Romans for Skeptics
Paul was a bad influence on Christianity. And nowhere is this more evident than in his epistle to the Romans. Here Paul fully exposes his nastiest belief: that salvation is a completely arbitrary decision on the part of God; none of us has anything to do with it. The only free will that exists in the universe is God's.
And yet there are some good things in Romans. In fact, Romans 12 is, in my opinion anyway, the best chapter in the entire Bible. There are 15 verses in that chapter that I have marked good, with not a single thing that seems bad to me in its 21 verses.(The nearest competitor is Ecclesiastes 9, which contains ten good verses in its 18 verses.)
- The existence and nature of God are self-evident; thus, unbelievers are "without excuse." 1:20
- God abandons those who don't know him to "uncleanness and vile affections." 1:24-26
- God will make you gay! 1:26-27
- Paul condemns homosexuals (including lesbians). This is the only clear reference to lesbians in the Bible. 1:26
- "The natural use" of women is to act as sexual objects for the pleasure of men. 1:27
- "God gave them over to a reprobate mind." 1:28
- Homosexuals (those "without natural affection") and their supporters (those "that have pleasure in them") are "worthy of death." 1:31-32
- Paul asks the very good question: "Is there unrighteousness who taketh vengeance [upon innocent people]?" The obvious answer to this is, yes. 3:5
- Those who slander (or criticize?) Paul are damned by God. 3:8
- The guilty are "justified" and "saved from wrath" by the blood of an innocent victim. 5:9-12
- God gave the law so "that the offence might abound." 5:20
- If you have a living body, you can't please God and Christ isn't in you. 8:8-10
- Everyone is predestined by God to be either saved or damned. 8:29-30, 9:11-12
- No one can oppose Christians since God's on their side. 8:31
- "He that spared not his own Son" shouldn't be trusted by anyone. 8:32
- A Christian cannot be accused of any wrongdoing. 8:33
- If you are a child of the flesh, you are not the seed of God. Whatever that might be. 9:8
- He hated Esau. No one knows why. 9:13
- He blinded the Jews so they wouldn't recognize Jesus as the Messiah. 11:7-10
- Jews are Paul's enemies, but he loves them for their ancestors' sakes. 11:28
- Gentiles used to be unbelievers, but now the Jews are the unbelievers and God saves gentiles through Jewish unbelief. 11:30
- Non-believing Jews will obtain mercy through the mercy of believers. 11.31
- "The powers that be are ordained of God." Whoever resists them will be damned. 13:1-4
- Paul couldn't list the Ten Commandments. [Neither could Jesus (Mt.19:17-19)] 13:9
- Only wimps are vegetarians. 14:2
- "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." 14:5
- "He that doubteth is damned ... Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." 14:23
- Shun those who disagree with your religious views. 16:17
