On the left, oily evangelical preacher the reverend canon Mike Pilavachi (yes, really. No irony at all in those self-aggrandizing titles.) Pilavachi used his spiritual authority to abuse young men, compelling them to take part in homoerotic wrestling matches and providing them, for his own kinky gratification, with full body massages. Because, you know, it’s what Jesus would’ve wanted. He also bullied and manipulated others in his church and ‘across the world’ in his ‘ministry.’ So far so much par for the course.
What I find incredible is the reaction of one of Pilavachi’s victims, Matt Redman (right), musical partner in Pilavachi’s Soul Survivor church festivals.
Redman had this to say recently:
I think Jesus is an expert at bringing things into the light, and I think that’s what’s happening in this whole process. I think Jesus is doing this. I think Jesus is cleaning up his church and bringing something into the light that needed to be in the light.
What lunacy! Jesus will bring the sordid goings ‘into the light’, which raises more questions than it answers :
Was it Jesus who brought these doings into the open or was it victims who found the courage to speak out? If it really was Jesus, why didn’t he reveal matters much sooner to prevent more young men from falling foul of the deplorable Pilavachi’s abuse? Why, indeed, did Jesus not prevent the abuse in the first place, saving everyone the pain and psychological damage Pilavachi’s actions caused? Why did Jesus not make Pilavachi into a brand new creation, as promised in 2 Corinthians 5:17, when first he imbued him with his Spirit, a creation that lacked the desire to manipulate and abuse others?
I think we know the answer to all these questions.
Believing in Jesus is to believe in a fiction that has no more concern for your well-being than Casper the Friendly Ghost (to whom he is closely related). As much as I empathise with the vulnerable Matt Redman, he needs to be less forgiving of Pilavachi, reassess his reliance on a shadow and face reality. If anything, his belief in Jesus led him into the clutches of a psychopath who used him for his own gratification.
Mike Pilavachi has yet to be questioned by police. I guess Jesus really does look after his friends.
rejectingjesus, 
A new chapter in the canon where he can Jim Baker his way to more donations and support while he’s in prison.
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Oh gods, no! Kos is at the keyboard again! He’s off topic! Someone stop him!
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Imagine Yahweh, the Lord God Omnipotent, is out in his workshop creating 2 men to play their part in his Perfect Plan™. Or, more precisely, he’s creating the human eggs and sperm that will develop into these 2 men.
The first egg and sperm pair will become Adam. Yahweh crafts this pair so that the body that will grow from them will produce an unusually high amount of the hormone 20⍺-OHP. This hormone will push Adam to be a very loving and devoted husband and father. He will spend his life doting on his one wife, their children, and their grandchildren. He’ll be the very definition of “family man.”
The second egg and sperm pair will become Yves. Yahweh crafts this pair so that the body that will grow from them will produce an unusually low amount of the hormone 20⍺-OHP. Being low in this hormone will push Yves to avoid the commitments of marriage and children. He will spend his life in a series of short term relationships moving from woman to woman as the mood takes him. He’ll be the very definition of promiscuous.
How should these 2 men be judged at the Final Judgment™? Can Adam be praised for being a family man? Can Yves be judged for being a man slut?
No! They are the way Yahweh crafted them in their sacks of chemicals reacting to other chemicals. The only one who can be judged for their behavior is Yahweh!
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New paper out on 20⍺-OHP. Summarized here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/05/240515122702.htm
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. . . and Scientific American comes out with a solid overview of physics supporting the idea of determinism:
Has Quantum Physics Determined Your Future?
Everything in the universe may be preordained, according to physics
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-quantum-physics-rule-out-free-will/
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Just replace “Quantum Physics’ with ‘God’ and you’ll find we Christians were right all along!
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Neil: Just replace “Quantum Physics’ with ‘God’ and you’ll find we Christians were right all along!
If we do that we do get a god with an immutable “plan” and accurate prophecy becomes possible. But free will goes out the window.
Also there’s the inconvenient fact that quantum physics is just another blind and ignorant physical force. If quantum physics is God, he’s just a blind and ignorant force.
Gravity doesn’t know or care the effects it has on us. We can be held to the earth where all the food and breathable air is or be pulled from a tree to fall to our deaths. Gravity doesn’t know or care. Which, I guess, perfectly describes all the gods I’ve encountered, including YawehJesusGhost.
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Yes indeed. The universe is indifferent to human beings, their needs and parochial concerns. This is too much to stomach for some, hence Gods and saviours who are little more than indifference anthropomorphised.
Sorry for the garbled start to this week’s post; somehow a sentence had dropped out. I’ve corrected it now.
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Born Again This Way: Cruciformed
Posted onDecember 14, 2019 by Agent X
I write a blog that few people read with a message most people don’t want to hear. I don’t white-wash it, sugar coat it, and I ain’t overly nice about it either. I’m offensive. I embrace being offensive. Not because I want to keep you at arm’s length or run you off, not because I want to get in a good lick in the fight. None of that.
No. I want to be REAL with you. And whenever you get to where you can actually HANDLE THE TRUTH, you will see what I mean, and we will get along fine!
You see, I am offensive because I was Born Again This Way…
Continues for several bloviated paragraphs. N
…there is no confusion here. If my faith causes you offense, so be it. We have this all figured out. Come to church where I go, listen to Pastor Bates explain it. He says it all better than I do.
Cruciform. I was born again this way.
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“And whenever you get to where you can actually HANDLE THE TRUTH …” Hmmm. Methinks that’s what Atheists have been trying to get Believers to do for years.
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