Religion is created by men who want to obtain power over and money from others. Prophets always deceive by convincing the gullible that some god or another has spoken to them and them alone. Poppycock! Of course, these invisible gods always tell the subservient people to obey the word of that particular god, through the prophets, of course. Psychiatric wards in hospitals are loaded with people who talk to people only they see. That is where all of those biblical prophets belong, too! Why does religion need money? They con people into giving money. In Christianity, they build gilded temples to a man who preached in the outdoors. If Jesus had had money, would he have built expensive cathedrals and adorned the alters with precious metals while people in the rest of the world starved? If that is so, then he is certainly a creation in the image of the men who believe in him.
Why do people feel they have to give money to ministers? Do they have to pay to speak to their god? Why can't they talk to their god themselves? Will he only listen to those who attend some church and give money to support some minister? In my life experiences, I have not met a priest or minister that was worth one red hot cent. Maybe a nun or two here and there, but certainly not priests or ministers.
I don't need some self-important clergyman (or clergywoman) telling me what to think or how to interpret what is written. Nobody else does either, unless they have no brains. I think all humans have them!
I read the stories of the biblical heroes and I find they are killers, adulterers, and outright loonies. Who talks to burning bushes or hears voices booming from the sky except people hallucinating?
When Moses took all of those people out of Egypt, it was like Jim Jones leading all of those lunatics to Guyana. Sure they were escaping slavery, but if slavery was such a bad thing, why did Jesus command slaves to obey their masters?
I am wondering about this Jericho business. What did the city of Jericho do that brought on such destruction? As near as I can tell, they were just in the way of a bunch of self-righteous greedy cultists that wanted what they had.
When you read that story about Sodom and Gomorah, you read about that father that threw his daughter out to be ravaged rather than complete strangers. That is definitely a creation of something in the image of the male of the species. It is true that throughout history, and even now, men sell their daughters or throw them away like garbage. And these Christians are always complaining about fatherless homes. If there are daughters in those homes, maybe it is better that the fathers aren't there! If I had ever had a daughter, I would certainly have kept a father away from her.
Jesus told all of those lunatic apostles that they would die for his name and all of that crap. Well, that guy from the Heaven's Gate, Jim Jones of the People's Temple, and David Koresh of the Branch Davidians asked the same thing of their followers.
With all of that in Christianity, I will take Satan. I don't see where he is any worse. Christianity has slaughtered millions with their Crusades, Inquisitions, Manifest Destiny, and all that crap. How can it claim legitimacy?