Several years ago God looked down on the world and was super not into what he saw. People were sinning and killing animals to pay for the sins and it was all a bit much. He had already promised to not flood the world again so he had to think of a better way to get people to start behaving. Long story short, Jesus came to Earth to pay for our sins, and I have a lot of thoughts about that.
This is Part IV of my series On God. If you haven’t read Parts I-III yet you can read those below.
God Decides to Make Man- Part I
What Happens in the Afterlife?-Part III
You really don’t have to read them in order, though. You know what? You’re already here. Just keep reading this one. But circle back to the other ones at some point.
God sends Jesus to die for our sins
So Jesus being sent down to Earth to die for our sins has always been a little bit problematic for me. It’s supposed to be God offering us the coolest gift ever…eternal life. But when you take a step back and look at the entire picture, it’s a real confusing set of events. God is essentially using Jesus to pay a debt to himself.
It would be like this…
So that’s kind of what it feels like to me. God is a mafia boss who calls you up and informs you that you owe a debt to him. You owe a debt to God because you’re a sinner- which is a thing God made up. But then Jesus- who is kind of like God, but different- went ahead and paid your debt, to God. It’s very confusing.
Then this happens.
My basic question is What is going on with this story?
God created everything in this terrarium we call earth. He made the rules. Is it logical that a real living God, who is actually real and not made up, would sacrifice his own son so a bunch of gross humans could enjoy heaven? Christians the world over would read that question and exclaim, “Yes! That’s what’s so amazing about God. He really sacrificed his Son for us!”
The part that I don’t get is why God set it up like that, to begin with. It’s totally unnecessary. But, sure. Let’s say this is really how it happened. God loves us so much that he gave up his one and only Son. Also, God wanted to show how he has power over death so he raised Jesus up from the grave after three days. It seems pretty open and shut.
Except, having Jesus raise from the dead totally negates the whole ‘sacrifice’ portion of the story. If Jesus died and took my place in hell for eternity, that would be the ultimate sacrifice. As it is he only stayed dead for most of the weekend.
The reason someone dying for someone else is considered such a great and noble sacrifice is that we assume the person is going to stay dead. It’s like if I gave someone my house and three days later I took it back. I don’t get to then walk around talking about how I gave the person my house. I took the house back so the sacrifice of giving away my house no longer applies. Am I missing something with the term ‘sacrifice’? Is it a translation issue? Why aren’t more people asking these types of questions?
If I sacrificed my daughter in order for other people to live that would be a much greater sacrifice because she would stay dead.
Which brings me to my next point- Can you imagine the shit storm that would ensue if I offered my daughter as a sacrifice- to pay for a debt owed to me? People would be furious. They would be like, “First of all, WTF? Secondly, sacrifice yourself, not your daughter.” Right?
People get really upset when you question anything in the Bible, much less such an important story. This is THE story. This is the reason the Bible matters. But, it’s an asinine story.
I think if we’re going to believe something like this we have to attack the holes in it as harshly as we’d attack the holes in a different religion’s story. If you believe the Bible is true then you can’t afford to tiptoe around some of the problematic parts of the Bible. You have to attack your doubts and you shouldn’t feel ashamed for having them. I’m not saying this story is a myth, I’m just saying it seems to have a lot of holes in it.
I’m sure it’s frustrating to be a Christian and hear people doubt the stories in the Bible. People ask, “Why did God do it this way?” and there is no good answer. You’re not God so all you can say is, “I don’t know why God chose to do it the way he chose to do it.”
But I think what’s missing in that conversation is the underlying point the skeptic is trying to make. If you’re in the unbeliever camp you’re not actually asking WHY God would do this seemingly bizarre charade. You’re pointing out that the charade is indeed very bizarre. It’s so bizarre, in fact, you’re questioning whether or not it’s logical to believe that it even happened. You’re just wanting the believer to admit that it’s a little bit weird.
But, if you’re in the believer camp, you can’t afford to budge. You can’t admit that it’s weird because the Bible can seem like this very fragile house of cards. Once you admit that one thing probably didn’t happen it’s hard to know where to draw the line.
A mythological God may very well orchestrate an event with this type of circular logic. But, an all-knowing and very real God? That’s a much higher bar to jump over.
Anyhow. Those are my thoughts on God sending Jesus to die to cover our sins. I have several more thoughts on the actual crucifixion and resurrection, but I’ll save those for another post.
I assume a lot of you think I’m way off base with this and a few of you probably think I hit the nail on the head. It really depends on which belief you came into this article with. I’m not trying to convince anyone NOT to believe, I’m just trying to explain how the story comes across to me.
In the next post, I’ll try to bridge the gap between believers and unbelievers. It should be fun. I hope you enjoyed the cartoons and it gives you something to think about.
Oh, one more thing. Jesus is certainly not the bumbling idiot I portrayed him as in this cartoon. Don’t be offended by that bit. When I drew his curly mullet the story just kind of wrote itself.
Next: On God Part V.I- Heaven, Hell and the Mind-Numbing Prospect of Eternity
If you enjoyed this article please share it with your friends and enemies. If you hated this article please share it with everyone as an example of what NOT to think.
Here are a few more articles to get your mind off the fact that you might accidentally choose the wrong religion and be relegated to an eternity of misery.
Thailand FI- Bridging the Gap Between Zero and FIRE
Becoming Professor Chaos- Why I Lie to Myself Every Day
How to Access all that Sweet Pretax Money Once You Retire
Did you know? Sharing this will make you happy!
“I doubt anyone will take the Bible literally…” BWA-HA-HA-HAHAHAHAHA
Loved this!
Thank you!