Christmas is just days away and I sit pondering the
Christian belief system that provides the foundation of this mostly secular
event. Perchance I am wrong, or
short-sighted or miss the point, but here is how it looks to me.
Christians believe there is a supreme being that created
everything, including humans. This being
not only wired us for all our aptitudes but with all our appetites, and subjected
us to a host of ills like cancer, ALS, etc. The being must have created these
ills as well since they believe this being created everything. Thanks a lot, god of cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s,
etc.
Meanwhile, this being allows for a place called hell where
humans who are not forgiven will go for all eternity. Humans banished to hell get there by
overdoing the appetites we were given by the supreme being. If we sin, we will go to hell, unless we ask
the being to forgive us. So, the being
creates the possibility of sin, endows humans with a desire to sin, judges us
if we do sin and sends us to hell forever.
If that doesn’t sound like the meanest trick in the book I do not know
what is.
But, the being decided to provide a solution for the
propensity to sin that the being created in humans in the first place. Now this being is supposed to be all knowing,
all smart, sees everything, etc. But no
one told him, her or it if he, she, or it just cleared the books of the notion
of sin and allowed us to simply prosecute and punish bad deeds there would be
no need for the remainder of this whoopla.
Nope. He wants a hand in it. So brilliant being that he or she or it is
he, she or it decides that if he just kills his own son then humans can be
forgiven for sin. Is that right? He created sin. He created out desire to sin. He created hell for when we do. And his solution is to allow his only son to
die. Oh yeah. This is a smart being. Duh.
And Christians believe that.
Worse, they believe a virgin gave birth to this god/man son. Really? They believe a star somehow hovered over a
village. Really? Any star that close would fry the entire earth. They believe other entities sent by the being
flew in the air and sang. They told mere
humans not to be afraid. Really? You are a simple shepherd keeping watch over
your flock by night when emissaries from a supreme being appear in the sky over
your head, singing, and tell you not to be afraid. Holy cow.
Why not just send a neighbor up the trail to say the being has a son,
come and see. Nope, not this being. He, she, or it loves the melodrama. So typical.
Create fear then say do not be afraid.
Christians also believe the son of the being was perfect,
without sin. Well, why didn’t this being
just make all of us that way? Is that
too much to ask since he is creating everything anyway. Think of all the pain and guilt we could have
avoided if he had just made us really in his own image like he made Jesus. No, this being seems more interested in the stupid
plot that says I made you want to sin, you sin, I send you to hell, unless you
love me and my perfect son, whom by the way, I am going to kill.
And the folks that believe this stuff think I should say
Merry Christmas? That is as daft as
believing the earth is flat. Christmas
in fact is a very dismal, very scary time because according to the belief
system if it had not happened we would all go to hell. Worse, we have to support the illogic of a
being who is willing to have his son die a torturous death after an impossible
birth and be merry that he was born while knowing his fate. Not for me, thank you very much.
Happy Holidays.
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