WHERE WE ARE

In Part 1 of this series, I argued that Jesus was NOT God because Jesus was NOT eternally omnipotent.

In Part 2 of this series, I argued that Jesus was NOT God because Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient. The main argument I gave in Part 2 of this series was this one:

THE OMNISCIENCE ARGUMENT

1. Something is God ONLY IF it is eternally omniscient.

2. Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient.

THEREFORE:

3. Jesus was NOT God.

This is a logically VALID modus ponens argument, and I have previously argued that premise (1) is TRUE. In Part 2 of this series, I gave two arguments in support of premise (2). So we have good reason to believe that this is a SOUND argument and that Jesus was NOT God.

In this current post, I will present another argument in support of the key premise (2).

A THIRD ARGUMENT FOR PREMISE (2)

Here is another argument in support of premise (2):

10. Jesus had at least one false belief.

11. IF Jesus had at least one false belief, THEN Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient.

THEREFORE:

2. Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient.

Since I am an atheist and reject supernaturalism, I believe that Jesus had MANY false beliefs:

• God exists
• God created the universe
• God performs miracles
• People have souls
• Angels exist
• Angels sometimes help or rescue people

But the existence of God, the occurrence of miracles, and the view that people have souls are philosophical questions that are difficult to address in just one or two blog posts, and belief in angels is something that I suspect would be difficult to persuade most Christians to reject.

So, I will focus on other beliefs that Jesus held, that might be somewhat easier to show to be FALSE:

• Adam (in the book of Genesis) was the first human being.
• All humans and animals were killed by a worldwide flood a few thousand years before Jesus was born, except for a few humans and a collection of animals that were put on a boat and rescued from the flood by a man named Noah.
• The generation of people alive in Jesus’ time will not pass away until Jesus comes back in the sky with great power and glory.
• Demons cause mental illness, blindness, epilepsy, and muteness.
• Moses was a true prophet, a messenger from God.
• The Ten Commandments came from God.
• God will condemn many people to eternal torment in hell.
• With faith, one can cause a mountain to be cast into the sea.
• Jehovah, the god worshiped by the nation of Israel, is God.

If Jesus held just ONE of these beliefs, and if that belief is FALSE, then Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient, and premise (2) would be TRUE. I believe that Jesus held all of these beliefs and that all of these beliefs are FALSE. It is certain that Jesus held at least ONE of these beliefs, and since they are all clearly FALSE beliefs, it is almost certain that Jesus held at least one FALSE belief.

In Part 1 of this series, I have already argued that Jesus accepted the false belief that “Adam (in the book of Genesis) was the first human.”

Adam is a fictional character in an ancient legend, not an actual person. Furthermore, if there had been an actual Adam and Eve who lived in a garden a few thousand years before Jesus was born (as implied by Genesis), they were NOT the first human beings. Human beings have lived on the planet for about 300,000 years.

The story of Noah’s ark is another fictional story that Jesus believed was an historical account of actual events (Matthew 24:37-39 & Luke 17:26-27).

This story is a legend from the book of Genesis (Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9). There was no worldwide flood that destroyed nearly all human life and nearly all animal life that happened a few thousand years before Jesus was born. Noah is a fictional character in a fictional story about a fictional world-wide flood. Jesus believed the story about Noah in Genesis was a historical account of actual events. Jesus was mistaken. This was a FALSE belief held by Jesus.

Jesus wrongly believed that he would return to the Earth in a dramatic descent from the sky in a matter of months or years.

In Mark Chapter 13, Jesus predicts that he will return to Earth in the future:

During his trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus clearly indicated that he was “the Son of Man” who would be appearing in the sky one day:

… Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am, and

‘you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of the Power’
and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’ ”

Mark 14:61-62, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Jesus believed that these apocalyptic world-changing events would happen soon, in just a matter of a few months or a few years:

³⁰ Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 

Mark 13:30, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (see also: Matthew 24:29-34 & Luke 21:25-32)

But Jesus was WRONG. Two thousand years have come and gone, and many generations have come and gone since Jesus made this prediction. Jesus’ sincere belief that he would return to the Earth in clouds “with great power and glory” in the lifetime of his generation was FALSE.

Jesus accepted the FALSE belief that demons cause mental illness, blindness, epilepsy, and muteness.

Jesus was an exorcist (Mark Chapters 1 & 7, Matthew Chapters 4 & 8). He believed that mental illness was caused by demons and could be cured by exorcism (Mark Chapter 5 & Luke Chapter 8), that blindness was caused by demons (Matthew Chapter 12), that epilepsy was caused by demons (Matthew Chapter 17), and that muteness was caused by demons (Matthew Chapters 9 & 12, Luke Chapter 11). He believed that he could heal people of diseases by casting demons out of people who were physically or mentally ill.

These were superstitious beliefs held by many Palestinian Jews in Jesus’ time, but they are FALSE beliefs. Mental illness is NOT caused by demons. Blindness is NOT caused by demons. Epilepsy is NOT caused by demons. Muteness is NOT caused by demons. Jesus accepted the pre-scientific and superstitious beliefs of the Jewish culture that existed in his time. So, Jesus held FALSE beliefs about what causes mental illness, blindness, epilepsy, and muteness.

Jesus was a devout Jew who believed that Moses was a true prophet, a messenger from God, but this belief is FALSE.

According to Moses, God commanded people to kill children for hitting or cursing their parents (Exodus 21:15 & Leviticus 20:9), to kill anyone who did any work on a Saturday (including making a fire to cook a meal: Exodus 20:8-11, 31:15, Exodus 35:2, Numbers 15:32-36), to kill any young woman who had sex before marriage (Deuteronomy 22:20-22)–but there was no similar demand to punish any young man who had sex before marriage–to kill any married woman who had an affair (Leviticus 20:10)–but there was no similar demand to punish any married man who had an affair (unless he had sex with another man’s wife).

According to Moses, God allowed the Israelites to own slaves and to treat slaves harshly and brutally (Leviticus 25:44-46). So long as beating a slave did not cause the slave to die the same day, the slave owner would not be punished (Exodus 21:20-21).

God is, by definition, perfectly good, so it is clear that God would NOT order the execution of children for hitting or cursing their parents. God would NOT order the execution of someone who built a fire to cook a meal on a Saturday. God would NOT order the execution of young women for having sex before they get married, nor would God be a SEXIST and treat young women so harshly while demanding no punishment at all for young men who have sex before they get married.

God would NOT order the execution of a married woman for having an affair, nor would God be a SEXIST and demand that women be treated so harshly for being unfaithful to their husbands while demanding no punishment at all for husbands who have an affair (with an unmarried woman).

Thus, it is clear that Moses was NOT communicating messages from God. Therefore, Moses was a FALSE PROPHET. Therefore, Jesus was mistaken in believing that Moses was a true prophet, a messenger from God.

According to Moses, God commanded the Israelites to wage a war of aggression to take the land from the people living in Palestine and to mercilessly slaughter all of those people, men, women, teenagers, children, toddlers, babies, and the elderly:

1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you—
2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them.  Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.  

Deuteronomy 7:1-2  (New Revised Standard Version, emphasis added).

God is, by definition, perfectly good, so God would NOT have commanded these evil actions. Thus, Moses was a false prophet, a man who commanded evil and immoral actions, and Moses falsely attributed those commands to God. It is clear that Moses was NOT communicating messages from God. Therefore, Moses was a FALSE PROPHET, and Jesus was mistaken in believing that Moses was a true prophet, a messenger from God.

Jesus was a devout Jew who believed that The Ten Commandments came from God, but this belief is FALSE.

The first four commandments are all about the worship of and obedience to God, but a perfectly good creator would NOT egotistically demand worship and absolute obedience from humans. A perfectly good creator would make the focus and priority of any laws or commandments the idea that humans should be good and kind and forgiving towards one another. The first four commandments are religious in nature; they are concerned with how people should relate to God, with the duties of humans towards God:

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

(The above summary of the first four commandments is from the Wikipedia article “Ten Commandments“.) For the complete and precise wording(s), see Exodus 20:1–17  and  Deuteronomy 5:4–21. For a more detailed critique of these commandments see this post from a different series of posts:

https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/05/was-joshuas-slaughter-of-the-canaanites-morally-justified-part-3/

https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/05/was-joshuas-slaughter-of-the-canaanites-morally-justified-part-4/

There are also significant moral problems with the Fifth and Sixth Commandments, but I won’t go into that here. For my critique of those commandments, see this post:

https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/05/was-joshuas-slaughter-of-the-canaanites-morally-justified-part-5/

Further evidence that the Ten Commandments did NOT come from a perfectly good and all-wise creator is that they are clearly SEXIST in nature, and are thus unfair and unjust laws or rules. First, the Ten Commandments were originally given to the MEN of Israel, not to the women (see Exodus 19:10-15). Second, the Seventh Commandment is clearly a SEXIST law or rule. Only an UNJUST and/or IGNORANT person would issue such a SEXIST law or commandment.

The Seventh Commandment has been consistently mistranslated in nearly every English translation of the Bible:

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 (1599, Geneva Bible)

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 (1611, King James Version)

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 (1901, American Standard Version)

You shall not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 (1989, New Revised Standard Version)

“You shall not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 (Updated 1995, New American Standard Bible )

“You shall not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 (Updated 2011, New International Version)

This verse in Exodus has been MISTRANSLATED in every major English translation of the Bible for over four centuries. I don’t know of any version of the Bible, in which this verse is translated correctly into English.

The word “adultery” is clearly a mistaken translation of the original text. Here is what the word “adultery” means in the English language:

voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than that person’s current spouse or partner

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adultery

If the above translations of Exodus 20:14 were CORRECT, the meaning of the seventh commandment would be the same as this “Prohibition of Adultery”:

PoA: You shall not have voluntary sexual intercourse between two people, where one person is married and the other person is NOT his or her spouse.

But for anyone who has a bit of knowledge of the Old Testament, this is clearly NOT what Exodus 20:14 means. Therefore, all of the above translations of Exodus 20:14 are WRONG.

Exodus 20:14 does NOT prohibit a married man from having sex with an unmarried woman, nor does it prohibit an unmarried woman from having sex with a married man. It also does NOT prohibit a married woman from having sex with an unmarried woman, nor does it prohibit an unmarried woman from having sex with a married woman. It does not prohibit a married woman from having sex with another married woman. It also does not prohibit a married man from having sex with another man (either married or unmarried).

So, Exodus 20:14 clearly does NOT have the same meaning as (PoA), because (PoA) implies ALL of the above prohibitions.

The clear meaning of Exodus 20:14, based on the context of this verse, is as follows:

You (men) shall not have sex with a woman who is the wife of another man, and the wife of a man shall not have sex with any man other than her husband.

Exodus 20:14 does NOT state or imply this prohibition:

You (women) shall not have sex with a man who is the husband of another woman, and the husband of a woman shall not have sex with any woman other than his wife.

Why the lack of a parallel sexual prohibition addressed to women? Jehovah considered the wife (or wives) of a man to be HIS PROPERTY. But Jehovah did NOT consider the husband of a woman to be HER PROPERTY. Husbands OWN their wives. Wives do not OWN their husbands. So, the Seventh Commandment basically means this: Men, don’t mess with the valuable PROPERTY of another man, specifically don’t mess with his wife (or wives).

That this is the intended meaning of Exodus 20:14 can be inferred from a number of related Old Testament passages, including the statement of the Tenth Commandment, which is given just a few verses later in Exodus:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.   

Exodus 20:17 (New Revised Standard Version)

Note that Jehovah says NOTHING about coveting your neighbor’s husband.  The Tenth Commandment is clearly addressed to MEN, and not to women.  “You (MEN) shall not covet your (MALE) neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your (MALE) neighbor’s wife…”  The Seventh Commandment is similarly addressed to MEN, and not to women. Both the Seventh Commandment and the Tenth Commandment assume that wives are the property of their husbands. These two commandments are clearly SEXIST and UNJUST. Thus, those two commandments were NOT written by a perfectly good and all-wise God.

For more details on these moral problems with the Seventh and Tenth Commandments, see this post:

https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/05/was-joshuas-slaughter-of-the-canaanites-morally-justified-part-6-adultery/

There are a number of serious moral problems with the Ten Commandments that show that they did NOT come from a perfectly good and all-wise creator. Therefore, Jesus’ belief that the Ten Commandments came from God is a FALSE BELIEF.

Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who preached and believed that God will condemn many people to eternal torment in hell, but this belief is FALSE.

Jesus believed that people should fear being condemned to hell more than they fear mutilation or death:

• Mark 9:43-48
• Matthew 5:29-31, 10:28, 18:8-9
• Luke 12:4-5

Jesus believed that people in hell would experience suffering and misery:

• Matthew 13:41-43, 13:47-50

Jesus believed that most people would end up in hell rather than in heaven:

• Matthew 7:13-14

Jesus believed that hell was an eternal punishment:

• Matthew 25:31-46

But God, by definition is perfectly good and perfectly just. A perfectly good and perfectly just person would NOT punish any human being with eternal misery and suffering in hell. So, if God exists, then there is no such thing as hell, or at least no such thing as eternal punishment in hell. So, Jesus’ beliefs about hell and eternal punishment are FALSE beliefs.

Jesus was a devout Jew who preached and believed that with faith, one can cause a mountain to be cast into the sea, but this belief is FALSE.

Jesus was a devout Jew who believed that Jehovah, the god worshiped by the nation of Israel, is God, but this belief is FALSE.

Deuteronomy and Joshua clearly describe Jehovah as commanding that the Israelites MERCILESSLY SLAUGHTER every man, woman, teenager, child, and baby who lived in the geographical area called “the promised Land” (basically Palestine), in order to steal the land from the people who had already settled in that area. This massive slaughter of innocent civilians and children and babies is cruel, unjust, and immoral, so it is clear that Jehovah, as described by Deuteronomy and Joshua is a morally flawed person, and thus is NOT GOD.
https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/08/leviticus-and-homosexuality-part-2-no-messages-from-god/

In short: Jehovah commanded the Israelites to MERCILESSLY SLAUGHTER every man, woman, teenager, child, and baby of the people who were already settled in the “promised land” (i.e. Palestine) in order to steal that land from those people. Only a morally flawed person would give such an evil command, so Jehovah was a morally flawed person. But God is a perfectly good person, so Jehovah cannot be God.

https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/09/leviticus-and-homosexuality-part-6-not-a-message-from-god/

https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/04/if-jesus-rose-from-the-dead-then-god-does-not-exist/
https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2020/04/if-jesus-rose-from-the-dead-then-god-does-not-exist-part-2/

CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE THIRD ARGUMENT FOR PREMISE (2)

Here is my third argument for premise (2) of the Omniscience Argument against the deity of Jesus:

10. Jesus had at least one false belief.

11. IF Jesus had at least one false belief, THEN Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient.

THEREFORE:

2. Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient.

This argument is clearly a VALID DEDUCTIVE argument (a modus ponens inference). Premise (11) is a self-evident analytic truth. So, the only question about this argument is whether premise (10) is TRUE. I have provided several good reasons that show premise (10) to be TRUE. Thus, this argument for premise (2) is VALID and SOUND. Therefore, we should accept premise (2) as TRUE.

In Part 2 of this series, I gave two solid arguments in support of premise (2). So we now have three good reasons to believe that premise (2) is TRUE.

CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE OMNISCIENCE ARGUMENT

Here is my Omniscience Argument against the deity of Jesus:

1. Something is God ONLY IF it is eternally omniscient.

2. Jesus was NOT eternally omniscient.

THEREFORE:

3. Jesus was NOT God.

This is a logically VALID deductive argument. In Part 2 of this series, I argued that premise (1) is TRUE. So, the only remaining question concerning this argument is whether premise (2) is TRUE.

I have provided three solid arguments showing that premise (2) is TRUE, so the Omniscience Argument is VALID and SOUND. Therefore, we should accept the conclusion of this argument as being TRUE:

3. Jesus was NOT God.