The reason, according to Genesis, that humans have pain and suffering is that Yhwh cursed all humanity because the first two humans made a rather understandable mistake. Now, of course, I have considered how absurdly, breathtakingly cruel it would be to punish all humanity for the mistakes of two humans, but I never considered why we are still being punished. After all, Jesus died for our sins, right? That definitely includes Original Sin. So why do we still live under the curse of original sin?
My answer is that there is no god, no Adam and Eve, no original Sin and no curse. Bad stuff happens because it does. People grow old and die because entropy always wins.
Christians, however, have to come up with some other reason, and it is as breathtakingly cruel as the curse itself:
We know that the curse is the result of man's sin. And why then are we, who are forgiven of sin, still living the curse?
Because the curse is a constant reminder that we are in desperate need of salvation. It was designed with a purpose--put there for our good—so that we might understand our need for a saviour.
Wow. That's . . . indescribable. Imagine that your great great great great great great great great grandfather murdered someone, was tried, convicted and spent the remainder of life in prison. Would you find it fair for you to be in prison for his crime? Of course not. Your grandparents weren't alive when the crime was committed, why should you be punished for it? Your grandfather already paid his debt to society, why should you have to do it again?
What if the answer to that question was "yes, the bet is paid, but we're going to imprison every member of your family forever to show everyone else that we take murder very seriously"?
Apparently, if you're Christian, you think that's love.
That's just unthinkably horrifying.
ReplyDeleteCognitive dissonance is a horrible condition. This is what it causes:
ReplyDeleteWe know that the curse is the result of man's sin. And why then are we, who are forgiven of sin, still living the curse?
This scenario makes no sense whatsoever so a believer has to conjure up some reason that is equally nonsensical. Ah, the mental gymnastics involved in making substitutionary atonement make any sense at all.
Because the curse is a constant reminder that we are in desperate need of salvation. It was designed with a purpose--put there for our good—so that we might understand our need for a saviour.
ReplyDelete"Hi. I am the heroic arsonist firefighter. I set peoples houses on fire so they could come to appreciate my work as a firefighter."
well...
ReplyDeletei mean, didn't Jesus die for EVERYONE?! so that EVERYONE could be "forgiven" and "allowed into heaven"? so then why do we need to do ANYTHING, we're ALREADY saved!
yes, yes, i know, there's something about "the only way to REALLY be saved is to say Jesus is #2 and works and acts for #1, we love them best and devote ourselves to them" - but, contextually, this doesn't wash. either he died for EVERYONE'S sins, or he didn't. this fiddle-faddle bullshit about *only* being saved - as in, he ONLY died for YOUR sins *IF* - is just that. bullshit. if there are conditions upon it, it wasn't the act of alturistic true unconditional love we're all told it was.
the again, my biggest beef with Christianity is the built-in "get out of Hell free card". from a theological standpoint, it bugs me - "salvation" [or whatever] SHOULDN'T be EASY. it's should be something one WORKS FOR. and with Christianity... you don't. i mean, one is, in theory, supposed to show their faith thru "works", but the works are a sort of accidental side-effect, and most Christians [that i know] DON'T DO WORKS. they don't try to feed the masses or heal the sick. they just babble the Magic Words and they're in Heaven. by this logic, *STALIN* could be in Heaven, because right before he died he "repented" and said The Words and now he's in Heaven - despite an evil, horrible life where he committed mass genocide [and more effectively than the person i'm NOT naming in an attempt to not Godwin].
i don't, and never have, liked - it makes people who follow that belief LAZY. why BE GOOD? i mean, ok, so the theory is that when one is "saved", the "Holy Ghost/Spirit" moves in and then you CAN'T "sin" - but it happens all the time, people sin, Christians who are saved SIN. they commit evil acts - but they're "saved", so it doesn't matter, so WHY SHOULD THEY BE GOOD?!
it's LAZY!