How Evangelizers Undermine Their Own Premise Merely By Being Evangelizers

 Yesterday, someone asked "Why can't Jehovah's Witnesses use technology to reach the whole world if God is behind them?"

--
I found that to be a reasonable observation.

In reply, I added:

"Fair point. But this also applies to all Christianity-themed evangelizing sects.
"God" sure is bad at his job.".
--
In reply, he was confused.

He said "Why would you say that?
All Christianity does not claim that God is ONLY with their organization like the Jehovah's witness cult does."
--

When I read that, I paused to reflect.

It's like he doesn't really speak English or something.

I never said anything about that other matter.

I am likely wasting my time here. I'll try once more to communicate this very basic concept. But man o' man is that weird. That I need to explain a concept to someone ... who STARTED this conversation by making the very same point that he suddenly can't follow. 
--

Hi Marcus

My point is the same point you made. I'm just point out that: your point applies equally to all religious evangelizers. An unlimited Super-Being could deliver perfect messages to every human on Earth
with or without technology.

All the religious (or "personal God") groups in the world
struggle (and fail) to reach all the people they believe are in-need of their special messages.

If a being worthy of the title "God" wanted any human in the world to know any specific thing, ...

* that specific human

* would know that specific thing

* exactly when that "God" wants them to know it.

It would be reckless for a "God" to rely on humans
to deliver anything to anyone.

Humans are far too limited
to get the job done immediately, correctly, and completely.

Now, let's humor the claim that The Creator Of The Universe inserted tens of thousands of perfect messages (aka "The Bible") into the minds of the various bible writers.

Here's how it would go:

Step 1:
Perfect, all-powerful Being finds some special people.
What makes those people so special?
We don't know. That's a secret.

How do we even know a GOD revealed anything at all to some special people?
 
Unsubstantiated rumors.

What do we know about those rumors?

They were:

* mostly from anonymous sources,

* "coincidentally" echoing then-popular literary tropes,

* from other/older false-religious cultures.

Additionally,
we know it was:

* all being told in a time and place where:
 child-like gullibility,
 scientific illiteracy,
 ignorance of history (even those people's own religious histories),
and superstition  ...

were all the norm.

What else do "Biblical" rumor-messages include? 

Various wildcard-facts (a combination of verified and plausible facts that fit just as well into any other worldview. ie "Rome existed". 

What else?

False-facts. 
ie. "Moses wrote the Torah",
humanity began a few several-thousand years prior to the time of Jesus,
global flood wiped out all life on earth except for the creatures on a big boat. 

What else?

Logical fallacies.
ie. Special pleading,
circular reasoning,
no true Scotsmen,  etc

What else? 

Various head-games.
ie.
Coercion of "believe me or else",
calling that coercion a "friendly warning", 
other forms of gaslighting, 
attempting to create "right-think" via manipulating emotions,
etc..

Those are all the forms of "evidence" we have. 

Meanwhile, the automatic implication of
religious evangelizing from "holy texts"
is:

The characters and writers were superior in some way compared to you and I. Apparently, you and I are NOT good enough for a perfect-Being to talk to. But some very special people were good enough.

Step 2:
Perfect, all-powerful BEING reaches inside of the HEADS of those people.
Reaches into their heads ... to do what?
To make those human's brains perfect.
Why?
Because that would be absolutely necessary, in order for a perfect being to deliver a "perfect message" to some humans.
Otherwise, the "perfect message" would become instantly corrupted and misunderstood by those fallible humans.

Step 3:
Perfect Being says some perfect things to those special humans.
And then they perfectly understand all of it.

Step 4:
Those now-perfect humans are told to go relay those "perfect messages to a world full of not-perfect humans.

Now, most Christian (or other evangelizing religious group) will tell you:
those "messenger" were NOT made into perfect beings.

However, that would mean: the very MOMENT a "Perfect God" said some "perfect things" to those imperfect people,
the message received was NOT a "perfect message".

That means they were commanded to DO something they could NOT do.
They could relay a "perfect message" to others. Because imperfect people cannot possess a "perfect concept";
let along a large perfect structure of concepts.

But the situation becomes instantly even worse than that,
because:
Imperfect language
would further corrupt the message.

So the very moment a messenger speaks using imperfect language, the message is different than whatever it started off as.

Now, it gets even worse than that, because:
Imperfect listeners would accidentally misunderstand many random-but-important pieces of those messages; due to no fault of their own.

Worse yet,
the speaker wouldn't even realize how big the difference is
between: a.) what they meant
vs
b.) what the listener thought was meant.
So now we're talking about another layer of corruption/change to the message.
-And with no reliable way for a messenger to identify and correct those misunderstandings before the listener's brain "cements" those misunderstandings into place. 

There would also be a great many thing left unsaid.
This fact can't be avoided either.

Here's why that too is a serious problem:

Any student-listener's conversion TO the messenger's religion... would not really be operating under true "consent". Why not? Because the person who signs up for a lifetime commitment to a religious contract ... would be doing-so based on: incorrect and missing information.

The only true consent is "informed consent".

Nobody who joins a religious group is first equipped to give informed consent.

Instead, that are maneuvered into:

* a lifetime commitment,

* with dangerous identity-dependence,

and
* a grossly manipulative fine-print obligation to FIND A WAY to rationalize their own acceptance about literally anything-and-everything else the recruit might later DISCOVER about that group's ideological commitments.  

 Example: Newly converted Christian later discovers the bible verses which INSIST that their own non-God-perceiving CHILDREN are utterly devoid of anything good within them;
including the sum total of their character 
and all of their thoughts and feelings. 
 
So now the Christian finds themselves pre-obligated to religious commitments 
which they KNOW are grossly incorrect and grossly demonizing of their own wonderful children.

Thus, any such contract (or "covenant") should be considered null and void; even before specific conflicts are identified.
 It was never an ethically or legally sound contract. 
It just takes many people a long time to realize it.

Note:
We are only human.

Whereas, a "God" wouldn't have that excuse.
So they'd be ethically bound to perfection for everything they say, do, and delegate.

So if they tell YOU to tell ME something,
and then if YOU fail to "perfectly communicate",
OR
if I fail to "perfectly understand",
and if that results in:
a.) ME being unimpressed
or
b.) ME being impressed-but-MISTAKEN about what "the message" is,
then:
that "God" is then ethically responsible for any-and-all consequences (for everyone involved, and anyone else effected).

Whereas, here in the real world,
evangelizers are not held to any standards at all.
No "God" is personally assuring any of it.
So we all do KNOW that religious evangelizers are engaging in a grossly corrupt recruitment campaign; and yet insisting we all pretend it's not corrupt.
--
--
Moreover, even just the claim itself of being a messenger for "God"
automatically implies a "God" that needs help getting to all places to reach all people.



When does a disabled person
help an able-bodied person walk up some stairs or across a street?

Exactly as often as handicapped people help a not-handicapped GOD do the same.

Never.

And why not?

Because it would burden the disabled
and slow-down the abled.

Both parties would be worse off.

It would also increase the suffering and worsen the fates of everyone who didn't get that message immediately.

It would also worsen the lives and the fates of everyone who gets a broken/corrupt version of the message.

And all of this would matter because:

A Super-Being worthy of the title "God" would definitely
want everyone to know
everything we need to know

to be able to live a non-tragic life with a non-tragic future. 

They wouldn't leave my eternal fate up to a LOTTERY where I'm only going to WIN if I stumble (and quickly enough) into a ~correctly irrational~ and ~morally unethical~ series of assumptions ...

guided by entirely unqualified DEPUTIES of a Cosmic Sherriff ... whom don't even bother to counterfeit a cheap tin badge.



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