And Peter said to Jesus, " You are a Composite, the Son of many gods "

Matt Ridley in " The rational optimist " p270 talks about how culture and technology advances by ideas having sex :

" When Hero of Alexandria invented an ' aeoliphile ' or steam engine in the first century AD, and employed it in opening temple doors, the chances are that news of his invention spread so slowly and to so few people that it may never have reached the ears of cart designers. Ptolemaic astronomy was ingenious and precise, if not quite accurate, but it was never used for navigation, because astronomers and sailors did not meet. The secret of the modern world is its gigantic interconnectedness. Ideas are having sex with other ideas from all over the planet with ever- increasing promiscuity. The telephone had sex with the computer and spawned the internet. The first motor cars looked as though they were ' sired by the bicycle out of the horse carriage ' The idea for plastics came from photographic chemistry. Almost every technology is a hybrid "

Maybe the Bible is a story of the mating of near eastern religions with Jesus as the mongrel son ? Was Jesus vaguely of referred to as the Son of Man because so many contributed their seed to the womb that it is impossible to decide who the father was ? His birth is remembered in the naivity scene because only the naive would fail to see the birth was delivered by priestly spin doctors.

Matthew 16v15 " But what about you ? " Jesus asked, " Who do you say I am ? " Simon Peter answered, " You are the Composite, the son of many gods " 
Jesus replied, " Blessed are you, this would never have been told to you by orthodoxy but has been revealed by John W. Loftus, Robert M. Price & others who sought the truth and found probabilities "

Ken Humphreys is gives reasons to think Jesus never existed : " How did they know ? " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Yesterday, today, tommorrow Jesus is always changing

So what was the real history of Jerusalem ? I'll have to reread " The Bible Unearthed " by Israel Finkelstein for a proper account.

For a rough guess sketch - Maybe the first religious site was a totem pole or Asherah pole that later had a Canaanite style temple built round, which was gradually filled with other superstitious statues and trinkets. The contents gradually changed as travelling priests passed through from Egypt and Babylon. The Temple gradually got added to, alterations and demolitions from battles occurred. Maybe it fell into disuse at times and recolonized by other people. The aural stories about the doctrines gradually being added to and morphing from one thing into another, the writings changing from proto semitic to western semitic to hebrew to greek. A constant wikipedia like evolution of ideas.

Maybe not much different from modern churches. Even looking at gradually shifting of christian music, with the tunes drawing in ideas from pop music culture. Where the lyrics drop detail and focus more on vague ideas of love and trust.

So really John 1v1 should say, " In the beginning was the Word, but it was very different from the one we now see in 3rd century CE "

John 1v14 " The word became a historicized character "

Malachi 3v6 " I the Lord am forever changing - just wait to you see what I'm like in the New Testament and I'll be unrecognizable by the time I get to 2013 "

OR Malachi 3v6 " I the Lord never change ( unfortunately ), which could be part of the problem, perhaps it is time for a new regeneration of time lord, God Who ?

Hebrews 13v8 Jesus Christ was different yesterday from the century before from the millennium before that, from 200 CE when he took final shape on paper, from 100 CE when the teacher of righteousness was just a gleam in the eye of a half crazed priest.

Matthew 5v18 " Quit changing the smallest letters and strokes of the pen to try to make the text say whatever you want it to, my version is the final one ", " No it isn't you've hijacked it ", " Look here both of you, piss off, I was here first ", " No I have more authority and you'll be burnt at the stake if you don't beat it ", " We'll see about that "

Rev 22v18 " I know how you lot keep adding and revising the religious stories but cut it out or else a thousand diseases be on you, the committee has agreed that my version is authoritative, so enough already "

[ Hebrews 13v4, " The marriage bed should be kept pure, change the sheets at least once a month ", " Are you serious ? It needs to be once a week or I'm leaving you ", " Ah quit nagging ", " You don't appreciate me, none for you then ", " Aw come on dear, you know i love you really ", " All you can think of is sex ", " Darn, I can't win, I'm off to the pub ", " Door slams " ]

Not guilty

How is it that many religious leaders are guilty of with holding key bits of information from their congregations and yet apparently feel no guilt about doing so ? How come they don't feel guilty about closing down abortion clinics in USA ? [ Heard that info from Cher speaking on UK radio ] 

Before I came across higher criticism of the Bible I used to worry, " What if I told people that there really was a hell and made them worry about something that didn't exist.but what if it does exist and i don't help them to avoid going there, how can anyone work out whether it exists or not, the ministers seem so have studied everything and haven't found any reasons to doubt it "
I also used to worry, " What if I made them worry about hell but they weren't a chosen one so that their worry was for nothing and they would have been better just to enjoy their life and never mind about the inevitable. " 
When it first dawned on me that hell was hardly mentioned in the old testament I guessed an excuse: that God didn't want to worry people about hell until after Jesus had opened up a route to heaven . However now I think it is more likely that the Jews hadn't considered the possibility of there being a hell until Alexander the Great's victories brought the spread of Greek thinking to the Jews. 
It is possible to worry about not telling people the gospel and it is possible to worry about not telling people the reasons to think that the gospel is mostly fiction but my impression is that many people deal with these things by focusing on other interests so much that they forget religion.

So my conclusion is that maybe i worry about these things a lot more than other people and maybe I should take a leaf out of their book and focus on sport, holidays, family, hobbies etc 
Focus on what is optimistic and positive
Is this what Luke 11v34 was starting to head for, " Your eye is the lamp of your body, When your eyes are good your whole body is full of light... See to it that the light within you is not darkness, read WIBA and see the reasons to think that the Bible is mostly dark fiction and it would not be loving or ethical to let anyone suffer after death, therefore don't worry about the Bible, just relax and enjoy life, eat, drink and be merry " ( slightly amended by me )
The Bible is a whole ready made worry complex that has sent many folk on a guilt trip over nothing.

Pack up your troubles in an old kit bag

How do you go about filing all Bible worries away in an old kit bag and focusing on living a life full of variety & diversity ? Does there first need to be a more likely alternative explanation as to how the Bible stories got accepted by many as being true when they only have a few grains of reality to them ?
From bible propaganda to WW1 propaganda :

Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile,
While you've a Lucifer to light your fag,
Smile, boys, that's the style.
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worth while, so
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.

From Songfacts.com :
The lyrics for this First World War marching song were written by George Henry Powell under the pseudonym of "George Asaf," and they were set to music by his brother Felix Powell. Although Felix was an enthusiastic staff sergeant in the British Army, George was a pacifist, and became a conscientious objector when conscription was imposed in 1916.
The British music hall stars entered "Pack Up Your Troubles" in a wartime competition for the best morale-building song. It won first prize and became very popular, boosting British resolve despite the horrors of that war. Felix didn't follow the song's advice, as he committed suicide in 1942.
Don't worry.. The lyric "While you've a lucifer to light your fag" doesn't have any satanic connotations. A "lucifer" was a popular make of match, and "fag"" is British slang for a cigarette.
The song was recalled in the title of the 1932 Laurel and Hardy film Pack Up Your Troubles where the duo are drafted in the First World War. "Pack Up Your Troubles" is also featured in the beginning of the 1970 American musical film, Darling Lili sung by Julie Andrews.
Among the artists who have recorded over the years are Helen Clark, Bob Crosby, Al Donahue, Spike Jones and Anthony Newley.
The two brothers at first thought Felix's tune was a load of hogwash. "I played the tune over to George", Felix recalled to a journalist later. "He, without hesitation, pronounced it piffle. Having mutually agreed it was rubbish, it was consigned to a drawer labelled 'Duds.'" The song was saved from oblivion the following year when Felix and George entered it into a competition "as a joke". Felix recalled: "A few months later a wire came up to us at the Grand Theatre, Birmingham: PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES FIRST PRIZE. It gave George and me the best laugh of our lives. On the following Monday we put the song into our own show at Southampton in order to 'try it on the dog' so to speak. By the middle of the week we were as amused as we were delighted to hear thousands of troops singing it en route for the docks."
Actually maybe if everyone in the first world war had worried more about the futility & pointlessness of that war then maybe the leaders would have been pressurized into negotiating a cease fire in 1914 or before it got going. Maybe worry serves a purpose if it can push effective research into the full story behind events or a better way forward.

When it comes to sins of omission then any cosmic god is the most guilty of all

When it comes to sins of omission then any cosmic god is the most guilty of all. In fact with such an almighty guilt, it wouldn't surprise me if such a god had died from it.

The Bible records very little apology from the god it claims to represent.

One memorable example Genesis 6v6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

What comes after that ? Not, " sorry folks I'll try to fix it, I'll show you how to make lots of fun stuff like computers and yachts, windsurfers, kite surfers, aeroplanes, motorbikes, games etc and keep intervening to provide plentiful food & clothes and really heal all your injuries and prevent illness & crime. Yes I'll make life on Earth a whole bundle of fun then you'll feel warmly toward me. "

Instead it is a brutal, " I know, I'll wipe them all out, and it won't even be a surgical strike but I'll wipe out all the mammals and birds too "
So looks like that god character has a conscience deficiency.

Also a tendency to gross exaggeration; Genesis 6v5, " The lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was ONLY EVIL ALL THE TIME."
How about that life was a struggle for survival back then. People found themselves in an impossible equation.

Also contrast with the modern idea that thoughts originate in the brain rather than the ancient Egyptian idea of thoughts coming from the heart.

Parody on, " If you're happy and you know it clap your hands " ( did this song originate in church ?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

If you think the the Bible is mostly fiction clap your hands
If you're happier with the idea that there is no hell clap your hands
If you think the Bible is mostly fiction, that for some is an unhealthy addiction
If you think the Bible is mostly pish wash your hands of it

[ what is really meant in church context ]
If you don't want to go to hell clap your hands
If you don't want to go to hell nod your head
Unless you say you're happy with orthodoxy then you will go to hell
So be happy with the story or be damned

[ atheist version ]
If you're worried about the Bible clap your hands
If you're in a panic about bible threats nod your head
If you don't want to worry about that, then read WIBA
If you want to be happy then read reasons to think it is mostly fiction

Jesus goes to drink at a rather attractive woman's well

John 4v16 : Jesus goes to drink at a rather attractive woman's well 
Jesus told her, " Go call your husband "
" I have no husband " she replied, " What about you, do you have a girl friend ? "
" No " Jesus replied, " For it was not yet my time to come again "
Delilah, for that was the name the woman was known by, replied slightly tauntingly, " You are still a virgin aren't you ?"
Jesus , " Yes, what you have said is quite true, but if you knew how desperate I am to drink at your well, you would ask me and I would satisfy your thirst, for a have a well that can spring up to give new life "
Delilah, " Well I have a jar of olive oil with which to anoint your feet "
Jesus, " Behold I stand at your door and am ready to knock, I long to place my finger in the latch opening and enter "
Delilah, " My lord and my god "
Jesus, " Then let us go up to the mountain orchards to worship, I hope to see the twin fawns of a gazelle there "
Delilah, " Yes come into my garden and taste it's choice fruits "
Then they were taken up into cloud 9 and transfigured

Ships log, star date unknown

MYTH 6 : JESUS WOULD KEEP A RELIABLE ' LAMB'S BOOK OF LIFE ' [ Rev 3v5 & Rev 20v12 ]

Actually going by the track record of the Bible as evidence, Jesus record keeping abilities would be at best shambolic.

There is no evidence that Jesus could do any more than scribble in the sand. No one claimed it. Bit odd that someone who was later claimed as the Word of God should be so disinterested in written records.

Would have expected the Bible to be meticulous from a 'perfect one'

In fact with this in mind I find the Bible has become strangely comforting - its comforting to know that I'm not the only one who keeps such an incomplete, jumbled record of my life history, people I've met, major events etc. In this respect I am on a par with God.

My guess is that Jesus won't know who is who from his lamb's book of life. He maybe started out with good intentions, maybe got as far as writing the heading & drawing up a few categories but probably petered out soon after that. Well who knows, maybe like your car log book or work safety records, he maybe got to the end of the year and tried to manufacture a whole lot of entries to make it look like he had tried. So don't be offended if you get there after spending your life cleaning the church & fixing its garden & handing out leaflets and then find he tells you your name isn't found in his book of life and since he can't tell you from Adam it's down the chute you go. Maybe you could quip that you are a son of adam or son of man, might be a winner ?

PS Is it only Revelation that has the idea of a lamb's book of life ? It may be a development from Malachai 3v16 ?

Myth 7 : Jesus never changes

You know how it is when you write some opinions down and then when you read them again after a decade you just find them embarrassing? People travel through the debates. So I expect that if Jesus was to return & read the Bible it would be like, " Oh my God, did I ever write that nonsense? Ho ho ha, hope no one took that seriously, after all it is for everyone to make their own mind up about stuff, in any case I don't remember writing much so maybe someone else has been forging in my name ? "

Maybe on Jesus return he will get his time dial twisted and end up meeting his former self going backwards on the shores of Lake Tiberias . Then there will be an almighty humdinger of a quarrel about what is truth and which way is life, one will say left and the other right, one will appeal to the Holy spirit and the other to the Father , so it will be a draw, then they will have to pull a wild card - Satan - to try to decide, and it will be like, " Get thee behind me Satan ", " No Get thee behind me Satan " , " No me ", " No my turn " in an unending Armaggedon wrestle of ad hominem and threats of hell fire..

Admittedly this idea is a bit far fetched. If you could go back in time you would be more likely to discover a whole sequence of anonymous priests inventing Jesus stories. Maybe one of the playwrights suffered writers block on the wandering Jewish preacher man series and decided just have him killed off, but then a later playwright decided he could do more with it so wrote him coming back again ? As it happens I was at a garage sale the other day and scooped some Jesus gospels that look like the genuine article. He departed on his return trip at the appointed time as promised, its just that he has landed on Earth in 3013 and is stuck there wondering how to get back a millennium. There are no intelligent humans around cause they were out voted by the pessimists who turned their back on nuclear power & so everyone died out.

Finally, if you remember a while back there was a rumour going around that if you played Iron Maiden 1983 record 'Piece of mind' backwards then you would hear a sinister message ? Well the Bible according to orthodox christianity interpretation is in fact the backwards playing of the record - you are hearing the sinister message. If you played the Bible the correct direction you would hear, " There probably is no supernatural realm or cosmic gods, when you are dead it is the end, the stories in the Bible are mostly fiction with a few grains of reality "

Maybe once you have stared at the prospect of an eternal hell then the more likely reality of oblivion becomes strangely comforting too ? Break off your mental chains: Read the whole history of the debates

Iron Maiden , " Still Life " [ Piece of mind track 6 ] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Pathetic Prophecy

2 Peter 1v20 " no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation " 
Is this an admission that the N.T. writers twisted the O.T. passages to make them sound like prophecy ? Maybe the folk who wrote the O.T. would have rejected most of the N.T. claims about Jesus & co. They would be like, " What are you talking about, it never occurred to us even that there was a hell or that we would need saved from it by someone being murdered "

Again 2 Peter 2v4 in original Greek uses ' Tartarus ' which was a dungeon in the mythical Hades.
The author of 2 Peter 2v5 seems to assume that Noah's flood was a real factual flood but there is no evidence of such a flood in the last 6000 years, but maybe it was just a little local flood ( in the authors mind perhaps ? )

How come Jesus never prophesied about finding all the fossil fuel & an industrial revolution ? How come no N.T. writer prophesied about the population explosion and eventual crash when the fossil fuel & uranium & phosphates were used up ? Is that because humans are going to get nuclear fusion working and recycle all the sewage ? How come Jesus never prophesied that the fossil fuels would cause run away global warming melting all the ice and flooding the world ? Is that because run away global warming is going to be frozen in it's tracks by a new ice age ?
2 Peter 3v9 Patience is sometimes a virtue but Jesus better get his skates on and return before humanity perishes either by lack of fuel, global warming, global freezing or WWIII nuclear winter, or major asteroid strike or GM virus pandemic, whatever.

By God. I've just noticed global warming is prophesied in 2 Peter 3v12, " The elements will melt in the heat " Maybe in the next version of the Bible we could just change " elements" to " ice " cause I am just so sure that is what they really meant, in fact I feel I have the Spirit on this matter.

Proverbs 21v9 Better to be out in the desert than with a nagging wife - not if she is living in your house. Actually it would be better to find a way of reasoning with your wife so that she doesn't nag in a destructive way. Sometimes that nagging could work to positive effect. For instance just say Job's wife in Job 2v9 had said to him, " I don't know what that narrator over in the corner is writing about, seems like a nonsensical interpretation of events to me, Isn't it just more likely that there is no supernatural realm or gods, these natural disasters seem just random, however I always did say you should have got a professional in to build our house. "