Goddena, the unknown god

Dedication

I dedicate this book to the entire human race.

THE AUTHOR

Preface

The Author of this Book is searching for Truth, and will follow that Trail wherever it may lead, without regard to consequences personal to himself. He believes the world needs a higher form of religion than has yet prevailed — one that will elevate man above the plane of war, which no religion has done.

The Author.

Introductory.

Nature has endowed man with common sense and reason. It is his highest duty to exercise those faculties on all subjects that come before him, including religion. No theory can be accepted as a science until it is proven by actual demonstrated facts, like astronomy and the Marconi system of wireless telegraphy.

Faith without positive knowledge is of no more value in a Christian than in a Mohammedan, a Hindoo, or a Hottentot. The world is full of faiths. There are many forms of faith among Christians ; some believe that if you have faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, and are baptized by immersion, you will go to heaven, but if you are only sprinkled you are doomed to eternal hell. We should not attach any value to any form of faith that is not supported by positive scientific knowledge.

All ages have been supplied with man-made gods, who were simply a reflex of what their makers thought a god ought to be.

6 Introductory

There is no scientific proof that any of those gods are the Supreme Power of the Universe.

No one has a right to try to tear down any form of religion, unless he can offer a substitute that he believes is better. Robert J. Ingersoll, one of the greatest and best of men, failed in this particular. He did much to destroy the Christian religion, but had nothing to offer as a substitute.

In regard to a future life he simply said he ' ' didn 't know. ' ' Means of knowing were within his reach, and it was his duty to avail himself of the opportunity. While opposing the Christian religion, I offer as a substitute one that is vastly superior in every respect, founded on reason, justice, humanity and absolute scientific knowledge, and one that does honor to the Infinite Supreme Power of the Universe.

GODDENA

The Unknown God

Religion is a necessity of the human soul. A germ of religion is born with every babe. Out of this germ every form of religion on earth has been developed ; each one in accord with the environments of the individual, tribe, or nation.

When man evoluted to a point where he could exercise thought above the brute creation, he, on looking at the wonderful mysteries of nature, was moved to a feeling of awe and reverence for the Supreme Power that he felt ruled over all. He manifested this feeling by making crude images of clay, wood, and stone to represent his conception of the ruling power.

This was the beginning of superstition, religion, and the god idea. As man progressed in intelligence he formulated conceptions of greater gods. In the earlier historical periods such nations as Chaldea, Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, each had one or more gods. Babylon had a godsmith, who made gods to order, like a blacksmith. India, China, Japan, Arabia had their gods, and Greece, when she had reached the highest intellectual greatness ever attained by man, had a chief god named Zeus, and many smaller gods.

The Jews had a god they called Jehovah. Now, as we are more interested in this god than in any others, we will proceed to investigate his characteristics.

It appears from Jewish records that at the beginning this Jehovah god created the heavens, earth, and all things contained therein, including the human race. He was all- wise, all-powerful, and all-knowing. He created man just as He wanted him. If He did not, it was His own fault. He also created the devil, whom He knew would defeat all His plans and purposes. He either created the devil or else the devil was an independent god. In either case the devil has proven to be greater than God. If God created the devil, why did He do it? If the devil is the author of sin, who is the author of the devil ? Take any view of the case that you may and it leads right back to God as the responsible party for all that has followed creation. He made Adam and Eve pure. It would have been very easy to have kept them in that condition. Had He done so we would have had a heaven on earth all the time. He placed temptation before Adam and Eve and they fell, as He knew they would ; and as a consequence, we have had a hell on earth ever since, in which the devil has defeated God in every effort He has made for the benefit of man. This is a poor showing for Jehovah.

The only reason we have heard for God's act in placing temptation before Adam and Eve is that God thought it necessary to endow man with free moral agency, with right to choose good or evil. But why necessary ? Tell this to babes and sucklings, but not to grown men. The claim is an insult to common intelligence. If true it has been at a frightful cost to God and mankind. It has cost God a constant effort to save man, and He failed in all of them.

Let us go back and try to trace out the pedigree of the devil. We are told that he had been an angel in heaven, but had re-

10 jGoddena: The Unknown God

belled and been cast out. Now be it known that angels are the spirits of persons who have lived on earth, therefore somebody must have lived on earth before Adam and Eve, and it also shows there is no certainty of remaining in heaven, if we are lucky enough to get there. This narrative leaves a confused impression and needs a full explanation. The first born child of Adam and Eve killed his brother ; then he went into the land of Nod, married, and raised children. Query: where did his wife come from % The early records are very defective on these points. After the fall of Adam and Eve the human race became so wicked that God repented that he had created man, and finally, in his desperation, he drowned all but eight of the human race. He saved the eight with which to start a purer race. With this wonderful experience it would be fair to suppose that Noah and his posterity would be moral and strictly pure. But what was the result ? When the flood subsided, Noah came out of the Ark with his family, animals, serpents, vipers, flies, mosquitos, and every other insect. He planted

Moses and Joshua 11

a vineyard, raised grapes, made wine, became a beastly drunkard, and he and his posterity continued as wicked as the race had been before the flood. Tally two for the devil. This was his second great victory over God. This condition of wickedness continued for long ages. Free moral agency was getting in its work in fine style. We will now make some quotations from Jehovah's Book, to show what manner of God He was.

Moses and Joshua

Moses and Joshua were God's vice-gerents to execute His will on earth. I quote from the thirty-first chapter of Numbers: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ' Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites; afterwards shall thou be gathered unto thy people'." 17th and 18th verses of the same chapter: "Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a man by lying with him." "But all the women, children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." I am ashamed to quote such horrid items. My only excuse is that

Christians claim that every word in the Bible is God's holy word. Joshua, chapter vi, verse 21: "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword. ' ' Verse 25: "And Joshua saved Rahab, the harlot, alive, with her father's household." That is the ww God and Joshua treated the red light subject. Chapter viii, verse 24 : "And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slajdng all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and wlien they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they w T ere consumed, that all the Isralites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. " And so it was that all that fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai, for Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Chapter viii, verse 7 : "Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into vour hand,

Moses and Joshua 13

and it shall be, when you have taken the city, that he shall set the city on fire, according to the command of the Lord shall ye do."

Chapter x, verse 12:... "Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites, before the Children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gideon ; and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajalon." And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher ? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down for about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it, or after it, that the Lord harkened unto the voice of a man ; for the Lord fought for Israel.

"What a collosal insult to common sense. Joshua, a mortal man, suspends the laws of the universe, and stops the sun in its course for about a whole day, and there are people who seem to be intelligent who pretend to believe this story. They say God can do anything. If so why don't he kill the devil ? The fabulous prevaricator who perpetrated this fable didn't seem to know that the sun is stationary and the earth does the motion act. This one story is enough to condemn the whole Bible. Verse 40 : " Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the vale, and of the springs and all their kings ; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded." Chapter xi, verse 20 : " For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them as the Lord commanded Moses."

These are samples of God's loving mercy to the poor mortals whom He had brought into existence. Hardened their hearts to give Him an excuse to punish them. What a God ! The devil could be no worse. Free moral agency comes very high. And who is benefitted? The cruelties and wickedness of the wars of Moses and Joshua can never be excelled by the worst savages on earth.

Tli ere were thirty-one kingdoms thus utterly destroyed — men, women, and innocent

Solomon 15

children. The civilized world has been shocked at the treatment of Belgium by Germany in the war in Europe. Compare that treatment with God and Joshua's warfare. It is blasphemous to charge such crimes against the Infinite God.

David was a man after God's own heart. His treatment of Uriah was as dastardly a crime as was ever perpetrated.

Solomon was Another One of God's Favorites

First Kings, chapter xi, verse 2: " Solomon clave unto these in love." Verse 3: "And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart." Yes, I would think so.

Brigham Young, with his twenty-one wives, was a santified saint in comparison with Solomon. And yet it appears from the following that Solomon must have been a twin brother of God. See Proverbs, chapter viii, verse 22: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was. Where there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills were, I brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there ; when he set a compass upon the face of the deep ; when he established the clouds above ; when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment ; when he appointed the foundations for the earth; then I was by him, as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Rejoicing in the habitable part of the earth, and my delights were the sons of men." "Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye Children ; for blessed are they that keep my ways." Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors, for whoso

Jonah 17

findeth me, findeth life, and shall find favor of the Lord." "But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own Soul; all that hate me love death."

And all this from a man who kept a harem of one thousand lewd women. Comment is unnecessary. This subject is referred to the Committee on Purity.

Jonah

Chapter i, verse 17: "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." Then he prayed unto the Lord his God, out of the fish's belly," and said, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me, and out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou hearest my voice, for thou hast cast me into the deep, into the midst of the sea, and the floods compassed me about, all the billows and the waves passed over me." Then I said, ' ' I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. " " The waters compassed me about even to the Soul ; the depths closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head." "I went down to the bottom of the mountains ; the earth her bars were about me forever; yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord, My God. " " Then my Soul fainted within me ; I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that, that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." This story is referred to the Committee on Intellect and Education.

Job a Model Man

Chapter ii again : "There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord." And the Lord said unto Satan, "from whence comest thou?" And Satan answered the Lord and said, "from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down

Job 19

in it." And the Lord said imto Satan: "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that f eareth God ; and eschewith evil? And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou makest me against him, to destroy him without cause." And Satan answered the Lord and said "Skin for skin, yea all that he hath will he give for his life, but put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh ; and he will curse thee to thy face." And the Lord said unto Satan, "behold he is in thine hand, but save his life." So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his feet unto his crown.

What a spectacle is here presented ! The Almighty Creator and Supreme Ruler of the Universe disputing with the devil, one of his creatures, about the merits of Job, one of the best of men. In which it seems that the devil got the best of the argument, so that God gave up and turned Job into the devil's hands with the request that the devil would spare Job's life. If God is all powerfill, he ought to have killed the devil there and then, and stopped his wicked career. But on the contrary, he permitted the devil to persecute and afflict Job to an extreme extent.

This matter is respectfully referred to the High Brow Committee.

We are told that God killed, in one night, all the first born in every family in Egypt. Poor innocent babes! And he is a God of love ! We are also told that he turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt for looking back at the house she was leaving. It is a sin to teach such absurdities to innocent children.

Prophets.

Prophecy is an important feature in the Bible. In a number of places it is said that Christ did certain things "that it might be fulfilled" as spoken of by the Prophet. This looks like a put up job. It proves nothing but simplicity and duplicity.

In Jeremiah, Chapter xxiii, verse 11-17 we find the following: "For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the

Prophets 21

Lord. " " Therefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness ; they shall be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord." "And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria ; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people in Israel to err. " "I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem, a horrible thing. ' ' They commit adultery, and walk in lies; they strengthen also the hands of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gromorah ; therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: "Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaness gone forth into the land. " " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: "Harken not unto the words of the prophets that prophecy unto you; they make you vain ; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. ' ' Much more of a similar nature concerning prophets can be found in the Bible, from which it can be seen that prophets were no better than common men — not even as good.

Personal Visits of God

We are told that in olden times God made personal visits to men and conversed freely with them, as one man would with another. And on one occasion talked to a fish in the sea, and the fish obeyed him. But strange to say that there is no record that God has made any such visits to earth for nearly two thousand years. Why is this? Where is God, and what is the matter with Him % Is it possible that he is so much disgusted at his many defeats by the devil that he has retired from the contest and turned the human race over into the hands of the devil, as he did with Job ? Never in all time has there been such need of God's help as now, when the whole earth is enshrouded in the war spirit. But hold a moment. I recall one reported visit that God made in recent years.

While standing on the sidewalk one day in Spokane, my attention was called to a racket, made by a band of the Salvation Army near by. For pastime, I walked down

Personal Visits 23

to the scene of action. In the course of their exercises, a young woman gave a talk, in which she said that "she had a brother in the east, who was in his sins, and she had been much worried about him ; but God came into her room a few days before and told her not to worry about her brother for he would take care of him, and for her to see after the young men of Spokane. "

I don't suppose there are many orthodox Christians who can believe that God did any such thing. But their preachers will tell you with as much earnestness as the Maid of Spokane of how they get near to God and feel his presence, and tell his will and intentions. If they feel the presence of unseen forces it is that of angel friends, and not of the Jewish Jehovah. By way of degression, I will say that the Salvation Army, with all its absurdities, is doing more good than any other branch of Christians. They are the scavengers of the human race, raking the gutters of depravity and lifting fallen wretches to higher planes. This is angel work, no matter what delusion they may be under in regard to God.

Futility of Prayer to God

Since the beginning of the horrible war now raging in Europe, hundreds of millions of Christian prayers have been addressed to God for peace.

Up to the present hour there is not a particle of evidence that those prayers have had any more effect than if they had been addressed to a wooden image. What is the matter ? Why can 't you get in rapport with God ? Simply because there is no scientific proof that such a being as the Jewish Jehovah ever existed. He is a myth, like all other man-made Gods. And it is the greatest blessing to the human race that there is no such a being, because a much grander and happier fate awaits us than is described in the Bible, and we should rejoice with exceeding great joy in the assurance that the real Supreme Power of the Universe is far superior to any God ever worshipped by mortal man. The Old Testament proves that God was an imbecile, being defeated by the devil in every contest with him, and the most cruel monster that ever existed. Bringing the human race into existence, and then mak-

Tlie New Testament 25

ing conditions that sends a vast majority of his children to eternal hell.

The New Testament.

Let us now investigate the New Testament. It appears from the Old Testament, that after God had been defeated by the devil in all his efforts to reform and save the human race, that he adopted the heroic plan of sending his only Son from heaven to be killed so that his shed blood might wash out the sins of the world. It thus appears that God had not yet outgrown his folly and imbecility. This plan for collossal foolishness towers high above all the other acts recorded in the Old Testament. The idea of the Immaculated Conception, is too absurd to mention. It is a slander on the mother of Jesus and a mockery of God. It is as impossible as the stopping of the sun by Joshua. The worship of any one born of a mortal woman is idolatry. Christ was born of a mortal woman. His shed blood can no more atone for my sins than I can atone for the crimes of a thief or murderer. It is a law of nature that each person shall stand on

26 Goddena: T7ie Unknown God

his own merits in this life, and I have the assurance of angel friends in heaven that the same rule prevails there, and this is in strict accord with common sense and justice.

From my knowledge of materialization, I can say that it would have been much easier and more effective for Christ to have come from heaven in materialized form than by the method recorded. Moreover if Cod sent His Son to be killed to save the human race, then the men who killed him were entitled to honor for carrying out God's purpose.

But no matter from what point you may view this matter, it is evident that this plan of saving the human race was a failure, as all preceding plans had been. It would be as reasonable to say that the blood of Abraham Lincoln washed away the sin of slavery as to say that the blood of Christ washed away the sins of the world. Then that blood was a failure in not being retroactive. It could not reach the many billions of people who had lived before Christ's time, and has only reached a small part of mankind since then, thus leaving an overwhelming majority on the devil's side, up to date.

Christ as a Man".

I will discuss the merits and qualities of Jesus Christ in the same manner I would that of any other man. He was a mortal with good and bad qualities like all other mortals. He was a great medium, especially in healing. He was generally mild and sympathetic, and a reformer, striving for the betterment of humanity. He said many good things, among the best was, "Do unto others that which you would have others do unto you. ' ' The same sentiment had been uttered by Confucius five hundred years before. Another apt remark was "Let he that is innocent cast the first stone. " It is not recorded that any stones were cast on that occasion. That remark will be appropriate in many cases, even to the present day. It is wondrous strange that the bible gives no record of Christ from twelve to thirty years of age. Where was he at that time ? An able work on that question represents him as being in India during that important part of his life.

But let us go back to the beginning of his work.

In Matthew, chapter iv, verse 1: "Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." And why tempted? And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights he was afterwards hungered. And when the tempter came to him he said, "if thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bread." Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city and sitteth him on a pinnicle of the temple, and saith unto him, "If thou be the Son of God cast thyself down"- for it is written he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." Jesus said unto him, "It is written again thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and saith unto him, "all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Then the devil leaveth him, and behold angels came and ministered to him. It would seem from the above that the devil had extraordinary power if he could carry Christ around in that manner. But why the innocent Son of God be led around in such temptations by the devil ? What could God mean by allowing the devil, one of his own creatures, to roam around trying to defeat all of God 's work % Why didn 't God kill the devil at once and put a stop to such foolishness ? Chapter v, verse 23 : "But whosoever shall say thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. ' [ These are the words of Christ in the sermon on the mount, and shows that he dealt in hell fire himself. Verse 24 : " And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. " Verse 39: " Whosoever shall smite thee in the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ? ' No manhood in that. Verse 40 : "And if any man sue thee at the law and take awav thy coat, let him have thy cloak also, and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. ■ ' " Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away." Any mortal who would comply with these foolish commands at the present day, would be promptly placed under the care of a conservator. Chapter vi, verse 31 : " Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be clothed."