Why Is God Surprised By Events in The Bible If He Is Omniscient

  In attempts to further my own biblical understanding, I was going through Genesis and something popped out that I hadn't noticed before.  Sometimes we as atheist get caught up in the "major" debatable issues, but some times forget the little things in the bible that make it even funnier when you actually think about what it means and says about the Judeo-Christan God.  Let's look at this line from Genesis 6:5-6 in the KJV:
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
 ⁶And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." 

Wait a minute.  God saw the wickedness of man and was sorrowful and regretted creating humans and this earth.  "¹³And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

These are two interesting lines here.  Why would an omniscient being actually be surprised and depressed about a situation that he knew was going to come to pass?  People, forget about the initial creation of man.  From the moment the christian god chose to create man kind, he knew our past, present and future.  In actuality, these concepts of linear time would not have meant anything to the christian god.  He would know just know everything about us.  So god knew that the Nephlim were coming to earth.  God knew that man would become wicked (because of original sin that was brought about by a situation that he created himself.  But that is another thing altogether.)  Why would he feel sorry and regret making us.  If god is indeed capable of feeling regret, wouldn't he have felt that from the simple knowledge of humanities existence.  Then why create us?  It seem that the biblical god is actually surprised that man is so wicked.

But what exactly is regret?  How do we define it in today's society.  "According to Landman's research (1993),
"Regret is a more or less painful cognitive and emotional state of feeling sorry for misfortunes, limitations, losses, transgressions, shortcomings, or mistakes. It is an experience of felt-reason or reasoned-emotion. The regretted matters may be sins of commission as well as sins of omission; they may range from the voluntary to the uncontrollable and accidental; they may be actually executed
deeds or entirely mental ones committed by oneself or by another person or group; they may be moral or legal transgressions or morally and legally neutral. . . ."(p. 36)

Now notice here that regret is used in the context of a person feeling regret for their actions or inaction's.  The consequences that follow and the things that one cannot control at times, i.e. losses and limitations.  Which one of these categories does the christian god fall into?

The Church Strikes Back (or at least tries to)

The new year brings many different things to many different people.  No matter faith, race, color or creed, there is a certain air of opportunity and hope that permeates peoples lives at the beginning of every new year.  It seems like the catholic church is not exempt.  2010 was a great year for scientific study and advancement.  From the possibilities of Neptune's diamond core, new estimation of Earth type planets, arsenic based life forms here on earth, and the creation and study of anti-matter particles, the church seems to be losing ground.

  Dr Rowan Williams, just published a statement for the BBC concerning the 400 anniversary of KJV of the bible and how it's in depth explanation of the universe should help people understand the "big picture".

"Or you may feel there's only one big story and that's about money and whether I have got a job tomorrow and whether my children can afford higher education."
However, for people to make sense of their lives, the archbishop said it helps have a strongly-defined story in the background that tells us that we all matter." 

  Wow!!!  What a shocker!!  I have to reread the bible again.  I must have missed this "strongly-defined story"  the first several times around.  Let's see.  God, in six days, created the heavens, earth and man.  After that he was so exhausted that he had to take a break (pretty lazy of an omnipotent being).  It does not get more detailed than that.  I mean sure, okay.  Adam named all the animals, had a rib taken out, but all we receive from the bible are quick synopsis of the events.  I don't find this helping me or anyone with the "big-picture" at all.

  It's false hope people.  A diversionary tactic to get your mind off of the real issues and discoveries that man is making everyday about what is really going on and what really happened at our beginning.  Think this through.  The Creation vs Evolution debate is has been going on for quite some time now with the bible being the strongest aspect of the debate.  It's had a couple of thousand years to get it right.  Yet this year alone, science has shown that we may not be that unique.  A life form on this very planet that exchanges phosphorous for arsenic?  What can the bible thumping masses say about that?  Will they quote the fall of creation?  Or maybe it was all part of the plan.  You know, one of those many details that god was like "Ummm..ooppps...yeah, sorry about not mentioning that.  I thought my son would have come back by now so...yeah..."

  I find this a blatant tactic to steer the masses into a false and ignorant hope.  Why would religion want to lose it's power over the ignorant?  With everything socially that happening, it's scary to throw religion back into the mix of things.  I see crusades beginning once again.

Christians, Stop Using the "Well there were eyewitnesses" Defense

  As I enter more and more into the debate world, there is a peculiar phenomena that I find when debating Christians.  It is the belief that eyewitness testimony is at all reliable.  Especially so when it comes to the divinity of Yeshua (Jesus).  Unfortunately this is completely wrong when it comes to proving the bibles validity.  There is no presupposition here.  It's pure fact from study and research.  Let's take a look at the account that Christians give when it comes to the Bibles historic content and what they consider "proof" of Yeshua's divinity and actions throughout the Bible.

Eyewitness testimony in Luke
Although Luke never knew Jesus personally, he makes two specific claims: to have obtained his material from eyewitnesses and to have done his homework. He says the things he records were given to him "by those who from the first were eyewitnesses" and "I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning" (Luke 1:1-4).  EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - EYEWITNESS

Here is a perfect example of faulty testimony taken as truth and a good eyewitness account.  Notice how it is first stated that Luke never knew Yeshua and relied solely on "witness" testimony.

Eyewitness Testimony in the New Testament John

John's gospel is the only gospel that specifically claims to be a direct eyewitness account. We have the plain statement at the end of the gospel concerning "the disciple that Jesus loved" that: "This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true" (John 21:24). This is probably an editorial comment added by someone closely associated with John.  EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - EYEWITNESS

On this particular website (I have given the citation beneath each paragraph), is very common to the Christian way of thinking.  The problem here is that we have proven, especially in our Criminal Justice system, that first account eyewitness testimony is unreliable.  Yet Bible scholars will have you believe that not only is the supposedly eyewitness accounts 100% accurate but that second, third, and fourth person accounts are reliable as well.  I don't think so.

The following except is from Stanford University's Journal of Legal Studies.  
" Several studies have been conducted on human memory and on subjects’ propensity to remember erroneously events and details that did not occur. Elizabeth Loftus performed experiments in the mid-seventies demonstrating the effect of a third party’s introducing false facts into memory.⁴  Subjects were shown a slide of a car at an intersection with either a yield sign or a stop sign. Experimenters asked participants questions, falsely introducing the term "stop sign" into the question instead of referring to the yield sign participants had actually seen. Similarly, experimenters falsely substituted the term "yield sign" in questions directed to participants who had actually seen the stop sign slide. The results indicated that subjects remembered seeing the false image. In the initial part of the experiment, subjects also viewed a slide showing a car accident. Some subjects were later asked how fast the cars were traveling when they "hit" each other, others were asked how fast the cars were traveling when they "smashed" into each other. Those subjects questioned using the word "smashed" were more likely to report having seen broken glass in the original slide. The introduction of false cues altered participants’ memories." -The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony


Steven Duke for Yale University Law School states tells of a story in where a rape victim positively "identified" her attacker.  This person was convicted and sent to prison.  After eighteen years, science, particularly DNA testing, showed that the person accused was indeed innocent.  Eyewitness Testimony Doesn't Make It True


What does this say about eyewitness accounts?  The proof is in the pudding.  They are unreliable.  The human mind interprets things using several factors.  Prior experience, sequence and pattern recognition and understanding of a situation to process information.  It has been proven many times that your eyes can "play tricks" on you.  How does all this fit into the account of Yeshua, his divinity and even his existence?  THERE IS NO VALID PROOF OF ANY OF IT.  If we know that eyewitness testimony can and is without a doubt faulty.  If we know that there are no complete records (if any) of who indeed wrote the New Testament.  I believe we can come to the simple conclusion that the possibility of the bibles accuracy is definitely in question.  I personally would go even further is stating that is most likely a document made up of false memories, embellishments and exaggerations.  Yet many still choose to cling to a book that by itself can not stand up to scrutiny.  Still even more claim that this book is, without a doubt, the official word of god and should be treated as such.   All this after knowing of changes that have been made.  Books removed for lack of conical material and now a debunking of the eyewitness accounts in the Bible.  


After all of this, they still will believe.  Such is the nature of man that they have to feel tied or connected to someone or something else.  As an atheist, I feel the same as well, except I understand that we are not alone.  We have each other to make our lives fulfilled.  Give up the fantasy.

Metacrock is a Crock of Shit

I recently came across a website that talks about atheist bullying.  I left my comment and moved on.  Lo and behold I was contacted by the owner of the blog with some rather nasty comments.  You can see them here.

I was thoroughly confused with this attack.  I did respond, but unfortunately I did not save them so that I can post them here and I doubt that Joe Himman aka Metacrock will allow my comments to be shown on his site (as my research has shown that he does indeed block or delete comments when he losses or is shown to be an idiot.  Here.)

Since I will not fall prey to the same filthy tactics let's look at the comments by both people.  This next link has a partial viewing of the comment I made to Joe's initial blog.  Unfortunately, now I cannot find the original blog ( how convenient)  Here.  As you can see my comment had nothing to do with "atheist propaganda".  But of course metacrock has to twist things to make himself sound a bit better.  Now on his site, he is not as abusive, but as you can see from his blog, he didn't have anything to really say about my comment besides that one point.  Yet look at his response brutally attacking me here.

  As you can see, his exact words are, "It's amazing how quickly you given in to atheist brain washing. are you lonely? You have no friends, you need an identity need a group to join, and you hate God because you hate yourself?"  How is any of this relevant to a discussion?  I hope that Joe does allow all my comments to be shown on his site.  You can check if he does.  My comments

I am not going to dedicate my life and time to arguing with a numb nut.  Thank you Joe for showing me that once again, Xian ignorance knows no boundaries and you are just a common person in a group of common delusional people.

Brand New Steps

  Many things have happened since my last post.  The growth of my non religious mind being first and foremost.  Its quite amazing how quickly the mind becomes deprogrammed once a perosn opens themselves up to the possibilities.  I can even say that I myslef have been guilty of continuing myths and legends just by the everyday words that I speak.  A God bless you here or a exclamation of "Jesus" there.  One never realizes these things until one has awakened from the mind numbing propaganda of God that constantly rears its ugly head in our society.  This makes me very sad and very angry.  I recently dove into the book, "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins.  Which by the way, thank you Richard for your rich comical writing style!  Anywho, I have just reached the chapter on morality and not a moment to soon.  Let me expalin
Recently I joined a martial arts school.  Towards the end of training the instructor started reading an email about ethics, moral and values.  The email had a definitive religious undertone.  So after class I approached the instructor about some of the things he talked about.  He was quick to state that he was a Roman Catholic.   I was quick to state that I was an Atheist, (we don't want to give people the wrong idea do we?).  The next words that came out of his mouth were quite shocking and comical. "Religion is the start of morality.  Its because of religion that morals and ethics exist."  Yes, yes at this point the Crusades, the witch burnings and burnings of books like Tom Sawyer and the Koran quickly leaped to my mind.  With a quick lick of my lips to hide the part smile, part grimace that was bound to appear on my face I replied, "Really.   You think so?  That's funny because I heard a great theory of morality coming before religion (once again thanks Richard).  You know I have a great book you should read called The God Delusion."  He sadly shook his head and said, "No thank you.  I find books written by Atheists boring.  Besides, there's nothing that it can tell me that I don't already know.  God is the truth and the only answer."  I was shocked and appalled!   My gaze went directly to the one Buddhist in the class.   He lowered his head and moved on.  The instructors next words clinched my sadness for the ignorant person standing before me.  "You know, I don't get u Atheists.  Always looking to destroy God.  I feel bad for you."  This time a smile did explode on my face and with a wink I replied, " yeah, I know.  Well thank you for the lesson.  I've gotta hop on my unicorn and get to Mt. Olympus.  See you next week!"  The look on his face was priceless!
  Do not talk myths for fact.  Educate yourselves and be prepared to educate others.  Avanti!

What Is An American: An Atheist View

  I didn't start out as an atheist.  Like many Hispanics here in America, I was indoctrinated at an early age.  I remember quoting scripture at the age of 7-8 on the public train in New York City.  I was kind of like a monkey doing palor tricks for the delight of strangers that shared the metal wheeled rocket.  Life was simple.  My idea at a young age of what it was to be an american was simple.
  As I got older of course things became a little more complicated.  Hormones, social diversity and racism became the norm.  My view of America was still very limited.  Naively I believed that my little world should be the only thing that mattered to me.  If there was not immediate need for anything then nothing was done.  Now that I am in my 30's I am faced with a bigger America.  An America where people kill, hurt and slander, not only because of skin color but because of religious beliefs.  I mean, we heard about it as a kid, but in the great melting pot of NY, living in predominately Hispanic neighborhoods, who ever see's a Jew or Muslim get hurt?  As a Atheist, I know the reality of all this now and see it almost every day.  This is the subject that I want to address.

  Many (christian) people today claim that this country is founded on christian principles.  That is something for someone else to argue (at this point in time).  But many atheist feel that in this country, if you are not a Christian, you are not an American, not a patriot.  I have served this country for six years as part of her Naval force and loved every minute of it.

  Does American patriotism equal christian beliefs?  Is what makes this a great country the fact that we believe in a monothesic god?  I hope not.  I think that this country is fostered first and foremost on a sense of brotherhood.  The cry "WE ARE AMERICANS!" stands out more than "WE ARE A CHRISTIAN NATION!".  There is incident that comes to mind when I think about what America truly stands for.

 When I was about 16 or 17 I lived in upstate New York, which at that time was predominately white.  There was one particular young man named Eric Rendi who as just a little more racist than some of the others that I had encountered.  It was so bad that every time we saw one another there would either be a fist fight or people on both sides restraining the both of us.  After about a year Eric signed up to the Marines and left for bootcamp.  In as small of a town that we lived in, it was a relief to not have that added stress to my life.  One day, several months later, I was sitting in a play ground just hanging out and enjoying they day when I heard someone approaching my area.  I looked up and there was Eric walking casually in my direction, eyes locked on me.  Now you have to understand that every time Eric and I met up it was instant confrontation, instant violence.  I stood, curled my fists and prepared for a fight.  Eric walked calmly up to me and shook his head.  "I didn't come here for that." He stated to me quietly.  Before I could say another word Eric offered his open hand to me and said to me, " I have been really unfair to you and I apologize.  My time in the Marines has shown me that it doesn't matter if someone is black, white, yellow or red.  All that matters is that that someone has your back when you need them there.  When your life is on the line."  In my flabbergasted silence I shook Eric's hand.  What else could I do?  He nodded at me again and finished off with, "I don't know if we can ever be friends but I have no problem with you and you will get no problems from me.  Be safe."  With that being said, Eric turned walked away.  I had seen Eric a few times before he left again for where ever the Corp has sent him.  And each time he acknowledge my presence with a slight nod and nothing more.  I wasn't offended at all. I was in awe and in a lot of ways, that day, Eric became a hero to me or rather the embodiement of what a hero does. 

  At some point he realized that nothing else mattters.  Race, religion or creed is all irrelevant.  In a silent word he screamed "WE ARE AMERICANS!"  and it meant more than any other label or belief out there.  It was stronger than his upbringing or beliefs about different people.  Eric learned a lesson that was so fundamental that he felt compelled to honor that lesson and per it take him where many may want to go and do, but few have the fortitude to hold true to.

This is the point of this blog.  You will see me argue points on religion and other things.  Realize though it's with an understanding that we are all Americans.  At the end of the day does it matter if you are a theist or an atheist?  Does it matter if on the dollar bill it say in God WE TRUST or maybe a better saying would be ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE.  We are one great nation people!  A nation that people far and wide come to so that they can escape persecution.  We were a nation that everyone believed we held fair play close to our hearts and that the underdog does not have to be the underdog.  We need to find a common ground that expresses the melting pot that America is and cry with our hearts to the rest of the world that WE ARE AMERICA! And we will not be swayed by the petty differences that divide the rest of the world.  We should be leaders in science, ethics and set the social standards in which the world models itself.  If your a theist; God bless America?  This is your belief and of course, in your faith, he does!  Why else would you still be here?  As an Atheist I know that there are many a great people here in this country.  I call them brothers whether theist or atheist because they are my patriotic brothers.  Just like Eric Rendi.  It took me years of learning and military service to understand how speacial you really are.  I never thanked you, but I do now.  I hope life has lived up to your expectations and wish you nothing but the best.

~~The StOoPid MoNkEy~~

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