Straight is the Gate, Narrow is the Way

—And few will find it? 2.4 billion fews is a lot of Christians that think they’re making the cut. If this (or any other scripture) is authentic from the mouth of god, what are your chances? “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, (Christian morals) which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew‬ ‭7:14‬ ‭KJV‬‬. Christian morality front-loads presupposition assuming they have the ultimate everything. It has to press the world into its mold to find “the few” from the billions. When the key to understanding the mysteries is unbelief, I guess I have been led to life as one of the few that have found it by seeing it for what it is.

The central ideas of Christianity — an angry God and vicarious atonement — are contrary to every fact in nature, as also to the better aspirations of the human heart; they are, in our present stage of enlightenment, absurd, preposterous, and blasphemous propositions. Christians well know that the much-decorated statue of the Church, as it now stands, is not of pure chiseled marble, but of clay, cemented together by blood and tears and hardened in the fires of hatred and persecution. And still we hear the cry, ‘The whole world for Christ”—Virchand Gandhi—Jainism

Would be nice if Christianity would understand that the morality of its’ faith is far inferior to others, as well as just regular people. As a regular guy it is incredibly obvious that the religion of Christianity is at complete odds with what we observe in the natural world, contrary to every fact. All we have to do is look around.

Few: the minority of people; the elect, a world that increasingly belongs to the few”

synonyms: a small number, a handful, one or two, a couple, two or three.

Another metaphor of plain talk from ultimate truth? Are you one of the few that has been herded into a belief in promises contradicting the very scripture?

Author: jimoeba

Alternatives to big box religions and dogmas

52 thoughts on “Straight is the Gate, Narrow is the Way”

      1. Whoever said that, didn’t read it. The whole thing reads like the books I read back in highschool in my “Myths, Legends and Folklore” class. The difference is that my teacher never once tried to convince us the stories were true.

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  1. Well Ben, every standard of learning and testimony is held to the highest standard in schools, courts, and science. Presenting the best available proof to secure integrity of the process is crucial to every discipline—except religion. It’s so sillily accepted we even have pasta gods now. No questions asked.

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    1. There is nothing in science blindly accepted on faith alone by billions of people. Evidence is required and evidence is presented. Religion is indeed the exception to the rule. We don’t accept that gravity is real based on feelings or by ancient stories. We accept it based on evidence we can witness and attest to today. The same goes for evolution which I once rejected based on my religious beliefs. Even if you don’t agree with all of the details of evolution, you cannot argue with the observable parts of it or the fossil record. It’s not faith, but a history of evidence.

      The thing about the flying spaghetti monster that should be very troubling to Christians is that there is the same exact amount of evidence that it exists as there is for Yahweh’s existence… Just to be clear, that amount is zero.

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  2. Yet science proves itself wrong, time, after time, after time. Why is it that the science crowd continuously ignores this little fact. Science can be used to ptove anything, including how dishonest scientists can be.
    Don’t get me wrong, I am on your side. But I don’t blind myself to science’s deficencies. Science is as unreliable as are the scientists who allow their expectations to influence the outcomes of their experiments. They find what they want to find, not always what their senses show them!

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    1. Proving itself wrong all the time is part of falsifiability. We work towards improvement and expect to be proven wrong. There are those that resist change for certain, but the culture is one of getting it better and better, not clinging to parchments and claim it as ultimate truth after suppressing it and reworking it behind the scenes for centuries.

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      1. This is true, and a good way to approach life. But, there are some things that science cannot investigate, try as one might. Life itself is beyond science to explain, because one has to be alive in order to ask questions about life. Electrons, atoms, molecules, energy, all those things can be experimented with, but not life. Once life is gone, there is no way science can bring it back. You cannot even be sure what life is until you do not have life anymore, but by then it is too late to see the difference. This leads to the belief life must be meaningless, which may or may not be true. My own view, completely non-religious, is that why take a chance. Live like life has meaning. If it doesn’t, I’ll never know. But if it does, I will not have wasted it. All else stems from this platitude, IMO.

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  3. I should make a Sims game with billions of people on a spherical planet. Only a few elect get to hang out with me afterwards praising my praises forever more, while the rest burn in Sims hell. I am love.

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    1. Be sure to include a faith tracker, so you can kill off the ones that are trying hard, almost making it to heaven, giving it all they’ve got but just won’t make the cut because YOU decide they won’t. Hahahahaha

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      1. Hahaha you’re onto something there. Yep I’ll put some predestination feature in there. Several good people won’t make the cut but assholes who believe in me and proclaim me as lord and savior are in!

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  4. This passage gave me a lot of trouble when I was a believer (I read all of the Bible and not just my favorite parts). Also, Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus is saying that one day, many who believed they were Christians–so much so that they were working miracles in his name–will hear, “I never knew you,” and get tossed away. That one scared me most, especially considering I had never even worked a miracle.

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    1. It’s only a miracle you are still alive in spite of yourself. Lol. Depart from me ye wicked, devout person that is tying really hard but won’t make the cut. It’s cruelty. Commanding a o hate your father and mother though, that one settled well. But I thought we had to love them? The churchy explanation amounts to excuses

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    1. We’ll all be dead and buried before we get that answer. Judyt54 put the Christian dilemma in prospective this morning at Arks. The self worth of the doctrine speaks loudly to the religious mindset. Do unto others is what they do. They just don’t think well of themselves and it shows in the history.

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  5. My brother, who I love dearly, has been a true-blue evangelical Christian pretty much all his adult life (he’s approaching 70) and is certain he’s going to “make it.” He’s one of the “few” in his mind. It makes me sad to think that this capricious god of his could (in theory) say at the end of David’s life, “Sorry, pal, you were a bona fide Christian for all those years, but you did lust after that woman that one time, remember? You never asked forgiveness for that one so, sorry buddy, you’re screwed.”
    Not that I think any of that’s real. Not that I’m concerned he won’t “make it.” I don’t think there’s any “it” to be made. It’s just the whole fucked up nature of Christianity and it makes me sad that he (along with bazillions of others) has devoted his whole life to it. He’s such a talented, funny man, my brother. What might he have accomplished if he hadn’t been side-lined by Christianity? He’s spent his whole life waiting for Jesus’ return. And, as we’re all aware, he’s still waiting.
    I nearly did this, myself. I’m happy to say that, like you, Jim, I’ve been “led to life,” by finally (in my mid-50’s, for crying out loud!) facing my fears and doubts and being honest with myself. Searching wholeheartedly for that god, I found nothing.
    ….and am much happier for it.

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    1. Some of us are in it deep, while others just go through life doing it secondary to the flow of things. Just the way they are. I got sidetracked myself, like your brother for many years and gave up my interests in the sciences because they contradicted the faith. I wasted the best years of this talents potential, but hey, I still have a good mind for it and enjoy following, although instead of being an innovator I am an end user. Great comment Z. I have a Friend at work who is always talking End times, waiting, listening to tbn podcasts 8 hours a day, what a useless distraction from living a fulfilling, contributing existence.

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    1. People do get sucked in by the sweet talk then by and by they learn the details AFTER they have changed their way of life. Then you feel you’re the only one troubled. Can they all be duped? Yep. Everyone takes a little pride in their individuality, going their own way and unique in their own way, except with regards to religion. They’re all in it choosing from a premade list of do’s and dont’s and doctrines. Claiming freewill then subscribing to a system that monitors their thoughts, actions, and desires, condemning every single one as a sinner.

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  6. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, (Christian morals) which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew‬ ‭7:14‬ ‭KJV)

    From a comprehensive historical-contextual viewpoint of the time-period of the Synoptic Gospels, especially to gain a much wider, more extensive/accurate understanding of what was actually controversial in Jerusalem under the Roman Empire, the Dead Sea Scrolls are immensely invaluable. In the Aramaic Apocryphon of Daniel (c. 50 – 1 BCE) it describes either a Messianic figure or a boastful ruler that will arise as “Son of God” or “Son of the Most High”, like the apocalyptic redeemer in the biblical book of Daniel. In the Book of War (c. 50 BCE – 50 CE) it goes into details about the battle(s) between good and evil over just a 40-year period. They’d be fought by the “Sons of Light” and their leader or ruler against the “Sons of Darkness” and their leader/ruler. Several or many of the characterizations of these foes and their leader/agents can theoretically be linked to key figures in Jewish, Judeo-Christian, and Christian early history relevant to this time-period! For a basic introduction to what I’m referring, check these links:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher_of_Righteousness#Hillel_against_Shammai

    https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/featured-scrolls?locale=en_US

    What can easily be gleaned from the FULL contextual history surrounding 1st-century CE Jerusalem (and by default Jesus, James, and Paul) is that there was a LOT of discrepencies and controversy surrounding the Jewish Messiah. Hence, why the era is ladened with Sectarian Judaism, of which Rome obliterated, made it even WORSE, and twisted it all into Hellenistic Apotheosis, i.e. Christology/Roman Catholicism. LOL

    Also, all Jewish sects, zealots, and reformers (Jesus included) clearly thought that the War and End Times were going to happen either in their lifetime or within one generation of themselves — because THEIR GOD was fed up with all the evilness thriving in their little world of that portion of the Roman Empire. 😄

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    1. I always thought as a younger man reading the Bible, that all the things prophesied had already come to pass several times over. That being said, it’s pretty easy to prophesy common occurrences and things that obviously repeat themselves. The end has not come, but expected in the first generation and the hundreds that have followed. If I was a Christian again I would consider myself a preterist. You can’t even begin to deny its already happened. Some go on to say that Satan has been loosed for the thousand years already. Too bad for them all it’s just a scare tactic to keep us looking up. Watch out! He’s coming.

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      1. Yes it is a ploy to keep us looking up but also to keep us in the straight and narrow. To try to make us be nice to each other. Not rose or steal or kill. Yes it’s a weak argument and I am lost to the learned people around me but without faith, what do we have?

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        1. I guess my first thought is this; what if you learned enough to realize that everything you learned was not true at all? If it’s not true, there is no reason to believe something else has the influence over you to make you “be nice” to each other, while the power is in us all already. God has never once been nice or answered a prayer. We’ve been doing it all along. Commandments and doctrines espoused by the clergy while all along they were never nice at all. I could not espouse a group that cleverly justified its horrible past of worldwide genocide. That’s just a short point. Without faith nothing for you would change except all of the sudden, like a switch flip you became you, more tolerant, more loving, a better human being with personal responsibility in the now, not deferring your errors to another entity for future reconciliation.

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          1. I agree, we can all be nice or not according to our own will and not someone elses. That bit is given, but somewhere I think there is more. Dont you? it doesnt have to be religious. But I do think there is more than we know about. And what about all of these experiences and contacts people have. Is that imagination. You have caught me on the hop. I need to get my arguments prepared, but what I do think, is that you have a very good argument and its fascinating reading your point and then taking it to consider and discuss. For this, I thank you

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            1. Hi LooneyB,

              I’m gathering by your two comments here that you prefer to be “spiritual” rather than “religious” …in other words, not confined to the dogmas of a religious institution? Am I inferring too much or is it along those lines?

              Thanks. 🙂

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            2. Prof T – I am replying above rather than under your comment. Not sure why it wont let me. Yes I would like to think I am spiritual. I find great comfort in some sort of belief but nothing in particular. I subscribe to lots of different doctrines from lots of different religions. In short, I guess we should all just play nicely with each other, regardless of where it ends up. Dust in the ground or reincarnation, which I rather favour. will bore you with that one, some day soon. However, my current feeling is that I have stumbled over to the dark side. Its sort of exciting and scarey all at the same time…. ooops

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            3. Hahahaha! Well, I’ll tell you this from firsthand experience, unless you go SO FAR into the Dark — e.g. serial murderer, terrorist, or turn into another incarnation of Lorena Bobbitt — it is REALLY not that scary, especially when you learn to associate with the honorable, trustworthy Perverts and Deviants like me. 🤩🤭

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            4. I would like to think I am spiritual. I find great comfort in some sort of belief but nothing in particular. I subscribe to lots of different doctrines from lots of different religions. In short, I guess we should all just play nicely with each other, regardless of where it ends up. Dust in the ground or reincarnation, which I rather favour.

              Well LooneyB, you sound so much more human than many/most religious Fundamentalists. Bravo! In fact, you have some “cross-over” into some Humanist tenets/beliefs, which is what I am, and we just KNOW that it is a golden rule to “play nicely with each other” until it is made impossible to do so — and that is typically because the Fundamentalist’s M.O. is division, segregation, elitism (esoteric privilege)… and overly monistic: their way or the highway so to speak. 😦 But I too enjoy some of the concepts of reincarnation for the simple reason that science — the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics — fits nicely into parts of reincarnation. 🙂

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            5. Grrrrrr, so sorry LooneyB! I was out late and up until 4am this morning so I’m a little (a lot?) brain-dead right now. 😵 I did NOT mean the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics earlier, I meant the Law of Conservation of Mass/Energy. I realized what I first thought/typed was close, but not correct. LOL Sorry. 😛

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    2. James brother of jesus against Paul eh? Hmm. I have a theory about Paul the Roman and his epiphany/ hymogogic experience, or a scheme. Maybe I’ll finish that post soon.

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        1. I had put all this together a couple months ago. I am just reading now of many observations I came up with myself. Intriguing to say the least. Really all one has to do is put two and two together without the apologetics to see he was either multiple personalities, a rogue, and an imposter. But who am I to know these things? I do want to explore my hypothesis a bit more. Thanks for the bait. Lol. You do this to me on purpose don’t you?

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          1. Hahaha… blame my years as an educator/teacher Jim. We WANT our students to ask lots of questions, test things, formulate THEIR theories and conclusions. 😉

            I can’t wait to read what you come up with!

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            1. Hahahaha! Did you go to my Private blog — “the Darker side” of the Professor? Or were you trying my regular, normal, “vanilla” blog: The Professor’s Convatorium?

              P.S. You are certainly welcome to both! 😈 hehehe

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  7. I am out of sync so apologies – following on from Prof T comment,
    😵 I did NOT mean the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics earlier, I meant the Law of Conservation of Mass/Energy. I realized what I first thought/typed was close, but not correct. LOL Sorry. 😛

    I think if you are a humanist or fundamentalist or just a jolly good guy ( you are a guy arent you?) then who cares. It really is all about playing nicely. I dont care what religion if any people are, but I do care if they are nice or nasty. I strongly feel that religion has a place in the world, of course. People do use it as a great comfort and if they are not doing any harm, who cares? However, I am heavily into re incarnation theories and was regressed. Now this probably puts me right into the Looney Basket, but it was fascinating whether it was past memories or just something in my mind, but I want to believe we are here for more than to hack off your neighbour.

    I remember the Bobbit and Lobbit story and that should be a great reminder to all Men, eh!! 🙂 You have a good day further, as they say in RSA

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    1. The thing I like about reincarnation is it entirely possible. And, there are some very interesting case studies and some proof that maybe it’s real.

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      1. in which case, do you accept or are you willing to consider that there could be a God, who aint that bad! Also, I meant to say in the other missive I sent that….. one could argue that the people who demean the Bible are in fact Satan…..! ( pause for effect) trying to tempt us away from it. I want to say also I am not a Bible basher. I dont preach any sort of religion and I believe people can and should make their own decisions on if they believe or not. But I do believe very strongly in Good and Bad or Good and Evil and the temptation of both on a daily basis….

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        1. I’ll address this one point of interest. Even if in time I “knew” reincarnation were real, I don’t think in the end it would be run by a god. Throughout the universe and in the micro, elements bind, bond, attract, and find their ability to survive. To carry on and continue. Certain things repel, certain things attract. Oil and water just naturally find their equilibrium without any direction or coaxing. The energy that occupies my space will most likely find its way. That’s all. I have some other theories too about matter and energy and consciousness working in chorus, unknowingly on their own finding a balance achieving a potential of sorts. For instance, atoms are about 99.9%% empty space. That being said, you are 99.9% empty space. That .1% is what I’m interested in, which may very well be consciousness. I still haven’t worked that out yet, and may abandon that idea as I come along with it. The other point I’ll make is “god is good”. He called his creation Good. Aquinas said”and goodness poured out”. That is our presuppositional point when we delve into Christianity but the facts say a much different story.

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