Evil Gods and the State

On "Should Michael Vick Be Allowed to Return to the NFL?", someone got offended when I compared the God of Christianity to the State. When most people say "God", they mean "God of Christianity". For the rest of this post, to simplify things, I'm going to say "God" when I mean "God of Christianity". There are other more reasonable gods, such as the God of Computers, but they're not the point of this post.

I found this discussion interesting:

But taxation isn't theft, it's more like rendering unto caesar.

...

Are you kidding me, Matt? Taxation is not stealing, Christ acknowledged the right of the state to tax. And if someone steals from you, Christ taught to give even more, in part because he recognized that the thief likely had a need.

To review the argument these idiots are making, "Taxation is not theft, because the Bible says that taxation is not theft." Of course, just because these Christians are idiots, doesn't mean all Christians are complete fools. Unfortunately, there is a lot of similarity between Christian religious brainwashing and pro-State brainwashing.

I should write my own book and claim it's the verbatim word of God. If I can brainwash/convince enough people to agree, then does that make it a fact?

"Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" is an aspect of pro-State brainwashing. "Give the State that which belongs to the State. My money and house and labor and body belong to the State. I should not resist when the State claims them."

Another aspect of pro-State brainwashing is "turn the other cheek". That's believable, because it's half of the truth. "Turn the other cheek" can be interpreted as "Don't initiate violence against others." Unfortunately, "turn the other cheek" also means "Don't resist when others try to steal from you!" The correct answer is the Non-Aggression Principle, which says "Don't assault others or steal from others. Defend yourself if others attempt to assault you or steal from you!" A "turn the other cheek" attitude helps you be a good slave.

Another aspect of pro-State brainwashing is "Accept abuse while you are alive, and you will be rewarded after you die." That philosophy encourages people to accept abuse. The reward that God will give you after you die is much more valuable than any suffering you may incur while you are alive.

The fallacy is that, by definition, nobody knows what happens after you die. If a priest claims "If you do X, then you will be rewarded after you die!", then how can you be sure that the priest isn't mistaken? How can the priest know what happens after you die? This is a form of "lie by repeated assertion". If everyone acts as if Christianity is the One True Religion, then it becomes believable. It's unlikely that so many people would be conned by such an obvious fraud. The human brain isn't designed to consider the possibility "All the humans around me are completely insane!" You learn to mirror their insanity, instead of recognizing what's happening.

Similarly, if taxation really were theft, then wouldn't some humans notice and point out the scam? If all the humans around you think that the State is the One True Religion, then it's very hard to discover and spread the truth.

A couple of hundred years ago, someone who said "Christianity is a lie!" would probably be murdered. In some Islamic countries, it's currently illegal to say "The official State religion is wrong!" Luckily, in the USA, people are allowed religious freedom. I'm also lucky that, in the USA, I have the freedom to write "Taxation is theft!" I wouldn't have such freedom in many other countries.

When people say "The USA is a Christian nation", this really means "The USA is a nation of slaves." In many ways, the USA is a theocracy as much as Iran. The are many similarities between the cult of the US Constitution and the cult of the Christian Bible. Both are revered as holy documents, when they contain a lot of huge mistakes.

According to this page, "In God We Trust" started appearing on paper money in 1964, long after the gold standard was abandoned. The State appeals to God to legitimize its authority.

Most politicians talk about how they're such great Christians. Even though the USA has no official religion, all politicians are expected to be Christians. State insiders appeal to God for their legitimacy. Several hundred years ago, the king claimed to have been personally appointed by god, and therefore his authority is legitimate. All the priests were expected to recite this propaganda.

Another interesting bit is the pyramid and eye that appear on the back of the one dollar bill. That also wasn't added until after the gold standard was abandoned. That logo is the banksters' way of saying "HAHAHAHA!! Your money isn't worth anything anymore! Suckers!" It seems weird that such a satanic symbol would appear on money in a Christian country.

Another evil aspect of Christianity is "believe without evidence that God exists". That is silly. "Believe in God even without tangible evidence!" is closely related to "Believe without evidence that government is good!" People are trained to not think for themselves.

Christianity has a lot of logical contradictions. For example "If you do bad things, but believe in God, then God will forgive you." and "If you live a good life, but don't believe in God or never heard of Christianity, then you will suffer eternal punishment." A brainwashed Christian learns to ignore such logical contradictions. Similarly, people learn to ignore logical contradictions when supporting the State.

Paradoxically, insiders want people to be religious, but not too religious. If people are somewhat religious, it's easier to control them. If people are strict Christian, then they'll start thinking "War is immoral!" For example, Quakers were very strict Christian. As the Picket Line occasionally mentions, at some points in US history, Quakers refused to pay taxes in protest of war.

Another flaw in the Bible is that it's treated as the verbatim final definitive word of God. There's no finite list of rules that covers all situations. That's the "Incompleteness Theorem". "The Bible is the ultimate reference for making decisions!" sounds a lot like "The US Constitution is the ultimate reference for making decisions!" The Bible and the Constitution are both treated as holy documents. Any finite document necessarily has flaws.

Another interesting historical footnote is "People should feel guilty about sex and their bodies!" was not an original aspect of Christianity. That part was added later. About 1000 years ago, the political leaders discovered that by making people insecure about their own bodies, it would be easier to control them.

The God of Christianity is pretty insecure. He demands that mortals worship him without evidence. A real God doesn't care what mortals do. If mortals want to ignore the truth, that's their problem. The God of Christianity punishes mortals randomly and for no good reason. For example, if you say "If God is so good, then why must people suffer so much?", the answer is "God works in mysterious ways!" rather than "Let's figure out a way to make life better!" This is closely related to "If government is so good, then why must violence be used to collect taxes?"

Similarly, a State judge is pretty insecure. If you tell a State judge "Your authority is illegitimate!", then he will imprison you for contempt of court. He will hold you prisoner until you apologize. Similarly, God demands that his worshipers apologize for their sins.

Christianity teaches "All humans are intrinsically evil!" This leads to "Therefore, a government is needed!" Many pro-State trolls cite "Humans are intrinsically evil!" as justification for the State. The reality is that there's a scale from good to evil. The most evil people are the ones who control the government and the church.

I read a story where, in Italy, priests were ordered to preach "Tax evasion is a sin!" That's an example of the church explicitly supporting the State.

In certain historic times, the tithe to the church was mandatory in the same way that income taxes are mandatory now. "Tithe" means "tenth", a 10% income taxation rate. The tithe paid to the church was in addition to taxes demanded by the king.

If you read the Christian myth correctly, Lucifer is actually the hero. Lucifer means "bringer of light" or "bringer of truth". Lucifer called out the God of Christianity as being a fraud. A real God wouldn't mind if someone questions if he's doing a good job or a bad job.

Adam and Eve were punished for seeking the truth. "People who seek the truth are punished!" is an important aspect of the Matrix. People who seek the truth are overwhelmed with the horror, and wind up labeled with a "mental illness". Until the creation of the US government, it was considered a crime to criticize the government. In Europe, it still is sometimes a crime to criticize politicians.

The story of Cain and Abel also has an evil fnord. Cain was punished by God for murdering his brother Abel. In older versions of the Bible, God's punishment for Cain is that he turned his skin black. This was used as a justification for chattel slavery. That's no longer politically correct, and that bit of the story was retconned out.

If you analyze it carefully, "Be a good Christian!" is in many ways "Be a good slave!"

If Christianity were 100% lies, it wouldn't be effective pro-State brainwashing. If Christianity were 100% a lie, it wouldn't be believable. Christianity is a carefully calibrated mix of truth and lies. By learning Christianity, you learn some bad things and some good things.

I'm suspicious of anyone who claims to be both an anarchist and a Christian. It's implausible that someone would know "Government is one big scam!" without also considering "Is Christianity one big lie?" Of course, you're free to believe whatever lies you want. The problem with false beliefs is that they restrict your actions.

If you get offended when I write "The God of Christianity is really to God of Absolute Unopposable Evil!", are you offended because I'm obviously wrong? Or, are you getting offended because I'm contradicting your pro-State brainwashing?

Christianity is an important aspect of pro-State brainwashing. If you substitute "God" for "State", there's nearly a direct correlation.