Why are Christians scared?

In a lot of religious debating online, as well as on my own Facebook wall, I see a common issue: Christians obviously fear Atheists!

They are often scared to look at our proofs to be proven wrong, or at least don't consider them with an open mind. They get very defensive, very quickly at simply stating well known facts. . .like, "The world is Billions of years old".

Oh, they may say they don't agree with us, and that's okay. They even become threatening and aggressive toward us, and we can deal with that with understanding, too. But, why is it that they show rampant fear of us? Are we mean, and everything they don't want to be? (I found the opposite to be true as a questioning Christian.) Or, could there possibly be a shred of doubt in their minds about what they believe? My opinion is that they fear that we might be right, and if so, it would be a christian's worst nightmare if we knew the reality about their lifelong fantasy. Talk about an instant and effective treatment for pride! (I know I was never so humiliated as when I realized just how blinded I had been my whole life!)

Now, I'm not insinuating that Christians are knowingly or intentionally proud, or necessarily stupid either. . .but they do have certain blinders on. For instance, they claim that science doesn't disprove their thoughts on religion, but when called on their bluff, you get nothing but circular reasoning all dependent on a god.

You see, as Atheists we require simple proof for matters of objective reality (cars, trees, ufos, gods...).
As Theists, they also require proof for matters of objective reality, with one exception. . .God.

If you insist to a Theist or an Atheist that an invisible boogie man is camping out on his/her doorstep, they will both say "prove it you silly person!" and rightly so.

However, if you insist to a Theist and an Atheist that an invisible God (Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, etc...) is camped out on their doorstep the Atheist will still say "prove it you silly person!" while the Theist will say "Of course! God is everywhere!"

Why? I think it's a combination of three things.

1) Childhood indoctrination.

2) Cultural acceptance.

3) A childish wish for a father figure to take care of them.

These things are powerful and subconscious in most Theists. 

The very simple fact is that Theists know they have no proof, just faith! "Faith is believing what you know ain't so." — Mark Twain. That subconscious knowledge of course makes them insecure and fearful to talk to us. . .while quite the opposite for Atheists who love a good debate! The Theists both fear the unknown, and what they do know. . .Atheists are known to have a superior knowledge of the Bible and religion in general then Christians, according to the polls. And if that wasn't intimidating enough, the IQ seems to be higher in groups notoriously Atheistic. (Doctors, scientists, professors. . .) As well, most Atheists have been Christians in the past, while most Christians grew up in the faith. All of which gives Atheists quite an edge.

When a brave evangelical minded Theist does corners an Atheist and asks for proof for his non belief in God, (as if he needs to justify the non claim anyhow,) he can respond with endless proven facts and sound reasoning that show Theists' ideas to be completely baseless and to exist only as artifacts of the mind and one of the above conditions.

If you attack a Theist, what can he do? He pulls out the Bible, or he quotes smart Theists of the distant past, or the few smart Theists of the present (as if that means anything to quote another person anyhow) and/or resorts to emotional or personal attacks. Ones like: "I KNOW I have Jesus in my heart!" "You couldn't possibly have had what I have, or you would have never gone away!" "I pray you repent and let Jesus in before you die and go to Hell". "Think of your children and the confusion you are causing them." "Do you want to be responsible for your children's souls going to Hell?" "You just want to live without accountability, and to do whatever you want." "Why are you angry and bitter at God?"

Eventually, the Atheist weakens, and out of complete frustration, often labels the Theist as "stupid and childish". While honestly hoping the Theist can see that it's the truth, and not just a pointless jab. If we can keep in mind though, that the Theist is burdened by a weakened/brainwashed mind, as demonstrated by the above 3 conditions, we should feel as much pity for them, as they feel for us. More so even!

To sum up then: why do Christians fear us? Because we represent the loss of their childhood security blanket and their hope for immortality. We represent an uncertainty about what happens after death, that is not comfortable. We represent not having all the answers anymore. . .answers about how we got here, and our purpose for being. We represent (in their minds) hopeless despair with no God. 

We have been disillusioned with religion and have grown out of it, just like a belief in Santa. . . and they are still children who want to believe.  No one enjoys bursting a child's bubble, but when they become discontent with the excuses, and start to question things. . .they are showing their maturity, and it would be more cruel not to tell them the truth. So, soberly I seek to help those who are looking for answers. If you're here as a Christian, you must be one of those looking, who are discontent with the excuses of Christianity. Good for you. I hope you find what you are looking for.

Progressive Christianity; harmless, useless and Christianity's future.

I have made my thoughts on Fundamental Christianity quite clear in previous posts. And while it may be what we mostly hear about on the controlled Media, it is encouragingly small. The Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life puts Independent Fundamental Baptists members at 2.5% of Americans. This means that there are approximately 7.85 million of them in America today. While 72.7 percent of Christians in America are not Independent Fundamental Baptists. Let us bear in mind that the conservatives no more represents mainstream Christianity than the Taliban represents Islam. So who are these other Christians? I like to call them, the "Progressive Christians".

Wikipedia calls "Progressive Christianity" a movement within contemporary Christianity characterized by willingness to question tradition, acceptance of human diversity with a strong emphasis on social justice or care for the poor and the oppressed (often identified as minority groups) and environmental stewardship of the Earth. Progressive Christians have a deep belief in the centrality of the instruction to "love one another" (John 15:17) within the teaching of Jesus Christ. This leads to a focus on compassion, promoting justice and mercy, tolerance, and working towards solving the societal problems of poverty, discrimination and environmental issues, especially by social and political activism.

Yet, these are the Christians I grew up calling "fakes", and "ignorant of the Bible" or "deceived by Satan and their own lusts". I immediately presumed if they didn't dress, talk, believe or do certain things, they weren't worthy of the title "Christian", and were an embarrassment to Christianity. . .little did I know that they felt the same way about me and conservative fundamentalists! When I actually started meeting some of them and stopped juging them though, I found out some shocking things:

These are Christians with deep morals, character and humanitarianism. . .the kind of people deep down that every "good Christian" I ever knew was. Every thing they stood for was "Christ-like", and they weren't worried who stood with them, because they were confident they were living by the Holy Spirit's leading. (Conscience to those nonbelievers out there.)

 Confident, freethinking people like these Christians tend to come across as a little anti-culture and rebellious though, and that fit in nicely with what I thought of them. . . that they were just hardened, bitter sinners, trying to claim the power of Jesus without carrying his cross. (Being persecuted was highly prized in my groups, as it was a sign that you were "carrying the cross" and were a "true believer". . .never mind the fact that 99% of the persecution was self inflicted for being a pushy jerk. . .)

Some people estimate that 3 out of 4 of all Christians fit a basic Progressive definition of a Christian. No one seems to think of these Christians in terms of a cult, and even extols the good done by them. Whereas, many would claim a cult like status to the more extremism type of Christianity. Kind of like in Islam, there is the peaceful majority, then the trouble maker "literalists/extremists" carrying out the immoral past violence's all over again. It reminds me of a saying: "Cult: a small unpopular religion. Religion: a large popular cult."

If these progressive churches are the majority of Christians though, then why don't they stand out more, and why is their activism muted even by their fellow Christians? Why is their boldness only held against them, as if they were only angrily defending themselves (not freedom and tolerance for all)?

One group called “Christians Tired of Being Misrepresented”, was asked about these things and answered back: “Jesus never demanded attention, prominence, recognition, influence or wealth. He went about doing the will of the Father, touching lives one by one. While the Religious Right cloaks itself as the "Christian Choice" merely because they are anti-choice and loudly proclaim selectively chosen scriptures from the Bible as their political platform, it seems like they get all the attention. Generally, Christian Liberals are less interested in the attention and more interested in changing the lives of their neighbor through love and social justice.”

Some Christians are breaking the mold though, and out of true love and acceptance for others they are speaking out against the fundamentalists whom they are ashamed to call brothers and sisters in Christ. More and more we see the chasm between the two Christian groups widen. We are all for tolerating peaceful religion, but when it comes to Biblical literalists, like the saying goes:"Tolerance is to let others live like they want. To appease religious fundamentalists is not tolerance, but submission."

It is clear that the Liberal Christians do not have much of a voice in politics. Even though Christians may also have religious conflicts with speaking out against fellow believers (because the Bible pretty much condemns it,) it’s clear that the system is rigged against them even if they do decide to take a public stand. What makes things difficult for liberal Christians isn't finding their voice though, but finding the platform to broadcast it on. . .(at least until recently with the internet.) With conservative news organizations, and radio stations in close relationships with the fundamentalists, Christians who don’t share conservative political views are hard-pressed to get air time. Source

How did this powerful conservative right wing we see today in the media come about you ask? Here is apparently the shortened version of how it went down, according to Wikipedia:

Timeline

1960s

Culture war over social, religious and cultural values anger religious traditionalists and set the stage for a political movement in the 1970s.

1970s

• 1974 — Robert Grant founds the American Christian Cause as an effort to institutionalize the Christian Right as a politically active social movement.
• 1977 — Focus on the Family is formed.
• 1978 — Robert Grant, Paul Weyrich, Terry Dolan, Howard Phillips, and Richard Viguerie found Christian Voice, to recruit, train, and organize Evangelical Christians to participate in elections.
• 1979 — Jerry Falwell founds Moral Majority, which is often said to be the beginning of the New Christian Right. Concerned Women for America is formed. (Nice name, bad goals)

1980s

• 1980 — Washington for Jesus founded by John Giminez, the pastor of Rock Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Dr. William Bright, Benson Idahosa from Africa, and many other high-profile Christians marched on Washington, in an effort to support Ronald Reagan's presidential run.
  • Ronald Reagan elected president, serving two presidential terms (1981–1989). Republicans capture the Senate for the first time since 1952.
• 1982 — On May 18, 1982, President Reagan introduced a proposed School Prayer Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• 1983 — The Family Research Council is formed. 
• 1984 — President Ronald Reagan proclaims January 13, 1984 to be National Sanctity of Human Life Day. President Reagan announces the adoption of the Mexico City Policy, which required "all non-governmental organizations that receive federal funding to refrain from performing or promoting abortion services, as a method of family planning, in other countries."
• 1987 — Pat Robertson founds the Christian Coalition, which later becomes the most prominent voice in the Christian Right.
• 1988 — George H. W. Bush is elected president with the support of most conservative Christian voters.
• 1989 — Liberty Counsel is formed.

1990s

• 1990 — The American Center for Law and Justice is formed by Pat Robertson, to combat the American Civil Liberties Union which he claimed was hostile to traditional Christian values.
• 1992 — The Christian Coalition produces voter guides and distributes them to conservative Christian churches.
• 1994 — Conservative Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, led by Christian conservative Newt Gingrich. The Alliance Defense Fund is formed.
• 1996 — The Defense of Marriage Act is enacted.

•  In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the United States Supreme Court holds that the First Amendment allows the Boy Scouts to exclude homosexual males from membership in its organization. George W. Bush is elected president with the overwhelming support of white conservative evangelical voters.
• 2001 — President George W. Bush re-institutes the Mexico City Policy.
• 2003 — The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 is enacted.
•  The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is enacted. President George W. Bush announces his support for a Federal Marriage Amendment. President Bush is elected to a second term in office.
•  President George W. Bush vetoes the Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2006.
• 2007 — The National Organization for Marriage is formed. President George W. Bush vetoes the Stem Cell Research Enactment Act of 2007. 

• 2010 — With the help of the Christian right and the Tea Party Movement, the Republican party takes a majority of seats in the United States House of Representatives and makes historic gains in state legislatures.

While the conservative right wing is still relatively small, and even believes themselves to be a persecuted minority, they are backed by a lot of money, and that means power. It is quite obvious both in the past and now, that the powerful have always used religion to control the masses, whether or not the leaders believed in it, they saw it's use in making sheep of the common people. It has been said,

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful." — Seneca the Younger (4BCE-65CE).

Much as the Conservative right wing seems to be flourishing though, their influence is not enough to stop the wild growth of free thought and activism starting up, mostly thanks to advances in communication through the internet.

I for one am not discouraged with the power of the Conservatives anymore though, because just this month a new global survey on faith and atheism has revealed that all faith may be dying, and even quicker than previously thought! Like the writer of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes said, "It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning." 

According to the poll released by WIN-Gallup International, the traditionally Catholic country of Ireland has seen one of the steepest drops in religiosity. The poll -- which was based on interviews with more than 50,000 people selected from 57 countries -- asked participants, "irrespective of whether they attended a place of worship, if they considered themselves to be religious, not religious, or an atheist."

In Ireland, only 47 percent of those polled said they considered themselves religious -- a 22-point drop from the 69 percent recorded in a similar poll conducted in 2006. In addition, 10 percent self-identified as atheists.

The only country that registered a steeper decline in religiosity was Vietnam, which saw a 23-point drop from 53 percent to 30 percent.

According to the global index, there has been a notable decline in religiosity worldwide.

Current data shows that the number of people worldwide who call themselves religious is now 59 percent, while 13 percent self-identify as atheist.

The U.S., France and Canada joined Ireland on the top-10 list of countries to have experienced a "notable decline in religiosity".

The number of people in the U.S. who self-identify as religious dropped 13 points to 60 percent. 

In defense of a dying faith, a spokesperson for the Catholic Communications Office told the Belfast Telegraph that "the language used by the poll may have been misleading. The word 'religious', if left unqualified, is too general to be used as the keyword in a survey questionnaire."

 The survey also noted that income had a direct correlation with religiosity. As whole countries get richer, they tend to lose their religion. Of course, some could say that "the love of money is the root of all evil", and the richer countries don't feel a need for God because they just love money too much. Others would equate more money with no need for God because of a higher level of education in history, science and world religions, as well as having communication with the world. I would definitely agree with the latter, and see the 3rd world countries as desperate to believe anything that makes them not responsible for themselves, and having a fair afterlife.

According to the poll, the most devout region of the world is Africa -- and the countries where most people self-identified as religious were Ghana (96 percent), Nigeria (93 percent) and Macedonia (90 percent). I for one do not equate those places with intelligence, education and enlightenment, I don't know about you. . .

 Back to the Progressive church in our country though. Most of this global shift away from religion is not drifting from their faith completely the poll says, but claiming to be ‘not religious’ while remaining in the faith. So the only future for Christianity seems to be this watered down, moral, culturally acceptable form of Christianity called "Progressive Christianity". I can live with that, can you?

One lesson I learned in a cult.

Besides the obvious -that people can be sincerely wrong- I learned a key lesson both about myself and others. And that was: how to(usually)tell a person isn't convinced in their heart/conscience about what they are saying. (Of course I believed at the time that it was that they were being led by Satan or their passionate sin nature, and not God, so I could just dismiss away what they had to say. . .) Like the joke of the pastor's outline that read, "shout and pound pulpit here, weak point", there is a characteristic tendency here that boils down to this: If a person is fighting passionately hard to persuade you of his truths, while arrogantly putting himself above correction, don't trust him. . . because he's not even sure of it himself! Not only has this been true of me in the past, (Yes that was very humbling to realize) but I see this as a pattern in some very prominent leaders in society today.

Think about the leaders you listen to, and analyze them with me:  Are they opinionated, strong willed and just jerks even to their own followers or anyone who kindly tries to teach them anything? Or are they teachable, humble and able to be learning constantly?

I use to think that this trait of leaders being arrogant was unique to Fundamental Pastors. Like the saying goes, "Fundamentalism means never having to say 'I'm wrong'." It's actually quite classic to a lot of leaders though! (Just more common in conservatives Christians probably because they grew up already arrogantly and passionately believing they had all truth.) Leaders like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'reilly, Ray Comfort (pretty much all evangelists. . .it's just the nature of the job.), Ken Ham. . .I can even find people like the popular health blogger, the Healthy Home Economist, who's advice I generally like, but because of her arrogant, opinionated and unteachable nature (even when proved wrong by people who are authorities on the subject,) I stopped listening to her just on principle. (I didn't want to add to her ego.)

 While it takes a lot of passion to be a leader, it doesn't take a lot of humility, in fact, if you had it before you got put into power, you are not likely to keep it afterwards. While it is bad to be proud, it doesn't stop there. . . In this age of information, when you are proud and unteachable, that naturally leads to being uninformed. Choosing to thus be uninformed because you would rather be "right"in your own eyes or have faith in your source, is just plain dumb now I realize.  When I trusted in my own wisdom, faith and passion in the past, it led me astray. . .(even if only rarely.) If and when I am not willing even today to let others reason with me, or if I only allow myself to listen to or read approved sources for truth, (lest I change my mind or I "fall away"). . .That will only make me ignorant, and/or behind the times. (Inevitably I will have to be part of a small group who are likewise either stupid, or sticking their heads in the sand arrogantly believing themselves to have truth that trumps the rest of the educated world. They will at some point have to find humility in reality, and have some scary backtracking to do because of their following . . .at which point they will either gain respect and self esteem, or choose to live a lie for awhile longer.)

So are the people you following proud, unteachable, and arrogant, as a general rule? You may like most of their advice, but if they are trying to lead,( while being left in the dust because of their arrogance,) they may not be the leaders you think they are, so much as followers of yesterdays wisdom.

You know what a leader is, right. . .? One who's just slower then the rest of us:) Or so it seems while driving! And speaking of, Have you ever noticed that anyone going slower than you is an "idiot" and anyone going faster than you is a "maniac?"
So one could say that the leaders (slow ones) are usually idiots, whereas the one's
actually going somewhere (the progressive ones) are looked down upon by those following the idiots. There's a moral for those gullible followers here if you look. . .like as in driving, a humble person looks for reasons for the behavior, and doesn't merely let prejudice guide his presumptions and judgments. (My husband will tell you a common saying of mine when being passed up by a speedy driver is, "maybe he was driving his pregnant wife to the Hospital. . .)

So is there hope for those arrogant, unteachable leaders?

 In my experience, and from what I have seen, we need to first remove ourselves from leadership for a while. . . where we are more likely to objectively look at ourselves. You see, when you are in a ministry (or any leadership position,) you are going to be too busy preaching your thoughts, and the latest defense for them. You will not likely to give any time to research anything that might actually change those thoughts. Also, as a leader you have a lot of invested interest into not looking into or considering openmindedly any info that would cause you to lose face, or your position . . .(For this reason, there are teachers and professors as well as pastors who are forced to live a lie!)

You are also going to be told by your many gullible followers just how wonderful, talented and smart you are, and you aren't likely to second guess yourself or be humble with all the constant flattery. Only people who are humble, nonjudgmental and scientifically minded are able and willing to look into the reasons why another person thinks something different then you. Which is why any moral or scientific progress happens and is encouraged by teachable and humble people. . .

Next I will discuss how the progressive thinkers in the churches have always been considered the wise and teachable (even Christ-like) leaders when looking back on them, but were the heretics of their time!

I'm not blaming you for being fat!

Did you know that it's not (at least completely) your fault if you are fat in America!
Sure, you have some part in it, but the main reason you are fat is likely not gluttony. As a matter of fact, the fat people I know eat a lot less then I did before I got my metabolism/insulin under control. . .and they are often not even hungry a lot of the time. (And there is a good reason for that!)

Anyhow, I'm here to tell you, if you have weight issues, for one thing, it's not because you have had too much food, but too little. . .of the food you need. While in a 3rd world country the people eating good food will shrivel up and die with no food, people in this country are dying from the same nutrient deficiencies, but having fat to disguise the real starvation going on!

 It's not how much you eat, it's what you eat that is making you fat! It is actually rather difficult to get too many calories from good food. You will be satisfied way before your maximum quota if you eat lots of fruits and veggies, many of which it would take 20 cups a day to get enough calories with. (And I still don't believe calories are the real issue.)

Speaking of satisfied, if you aren't hungry much or are always hungry,  either way it is unhealthy. Thin people who are always eating, have just as much of a problem as fat people, who are rarely hungry. (I use to be one of those thin people, and I almost ate my husband out of house and home.) While it may be deceptive because some people look healthy, if when they ate a lot, they mostly ate certain bad foods, they would definitely be fat. . .but as it is, their metabolism is high, and they seem to be able to get away with eating a lot of sugary foods with the more healthy stuff.  If they don't eat 6 meals a day though, they are starving!

Why you ask would their metabolism be so high? The answer is sugars.

The body craves sugar for energy. Now, not all sugars are bad though. Some sugars digest slowly and healthily, giving us a sustained insulin level, while others burn hot and fast. The health conscious people know that processed sugars will give you a spike in blood sugar and rob you of insulin, so they try to avoid the high fructose corn syrup and cheap sugar as well as white carbs like white flour, pasta, rice, and even potatoes sometimes, which digest as simple sugars. . .but did you know that some of the worst culprits of insulin spikes are whole grains?!

While they have the bulk to fill you up, and even the fiber that seemingly cleans you out, (More then likely a side effect of the phytic acid actually) their insulin spiking tendencies outweigh their benefits in nutrition. . .unless you learn how to make them healthy (through soaking, sprouting, or ideally, using a sourdough on them overnight to break down the bad stuff). You can learn more about that in my posts called "Friends you didn't know you need. . .but really do." and "More on friends and grain prep." If you were like me though, if it weren't for the occasional signs of hypoglycemia when I didn't eat 6 small meals a day, I would have never known I had spiking insulin levels, because my blood sugar was always high, because every snack included a sugar in the form of wholegrains, fruit, or sweets. I would have become a diabetic at the rate I was going.

If you weren't raised to be skeptical of the government and the foods they push, you likely will have grown up believing the food pyramid to be healthy as well. Leading you to eat a lot of simple carbs and processed dairy as well as toxic meat and poultry. (Which depending on your source could be digestible, but more likely is adding to your fat issue.)

And if that wasn't bad enough, all the diet and low fat foods the government helps market as low calorie foods don't help with the confusion. You would think that if they worked, all the people going around asking for a Diet Coke would be thin! I've heard from one person who was previously overweight that she felt guilty asking for a regular Coke in the past. She truly believed that the diet drinks would help her lose weight, but just didn't like the taste, so she felt guilty for not drinking them. While we may know now that even one regular Coke a day causes 18 lbs. of weight gain in a year, Diet Coke is proving to be worse for both weight gain, and causing a host of other problems! More on that at my post called "Health conscious people don't eat or drink "Diet" junk."

Most people have realized now that the USDA let us down on MSG as well.

And while they and the food industry adamantly fight the evidence stacking up against MSG, more people are realizing that it's what causes their symptoms, and are avoiding it. (I get migraines pretty much only when I eat MSG.) It causes things like:

• chest pain, heart palpitations.
• headaches
• sweating and flushing
• circulation issues, joint pain, stiffness, aches
• wheezing, sneezing and other respiratory issues
• facial numbness
• depression
• mental anxiety or confusion
• slurred speech
• behavioral problems in children
• sleepiness
• insomnia
• gastrointestinal issues
• mouth lesions or dryness
• hives or rash on skin
• blurred vision
• swollen prostrate

Worse yet, it causes a progressive degeneration of neurons and motor cells of the brain having it's part in causing diseases like: Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, and stroke.

Some people are sensitive to minute amounts of MSG. For others, a larger dose or more than one dose is required to elicit reactions, which can be either immediate or delayed. In all cases, babies and small children are most vulnerable.

Reacting to pressure stemming from the research on neurotoxicity and over injury to the developing infant’s endocrine system, baby food manufacturers voluntarily removed MSG from their products in the early 1970s but they often left actual free glutamic acid (basically the same thing) in their products, as "autolyzed yeast and hydrolyzed vegetable protein." Large profit-driven food companies have found that manufactured free glutamic acid, in the form of monosodium glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, etc., etc., when added to our processed foods, masks off flavors and makes the blandest and cheapest foods taste wonderful. It has also been found to be very addictive, adding to their sales even more.  Today, free glutamic acid is everywhere in processed food.

These ALWAYS contain MSG:

Glutamate, Monosodium glutamate, Monopotassium glutamate, Glutamic acid, Calcium caseinate, Gelatin, Textured protein, Hydrolyzed protein (any protein that is hydrolyzed), Yeast extract, Yeast food, Autolyzed yeast, Yeast nutrient

These OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing:

Flavor(s) & Flavoring(s), Natural flavor(s) & flavoring(s), Natural pork flavoring, Bouillon, Natural beef flavoring, Stock, Natural chicken flavoring, Broth, Malt flavoring, Barley malt, Malt extract, Seasonings (the word "seasonings"), Carrageenan, Soy sauce, Soy sauce extract, Soy protein, Soy protein concentrate, Soy protein isolate, Pectin, Maltodextrin, Whey protein, Whey protein isolate, Whey protein concentrate, anything Protein fortified, Protease, Protease enzymes, anything Enzyme modified, Enzymes,anything Ultra-pasteurized like milk products with milk solids that contain MSG, soaps, shampoos, and cosmetics. We also need to watch the binders and fillers in supplements, and they are for sure another issue of medications.

MSG-induced reactions can be delayed as much as 48 hours or can occur immediately after ingestion or exposure.

Another common mistake people make is believing all fats are created equal.

While the body will die without fats, if we get it from hydrogenated or rancid fats in vegetable oils, we are only hurting our health. The omega 6 found in those oils (often from GMO crops anyways,) are not needed at best, and quite unhealthy at worse. I'm no pro on what all the bad oils do, I just know that you need to stay away from some of them, like margarine, Crisco, lard, and just most of the oils on the shelf, with only a few tried and true left over.
Those being:

• olive oil, 
• grapeseed oil, 
• flaxseed oil, 
• sesame oil,
•  peanut oil,
•  nut oils,
•  pumpkin seed oil

 Also the hard oils like: 

• palm oil, 
• coconut oil,
• grass fed butter and 
• free range/ grass fed beef tallow.

 (Some of which are a little confusing and controversial because they appear hydrogenated and are also saturated fat. . .but so are nuts and avocados!) Don't take my word for it though, check it out yourself!


Yet another thing most people don't know is how much water weight you have if you are using a cheap salt.

Salt has a bad reputation for doing bad stuff, but it's only the cheap table salt that does that, while the whole salt actually help you lose weight and gain health. Check out more about good salt, one of my favorite remedies in my post "All the rest of my personal favorites".


Also make sure you do a parasite cleanse with some food grade Diatomaceous earth to make sure your calories aren't just going to a stranger, once or twice a year. Check out more on another of my favorite remedies here.

If there is one other thing I'd recommend, it's a regular water habit. (Preferably with lemon in it.) I see very little benefit in drinking anything else, with the exception of coconut water, herbal teas and raw milk.

To actually take charge of your health and get healthy, I would suggest watching some of the top healthy documentaries out there now on Netflix. One is called fat, sick and nearly dead, another is deep and long, but good, and called sugar, the bitter truth. This Youtube video tells of most of the rest of them that I would recommend.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKTPPs3Mr9A&feature=relmfu

If you do all of this already, and still have issues with your weight, I would like to hear your story. I've heard stress, lack of sleep and toxins in your environment can do a lot, but I really haven't had the others stuff ruled out to make me confident of any studies so far. But let's keep learning together huh!

Health conscious people don't eat or drink "Diet" junk!

I know, no fat person wants to hear about not having to diet from a person who's never been over 120 lbs. non-pregnant. Well, like it or lump it, I feel the one's who can help you, (if you are struggling with weight,) are the thin ones who can show you how to live, not how to diet.

First things first though, I want to tell you what not to do when trying to lose weight.

Don't drink diet Pop/soda/Coke!

Diet pops, which combine Aspartame and Caffeine, are very addictive for one thing. Not only that, but the buzz they give you also does a bunch of other bad stuff that would hardly justify the zero calorie "advantage". 

The top 10 reasons to avoid diet soda:

1. There is absolutely no proof that diet soda helps people lose weight. The calorie-reduction argument is total bunk, and zero studies have shown a positive correlation between drinking diet soda and weight loss. On the contrary, there’s significant evidence that diet sodas and other noncaloric, artificially sweetened drinks actually lead — quite powerfully — to weight gain!

2. Diet sodas are billed as being good for type 2 diabetics and other blood-sugar- challenged types, but they aren’t. Because of something called the “cephalic phase response,” your body tastes the sweetness, and even though there are no calories to shuttle, the brain triggers a release of insulin from the pancreas and also a “Sugar is coming! Stop-burning fat” response from the liver. The result is the usual array of insulin-related problems (increased urge to eat, increased tendency toward fat storage, pro-inflammatory biochemical cascade), plus an arrest of healthy protein-and-starch production, and a confusion of the body’s built-in caloric monitoring systems, all of which compel you to plump up and eat even more unhealthy stuff later.

3. Diet sodas and the chemically derived artificial sweeteners they contain (especially aspartame) may act as neurotoxins and have been linked to headaches, memory problems, anxiety, brain fog, depression, skin irritations, menstrual problems, fibromyalgia, joint pain and more. 

4. The act of drinking diet soda — and of seeing it in your fridge — sends your psyche a slew of negative, demoralizing mental messages (I am afraid of getting fat; I don’t trust my body to crave the right things; I need to be on a diet; I am compelled to drink sweet stuff, even though I know it’s not good for me; I’m being “good” now so I can be “bad” later), all of which tend to drive other unhealthy eating behaviors even as they trigger disempowering feelings of self-denial and self-indulgence.

5. Artificial sweeteners, salt and artificial colors tend to drive cravings for more sweet and hyper-flavored foods (more diet soda, please!) and reduce your ability to properly taste more subtle flavors or natural foods, perverting your palate and dissuading you from making other healthy changes to your diet because nothing natural tastes the way it ought to after drinking it.

6. Diet soda contains all kinds of icky chemicals that add to your body’s toxic burden, lowering your immunity, contributing to inflammation and reducing your body’s ability to deal effectively with other, less easily avoided toxins like those pervasive in our food, water, body-care products and environment.

7. Frequent sipping of diet sodas reduce your intake of pure water, which is a much better choice for hydration (whereas the high salt in soda actually makes you more thirstier in the long run) and helps to clear toxins from your system. Regular imbibing of soda may also interfere with your body’s healthy hunger signals and thus dissuade you from eating healthy snacks that would support good nutrition, metabolism, energy and mental function throughout the day.

8. The acids in diet soda (and regular soda, for that matter) eat away at the enamel on your teeth. They also are acidifying to your entire system, and thus disruptive to your general health, including the good flora in your gut, where about 60 percent of your immune system resides.

9. Diet soda (like regular soda) is generally bottled or canned, and is an unnecessarily wasteful use of fossil fuels. Drinking any soda is also incredibly expensive, an important point for anyone who protests that they can’t afford high-quality food or decent nutritional supplements.

10. Despite all its amalgamated cruddiness, diet sodas somehow get a pass in practically all weight-loss plans, and are actually promoted by many dietitians as “free” foods or “good” treats despite the fact that they are categorically lousy for people. They are aggressively advertised as being “better choices” for health- and weight-conscious people, and as a result, many kids and teenagers make them a habit early in life.
(Source care2.com)

 The food industry claims aspartame is safe. However, if you look at the studies professing to support aspartame's safety, you will see that 90 percent of them were funded by the very industries selling it.

When you examine independent aspartame studies, it's a totally different story. . . The FDA merely evaluates the studies (that the industry who is marketing it submits)—it doesn't have a team of researchers conducting those studies itself, contrary to what you might expect of a government group supposedly set up for our safety. The truth is that aspartame causes formaldehyde to build up in your brain, which results in all sorts of potentially serious medical problems, including:

•  Frontal lobe inflammation 
• Visual disturbances 
• Migraines
• A syndrome similar to multiple sclerosis 
• Seizures 
• Cognitive problems
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
•  fibromyalgia 
• Symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease
•  Symptoms similar to attention deficit disorder

Don't eat low fat dairy or substitutes either!



While it's true that whole milk contains more calories and saturated fat. ( A cup has 146 calories and almost 8 grams of fat, reduced-fat (2%) has 122 calories and almost 5 grams of fat, low-fat (1%) has 103 calories and 2.5 grams of fat, and nonfat (skim) has 83 calories and virtually no fat.) Does that mean that calories and fat is bad and a low fat diet is good? The USDA has been telling us that for years, and we all know what a great track record they have for protecting our best interests and keeping us thin. . .(Dripping with sarcasm here.)

It's becoming widely accepted that fats actually curb your appetite, by triggering the release of the hormone cholecystokinin, which causes fullness. Fats also slow the release of sugar into your bloodstream, reducing the amount that can be stored as fat. In other words, the more fat in your dairy, the less fat around your waist. Not only will low-fat 

milk, yogurt, margarine, sour cream etc.. . . fail to trim your 

gut, it might even make you fatter!

 In 2005, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and other institutions studied the weight and milk consumption of 12,829 kids ages 9 to 14 from across the country. "Contrary to our hypothesis," they reported, "skim and 1% milk were associated with weight gain, but dairy fat was not."

But surely low-fat milk is better for your heart? We are often told to watch our consumption of dairy because it raises our bad cholesterol, the kind known as LDL. But LDL comes in at least four varieties, and only the smallest and densest of them are linked with heart disease. Dairy fat, it turns out, affects only the large, fluffy kind of LDL—the benign kind. source.

And speaking of benign, the scare of saturated fats is all messed up too. There are some saturated fats that are very good for you! Coconut oil, avocados and almonds to name a few. Meat has gotten a bad rap from the hype too. Fat is claimed to be the cause of heart disease, but this chart shows some of the real causes.

 The thing is, the health of the animal when butchered makes a big difference, because the junk that they ate is majorly stored in their fat. So the industrial raised and grain fed cow will be fat and unhealthy, (needing hormones to produce better, and drugs to stay alive) leading the one eating a lot of meat from the cow to likely be fat and unhealthy too. (Thus some of the confusion.) While I've instinctively stayed away from fat in meat over the years,  and even went vegan for a while, I think it was my source that was the problem.  I indulge on free range, grass fed beef and broth now (when I can afford it) and don't mind it at all. . . and I'm at my lowest and healthiest weight since I was a teen. (100 lbs.)

Back to milk though; there is a live bacteria in raw milk called lactase, which breaks down lactose, which is what causes most people to have an allergy to milk. Actually, many experts are just throwing out the baby with the bathwater and believing that milk is undigestable because of this lacking enzyme in processed milk. But in reality, only processed milk is allergen causing, constipating, and consequently fattening. Source.

To make matters worse for processed milk, the companies have to further process it to turn skim milk white, "some companies fortify their product with powdered skim," says Bob Roberts, a dairy scientist at Penn State. Powdered skim (which is also added to organic pasteurized low-fat milks) is produced by spraying the liquid under heat and high pressure, a process that oxidizes the cholesterol. In animal studies, oxidized cholesterol triggers a host of biological changes, leading to plaque formation in the arteries and heart disease, Spanish researchers reported in 1996. "Oxidized cholesterol's are mutagenic and carcinogenic," they wrote.  So if you have powdered milk for your food storage. . .not so safe I'd say. Raw milk is the best, or just go with the nut milks and skip it completely. (Though some of those can have preservatives in them too. . .)

So to wrap up here, I'm not advocating chips over celery, just because they are fattening, but just that if it's marketed as "Diet", "fat free", "low fat" or the like, it is probably worse then the original full fat version. (Most if not all of which you probably would be better off avoiding as well.) I'll get into the confusion over fats and oils more in my next post.

Crossovers in myths and religions. Why I can't still believe.

It is easy to mock the ancient cultures religions, and wonder 

if and how people actually literally believed those stories to 

be true.

 

We see how downright funny their worldview was, and I fall victim to the temptation to mock them as foolish I must admit. Their beliefs and superstitions were so entwined with their lives, and made so many things more difficult for themselves. As much as we hope no one thinks we are a fools though for our worldview, (when looking back on us in another 1000 years,) we should try to be respectful while speaking of the ancient people and their practices and beliefs. 

The people
then, are very much like
we are now, and we are all so much alike!










We still fear what we don't understand, and have a good imagination to both passify our fears, and exaggerate them. . .

We have always been preoccupied with the unknown. . .some choosing to run from it screaming, while others have boldly chosen to study it. Before there was science or tools capable of studying things though, we depended upon the stories passed down to us from our respected elders, as they were the best explanations (science) of the time. Thus, we have Creation stories/myths from around the world:

 All cultures have creation myths; they are our primary myths. . .


As cultures, we identify ourselves through the collective beliefs we call "creation myths". … Creation myths explain in metaphorical terms our sense of who we are in the context of the world, and in so doing they reveal our real priorities, as well as our real prejudices. While the popular usage of the term "myth" is often thought to refer to false or fanciful stories, creation myths are by definition those stories which a culture accepts as both a true and are foundational accounts of their human identity. Many folklorists reserve the label "myth" for stories about creation. Traditional stories that do not focus on origins fall into the categories of "legend" and "folk tale", which folklorists distinguish from myth. 

For many traditional cultures, nearly every sacred story qualifies as an origin or Creation myth. Traditional humans tended to model their behavior from sacred events. Because of this, nearly every sacred story describes events that established a new paradigm for human behavior, and thus nearly every sacred story is a story about a creation.


Mythologists have applied various schemes to classify creation myths found throughout human cultures.

• Creation ex nihilo in which the creation is through the thought, word, dream or bodily secretions of a divine being.
• Earth diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a primordial ocean to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world.
• Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world.
• Creation by the dismemberment of a primordial being.
• Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a cosmic egg or a bringing order from chaos.

• a primeval abyss, an infinite expanse of waters or space.
• an originator deity which is awakened or an eternal entity within the abyss.
• an originator deity poised above the abyss.
• a cosmic egg or embryo.
• life generating from the corpse or dismembered parts of an originator deity.
• an originator deity creating life through sound or word.

Of just the one type of Creation myth, Ex nihilo (out of nothing), we now have some of the world's largest religions. . .and a lot of others too.

Ex nihilo (out of nothing)

• Debate between sheep and grain
• Barton cylinder
• Ancient Egyptian creation myths
• Genesis creation narrative (Christianity and Judaism)
• Islam
• Kabezya-Mpungu
• Māori myths
• Mbombo
• Ngai
• Popol Vuh
• Rangi and Papa

An origin or creation myth often functions to give the current order of doing things an aura of sacredness.

  Myths help the stories and heroes in the myths (their role models), be imitated and their deeds and customs be established or upheld.

We also have founding myths which explain the origins of a ritual or the founding of a city or a group, presented as a genealogy with a founding father and thus the beginning of a nation. It's also a narrative recounting the spiritual origins of a belief, philosophy, discipline, or idea.

In the past, historians of religion and other students of myth thought of them as forms of primitive or early-stage science or religion and analyzed them in a literal or logical sense. However they are seen today (by most scholars and historians, as well as scientists and archaeologists) as merely symbolic narratives which must be understood in terms of their own cultural context.


Stories of Greek mythology for instance are typically regarded as nothing more than fictional, fantasy stories by educated people. The idea that Ancient Greeks viewed these stories seriously, basing their lives and religion off of them seems insane to most educated people now. This idea seems to cast a stigma of irrationality, almost ignorance, upon the Ancient Greeks.

The fact is that Greek myths contain unrealistic and unbelievable characters, events, and other elements, but upon comparison of Greek mythology stories with different Biblical accounts, it is apparent that some parallels between the two do exist.

This may seem to be unimportant, but it is very important, as this represents the history and cultural understanding in the Bible days. . .which will thus lead us into a greater understanding of the Bible.

First, creation begins with Chaos, nothingness or a void. The same term has also been extended to parallel concepts in the religions of the Ancient Near East. Out of the void emerged Gaia (the Earth) and some other primary divine beings. (What scientists call the big bang.)  Gaia or the Earth gave birth to Uranus (the Sky or the atmosphere) who then fertilized her and they had a bunch more kids. (life could emerge on the planet.)

 In the Greek story Cronus, the wily, youngest and most terrible of Gaia's (the Earth) children, was convinced by Gaia to castrate his father. He did this, and became the ruler and a sister Rhea became his wife. Having done this to his own Father, he had a mistrust of any of his own children turning on him, and decided to EAT any of his children coming from Rhea. Naturally she wasn't thrilled about this and tricked him by hiding the newborn Zeus and wrapping a stone in a baby's blanket, which Cronus ate.

When Zeus was full grown, he fed Cronus a drugged drink which caused him to vomit, throwing up Rhea's other children and the stone, which had been sitting in Cronus's stomach all along. Zeus then challenged Cronus to war for the kingship of the gods. At last, Zeus and his siblings were victorious, while Cronus. . . was hurled down to imprisonment in Tartarus.

Zeus was plagued by the same concern Cronus had and after a prophecy that the offspring of his first wife, Metis, would give birth to a god, Zeus swallowed Metis. She was already pregnant with Athena, however, and she burst forth from his head—fully-grown and dressed for war!

Now, there are not a lot of similarities here to the Christian beliefs, but a few words to ponder here are "nothingness", and "void".

 Also, there seems to be a thing with mutilating the genitals in that time. . .as we also see with Abraham's covenent with God through circumcision. Sadly, that practice is still legal to be forced upon defenseless baby boys today in our country, but for some reason it's illegal now for girls. It's the same thing people!

"Chaos" was often in the shape of a serpent. . .like in the garden of Eden.

And although the original women in the two creation stories play different conniving roles, both usurp authority from their husbands and bring curses upon mankind for it. Inevitably playing a large role in the inequality of the woman in their lack of rights of that time, the belief in submission, and the belief that only through childbirth they will be saved. (1st Tim. 2:15) More about that from the Bible here.

So while the similarities seem to stop there with the Greek origin myths and the Bible creation story, there are many more myths around the world that show a similar beginning. . . leading a person to wonder what could have brought on such similarities if not based in fact?

Getting into the New testament though, some believe the comparisons stop. This is not true. In Egyptian mythology for instance, (which predates known Judaism) we have a virgin woman with a god/baby. (Kind of reminiscent of Christian Mary and Jesus pictures and statues huh?) The baby is not Jesus though, it's Horus.

Comparison of some life events of Horus and Jesus:

Event	Horus	Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus
Conception:	By a virgin. There is some doubt about this matter	By a virgin.
Father:	Only begotten son of the God Osiris.	Only begotten son of Yehovah (in the form of the Holy Spirit).
Mother:	Isis-Meri.	Miriam (now often referred to as Mary).
Foster father:	Seb, (a.k.a. Jo-Seph).	Joseph.
Foster father's ancestry:	Of royal descent.	Of royal descent.
Birth location:	In a cave, and placed in a manger.	In a cave (the stables of the day) and placed in a manger.
Annunciation:	By an angel to Isis, his mother.	By an angel to Miriam, his mother.
Birth heralded by:	The star Sirius, the morning star.	An unidentified "star in the East."
Birth date:	Ancient Egyptians paraded a manger and child representing Horus through the streets at the time of the winter solstice (about DEC-21). In reality, he had no birth date; he was not a human.	Born during the fall. However, his birth date is now celebrated on DEC-25. The date was chosen to occur on the same date as the birth of Mithra, Dionysus and the Sol Invictus (unconquerable Sun), etc.
Birth announcement:	By angels.	By angels.
Birth witnesses:	Shepherds.	Shepherds.
Later witnesses to birth:	Three solar deities.	An unknown number of wise men who studied the heavens. They are said to have brought three gifts; thus the legend grew that there were three wise men.
Death threat during infancy:	Herut tried to have Horus murdered. He was not successful.	Herod tried to have Jesus murdered. He was not successful.
Handling the threat:	The God That tells Horus' mother "Come, thou goddess Isis, hide thyself with thy child."	An angel tells Jesus' father to: "Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt."
Rite of passage ritual:	Horus came of age with a special ritual, when his eye was restored.	Taken by parents to the temple for what is today called a bar mitzvah ritual.
Age at the ritual:	12	12
Break in life history:	No data between ages of 12 & 30.	No data between ages of 12 & 30.
Baptism location:	In the river Eridanus.	In the river Jordan.
Age at baptism:	30.	30.
Baptized by:	Anup the Baptiser.	John the Baptist.
Subsequent fate of the baptiser:	Beheaded.	Beheaded.

Event	Horus	Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus
Temptation:	Taken from the desert of Amenta up a high mountain by his arch-rival Sut. Sut was a precursor for the Hebrew word Satan.	Taken from the desert in Palestine up a high mountain by his arch-rival Satan.
Result of temptation:	Horus resists temptation.	Jesus resists temptation.
Close followers:	Twelve disciples. There is some doubt about this matter as well.	Twelve disciples.
Activities:	Walked on water, cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind. He "stilled the sea by his power."	Walked on water, cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind. He ordered the sea with a "Peace, be still" command.
Raising of the dead:	Horus raised Osirus, his dead father, from the grave. 1	Jesus raised Lazarus, his close friend, from the grave.
Location where the resurrection miracle occurred:	Anu, an Egyptian city where the rites of the death, burial and resurrection of Horus were enacted annually. 1	Hebrews added their prefix for house ('beth") to "Anu" to produce "Beth-Anu" or the "House of Anu." Since "u" and "y" were interchangeable in antiquity, "Bethanu" became "Bethany," the location mentioned in John 11.
Linkage between the name of Osirus in Egyptian religion and Lazarus in the Gospel of John:	Asar was an alternative name for Osirus, Horus' father. Horus raised Asar from the dead. He was referred to as "the Asar," as a sign of respect.	Translated into Hebrew, Asr is "El-Asar." The Romans added the sufffix "us" to indicate a male name, producing "Elasarus." Over time, the "E" was dropped and "s" became "z," producing "Lazarus."  Jesus is said to have raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.
Transfigured:	On a mountain.	On a high mountain.
Key address(es):	Sermon on the Mount.	Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7)
Method of death	By crucifixion or by the sting of a scorpion; sources differ.	By crucifixion.
Accompanied by:	Two thieves.	Two thieves.
Burial	In a tomb.	In a tomb.
Fate after death:	Descended into Hell; resurrected after three days.	Descended into Hell; resurrected after about 30 to 38 hours (Friday PM to presumably some time in Sunday AM) covering parts of three days.
Resurrection announced by:	Women.	Women.
Future:	To reign for 1,000 years in the Millennium.	To reign for 1,000 years in the Millennium.

Characteristics	Horus	Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus
Nature:	Regarded as a mythical character.	Regarded as a 1st century CE human prophet by Jewish Christians. Viewed as a man-god in the Gospel of John, and by Christians in the 2nd century CE and later.
Main role:	Savior of humanity.	Savior of humanity.
Status:	God-man.	God-man.
Common portrayal:	Virgin Isis holding the infant Horus.	Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.
Title:	KRST, the anointed one.	Christ, the anointed one.
Other names:	The good shepherd, the lamb of God, the bread of life, the son of man, the Word, the fisher, the winnower.	The good shepherd, the lamb of God, the bread of life, the son of man, the Word, the fisher, the winnower.
Zodiac sign:	Associated with Pisces, the fish.	Associated with Pisces, the fish.
Main symbols:	Fish, beetle, the vine, shepherd's crook.	Fish, beetle, the vine, the shepherd's crook.

If this comparison chart isn't enough, there is much much more here about other almost identical gods to Jesus, and the reason why they were all alike. . .

Prophecies of the overthrowing of rulers were frequent events in both Greek and Egyptian mythology as in Biblical stories. There is an example in the Bible of this same type of prophecy as in the story of Cronus and Zeus, when in relation to Herod the king (Matthew 2). When the "wise" men tell Herod that the King of the Jews was born, Herod demands that his servants find where the baby was born and report back to him. When they tell him that it is Bethlehem, and he informs the wise men, they are excited. He wants to let them do the searching for him though and then report back to him when they find him, so he can kill this "king". But after telling the wise men to report back to him, the wise men are supposedly warned (of God in a dream) not to obey the king. (Consequently foiling his plan.) So, he orders that all baby boys in Bethlehem be killed. However, Jesus escaped this fate. . .just as Zeus escapes being eaten by Cronus. This same plot is repeated in the story of Moses, who according to many was actually a real pharaoh  and blood related to the original Egyptians before they were overthrown by a darker clan. (I will get into that later though in another post.)

In both the Ancient Greek and Christian accounts of the early world, there exist stories of great floods that destroyed most of humankind. As well as many more from around the world as seen in this huge list here.

In the Bible's version of the flood, God becomes frustrated with the wickedness of the world and decides to destroy the earth with a flood (although it saddened him to do so of course Christians will clarify). However, Noah found favor with God, because he was a good and a just man, and "pure in his generations" (which I will get into later).

God was said to have told Noah to build an ark that would float upon the waters. On the ark, Noah was to take his wife, three sons, their wives, and two (or seven of the "clean" ones) of every living creature. In this way God could be sure that the world would be repopulated. 

In the Greek flood story, Zeus becomes very angry with men and decides to destroy them as revenge for their impieties. His intention is to destroy all of mankind. However, Prometheus, (who tells his son, Deucalion, to build an ark so Deucalion and his wife could escape Zeus wrath) thwarts Zeus attempt. In this story Prometheus assures that mortal life will go on. 

Although the stories are different in some aspects, the parallels show that both the Ancient Greeks and followers of the Christian faith seem to agree that a great cataclysmic flood was a significant event in the early years of the world. As well, they both believe that some (or possible different family groups that settled in different places, creating different cultures) survived this flood by building an ark(s) and living there until the flood subsided.

 (More at the source: here)

This is a pretty classic myth, with only slight variations, so IMHO, it is very likely (not just because of myths, but a lot of evidence in the world) to have it's origin in truth!

The many examples of war as well, in both the biblical and greek myths, show examples of the cross-cultural belief that war was an important event in the ancient world, and the gods were said to have played significant roles in these wars.

 If a nation won, their gods were believed to be stronger, and if they lost, they likely needed to appease their gods with a sacrifice because of a sin. (Think about the story of Achan in Joshua 7) 

These are only the big similarities in ancient religions. . .that I know of. There are many smaller ones in Greek mythology alone I know.

The similarities are so parallel that one must wonder as to the actual origin of these stories. . .reality, or myth? If the Bible holds so many similarities to Greek and Egyptian mythology that Christians claim is fantasy, it causes one to question the actual relevance of the Bible as a book of history and truth. . .

Although Christians refuse to accept that these stories are not historical accounts written by God through man, neither did the ancient Greeks or other cultures deny their gods or inspirations weren't truth. In many cases, like the flood, there is a lot of archaeology to back up the stories as historical events. . .so do we need to look at the ancients as describing the same historical events? Or are we forced to throw them all out?

 One cannot honestly discount the likeness of the ancient stories, or the archaeology  . .leading one to believe the stories might have came from an origin before the next. Unbeknownst to many the Bible is not the oldest ancient text though.

Patternism is a term used to describe the similarities we see from religions of the past to another right after it, believing them to be related, and connected in antiquity. We can see that pattern in Luwian pantheon in it's strong influence on the ancient Greek religion, while the Ancient Greek religion, the Assyro-Babylonian religion, (Also called the Mesopotamian myths which have a similar Creation Myth, the Garden of Eden, The Great Flood,Tower of Babel, a story of Moses' origin- that shares a similarity with that of Sargon of Akkad- and the Ten Commandments myth, which mirror Assyrian-Babylonian legal codes to some degree.) as well as the Egyptian religion influenced Abrahamic religions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam).

  One may easily presume, based on all this, and much more, that the stories in the Bible are not just stories of past mythology, changed to suit a new time, but were like all after it, based off of a more ancient script.

 The Sumerian text was the first know writings of the first people, with the first language (Sanskrit).  Being that the supposedly first Hebrews (Abraham)was in the area where they were said to originate, at the same time, it stands to reason that the Hebrews got their "myths" from them. If you want to know more about the origin of the belief in the Hebrew "God", the original flood story, and numerous other similarities the Sumerian text has with the Bible, here's a teaser video to get you started. Check it out here.

 I hope you feel you are educated now, and not traumatized like I was for a while as my faith in god slipped away permanently. . .
Peace and enlightenment to all.