the dust that this current sheet carries with it and the magnetic reversal that will occur as the center of this sheet passes by. This current sheet sweeps up the fine dust that is found in interstellar space like a Swiffer dust mop does on a floor. There has been a documented increase of dust in the space between the planets of our solar system in recent years as well as a build up of dust around the sun. As this build-up continues, the sun will be darkened, which will result in the moon appearing red. The increase in dust will lower the electrical resistance between the sun and all of the planets, and once the center of the current sheet passes by the sun, the sudden reverse in magnetic polarity will cause the sun to “short circuit” and blow off the dust shell in a “micro-nova”. That is what all of the verses in the bible about the end coming in flaming fire are all talking about. The blast from this micro-nova will also “peel back” our atmosphere and cause it to roll up on itself. It is amazing how accurately the bible describes things that can also be modeled by modern science. The ancient bible authors didn’t know that the earth’s atmosphere was held in place by a magnetic field which could be rolled back by a solar blast. Because of the discovery of certain isotopes in ice cores and sediment samples, we have physical evidence that the sun has done this before. As scientists learned about how the various physical elements were structured, they also learned about the various “isotopes” that some elements have, and the processes necessary for them to be formed. And in doing this, they discovered that there were isotopes that were found in samples from all over earth that could only be formed in a “nova-type” event. They postulated that these isotopes were from a far-distant super-nova which blew them out into space, and earth’s gravity then captured them, pulling them down to the surface. That explanation held up until several years ago when advances in their detection equipment showed scientists that in any kind of nova event, the material that is exploded out into space cannot escape the “magnetic shell” that the exploding nova creates. All that material eventually gets pulled right back in. So the only possible source for the nova-born isotopes that are found on earth is our sun. And there is a lot of evidence that every 12,000 years it goes “micro-nova”.
There is also an electrical component to all of the psychological and spiritual confusion that the bible describes as taking place near “the end”. Our consciousness is affected by the electromagnetic environment more than most people realize. Some people are more sensitive to it than others, but with what is coming, it is going to affect everyone. And it is going to start out as a gradual process that speeds up over time. There are peer-reviewed papers which claim that the increase in “lunacy” during the time of a full moon is caused by the moon distorting the magnetic field of earth when it is on the opposite side of earth from the sun. There are also a ton of papers correlating mental and physical problems that increase during times of increased solar activity and during space-weather “storms”, which consist of the bombardment of earth by high-energy rays from distant super-novas. Another form of stress will come from a change in earth’s electrical environment will result from the challenges that will face every niche of living things on the planet. Biological processes will be upset, migratory patterns will be disrupted, plants will not grow normally. I can see why Jesus said it will be a time of trouble the likes of which has not been from the beginning of the cosmos until now, nor ever shall be.
In all of this, I am not trying to “explain away” God by saying “electricity is going to do it all”. Electricity is just the mediating force that God is using. In fact, the behavior of electricity and plasma points to God. Plasma research started in the mid-1800’s but it soon reached a plateau where it remained stuck until the invention of super-computers. That is because plasma formations that are carrying electric current exhibit what some scientists call a rudimentary form of intelligence. Plasma is self-organizing and is able to rapidly adapt to changing conditions in order to preserve itself. It forms “double layers” that are capable of keeping positive and negative electrical charges from neutralizing each other. It’s behavior is governed by laws that are so complex and intertwined that super-computers were needed to even begin figuring things out, and it is unlikely even then that we’ll discover even half of what there is to know through that route. The electrical force is also probably the closest analogy we have to the Holy Spirit. It is an unseen force that is capable of moving things and giving them “life”. It is the major foundational force for holding everything from atoms to galaxies together. The gravity-driven big bang theory of the universe is on its way out. The major organizing force in the cosmos is electromagnetism, and the mainstream scientific establishment is slowly slipping hints into their research papers that they need to move in that direction. If you want to look into this I have found the work done by Ben Davidson and his group at Suspicious Observers interesting. He is pretty good at providing references or links to peer-reviewed papers that he references in his daily reports on youtube. His videos on plasma cosmology ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4pWZGBpWP0 ) and “cosmic disaster” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_zfMyzXqfI ; ) are very interesting and informative. The folks at the thunderbolts project put out a lot of material and videos on the electrical nature of the universe also ( https://www.thunderbolts.info ). Anthony Perrat has a website on plasma cosmology ( https://www.plasmauniverse.info/ ; ) but it the material there is more “chopped up” and some of it is fairly technical.
I hope you will forgive me rambling on for so long. It is just seems like everywhere I look I see examples of how things that we have been taught to believe are sitting on such faulty foundations, whether it is the fate of unbelievers, the history and nature of the universe, or how this present age will end. I know a lot of what I have said is controversial, but I hope you will consider whether it is worth looking into.
(end excerpt)
So now you can probably see why I think that the bible is still relevant. Any comments you have are welcome.
Hey there my friend! Thank you for the comment!
It’s true. I do think the bible is not relevant for anyone outside of its original context for the reasons stated above. For me, in my years of research, pastoring, and preaching, I’ve come to the conclusion that the bible is a product of human beings in their historical context trying to explain their reality in the light and lens of their own cultural understanding (their religion, faith, theology, and scriptures).
I’m glad to see that you have come to the conclusion of universalism! In my last days as a Christian and pastor I too came to the same conclusion. Hell also has a historical reference and has nothing to do with an eternal conscious torment, a place of fire and suffering. For me, I came to see hell as fiery language used to describe the god of Israel’s covenantal judgement for his people’s unfaithfulness, which in the New Testament came to be equated with rejecting the messiah. Very little of the bible actually has to do with any concept of the afterlife at all. It is primarily concerned through and through with god’s covenantal dealings with his chosen people (Israel).
When the historical context (especially surrounding the events of 70 AD) is completely grasped, all belief that the bible is a special revelation of god that has anything to do with people in the year 2023 AD dissolves (at least it did for me).
I agree with much of and enjoyed what you wrote. Your treatment of the Greek phrase αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων was both on point and very nostalgic! Although I studied and learned Greek and Hebrew in seminary, translated everything I ever preached, did countless word studies, and dove into the concept of αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων myself, it’s been ages since I’ve looked deeply at much of the original languages!
Also, your discussion of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus was great! I, too, think the majority of the parables have their point absolutely missed. Of course, I’m sure we would disagree over some of them, but I read them in their historical context as well, while many pastors make them into pithy platitudes that have nothing to do with the original point or intent.
When writing on the Hebrews 9 passage I appreciate when you say “a Hebrew reader of the Letter to the Hebrews would recognize everything…” Yes! Having this mindset is key to understanding the bible. Having a Hebrew mindset in general, and having a 1st century 2nd temple Hebrew mindset specifically for understanding the New Testament. It would be lovely if more people could be interested in having this mindset to comprehend their own religion. I hope those to whom you wrote this listened at least a bit!
Being that I do not believe that the bible is the inspired special revelation or word of god (I don’t believe in a separate entity like a god at all), while I appreciate your treatment of Genesis, I don’t see it being relevant in any way to our understanding of the universe. The various views (literal, gap, myth, analogy, etc.) on how to interpret Genesis are entertaining from a post-Christian standpoint (I mean this in a positive way) but ultimately meaningless from my perspective. However, on your point of how other cultures from various parts of the world (“EVERY CONTINENT”) have similar stories, I’ll need to look more into. It’s an interesting point, and one that I haven’t enough information from my own research at the moment to form an opinion on.
On “the time of the end” and the sun being darkened and the moon turning to blood, I do think it’s quite a stretch to explain these things with our current understanding of science. The bible speaks of judgements using apocalyptic style language. Stars falling, the sun standing still or turning black, things happening with the heavenly bodies, etc., in my understanding these are no more than descriptions using apocalyptic language which can be found throughout both the old and new testaments.
Thanks again for your comment! I wholeheartedly agree that it “just seems like everywhere I look I see examples of how things that we have been taught to believe are sitting on such faulty foundations…”! It’s good to see someone digging deeper and challenging these faulty foundations! We’d have a great coffeeshop conversation no doubt! I appreciate you my friend!
Your comment on the CURRENT UNDERSTANDING of science in regards to the way the bible describes events taking place “at the end” is not exactly correct. If you listen to what the established “experts” say, then yes, the within the paradigm they currently cling to, the scenario I laid out is stretching things too far. The problem is that most of these “experts” come from within the “university level” scientific communities and up until recently they have not had access to the scientific knowledge that experts at the “nation-state” level have had for years. In the 34:28 – 36:22 and the 52:40 – 54:55 sections of this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4pWZGBpWP0 a few interesting things come to light. For one, NASA gets a patent on a device that only works because we live in a “plasma universe”, an admission that undercuts the mainstream gravity-driven paradigm that undergirds our current scientific understanding. Then the video features Dr. Anthony Peratt, who was in charge of high energy plasma discharge research at Los Alamos national labs during the cold war. He states openly that during their research program, he and his colleagues discovered 50 years ago that the big bang model of cosmology was fatally flawed and that plasma/electromagnetic interactions are how the universe is organized and operates. For most of that 50 years they could not talk about their discovery because the Los Alamos research that proved it had military applications and was highly classified. But just prior to the making of the video, the CIA allowed him to share some of their discoveries, more than likely because some other research project figured the same thing out and the falsity of the big bang is now common knowledge. That would explain why Dr. Peratt was allowed to spill the beans and also the open statement by NASA about the fact that we live in a plasma universe. The funny thing about all of this is that it is not being openly discussed by the media or by the mainstream scientific community. They now have data that undercuts their paradigm and their understanding of how things work, they just refuse to acknowledge the implications of Dr. Peratt’s 50 year old discoveries as well as corroborating discoveries made by space probes and newer, more powerful telescopes. The video linked to above is put out by a group called Suspicious 0bservers, headed up by Ben Davidson. He and his group were mocked for years, but during that time a lot of “fringe ideas” that they put forward have found their way into the mainstream (like the idea of an electromagnetic factor in earthquake activity. Italy, Brazil and China all now have satellites dedicated to detecting the electromagnetic anomalies that occur prior to earthquakes) Mr. Davidson has also tangled with Ivy league science departments and with NASA and has come out on top. The existence of a “galactic current sheet” is now proven fact. So, according to the latest scientific evidence, the scenario I described concerning events at “the end” is not only possible, but inevitable. The only question is whether the many unprecedented changes taking place in our solar system and in nearby stars is evidence that we are now encountering one of the ripples in this current sheet. At about the 2:35 portion of this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV115dVn9_w there is a list of some of these changes. That list should be enough to get anyone to weigh the question seriously, but there is one last item to put on the scale. This video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHBDF_3Dk_k starts out by discussing all of the times that the mainstream scoffers were wrong about the claims made by the Suspicous 0bservers, but in the 6:34 – 7:40 portion, Mr. Davidson points out another bit of evidence that our solar system is encountering the leading edge of a ripple in the galactic current sheet. I have no doubt as to what is in store, and no doubt that the apocalyptic language in the bible is not figurative. Ever since Charles Lyell, and James Hutton got their uniformitarian/gradualist view of earth’s history accepted as truth, people have been skeptical of anyone who talks about catastrophism. This final video link discusses how the truth about earth’s past has been discredited and suppressed – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_zfMyzXqfI . The reason this was done is pretty obvious, and it is the same reason that the truth about living in an “electric/plasma universe” is not being widely publicized. Catastrophe is chaotic and nobody likes it. But that won’t make it go away.