Ok…my last Easter commentary…and I will move on…
The History Channel series THE BIBLE played during Easter
and culminated on Easter Sunday with the BIG finale. There were “full Page” ads
taken out in the biggest newspapers in the country promoting this series.
The ads were paid for, predictably, by the Hobby Lobby,
Hemispheres and Mardel Stores whose owners are obviously some serious
Christians.
The bottom of the ad read: Experience the real meaning of
Easter and gave links on how to load a free Bible onto your phone and a link if
you would like to know more about this Jesus fellow.
The top of the ad had a huge picture of the actor playing
Jesus in the series and a quote from JOHN 3:16 on the side of his image. “For God so loved the world that he
gave his one & only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life”.
It is one of those quotes that makes me ask a ton on
questions; what I call common sense questions that any inquisitive person would
ask; I mean someone who is not blinded by faith and can actually think
objectively about what they are being told.
The Secular Humanist Organization’s magazine featured an
article by Peter W. Sperlich, emeritus professor of political science at the
University of California at Berkeley titled: EASTER EXPLAINED; What
the Sacrificial Death of the Son Tells Us About the Father.
The author assumes, for the sake of argument, that god
actually exists in the way the Bible says he does.
The author first tackles the concept of MONOTHEISM which
actually is quite problematic in religions that claim one god. Jews of the Old
Testament were not consistently monotheists but worshiped a number of gods.
Just take the commandment that demands that “You Shall Have No Other Gods
Before Me” suggesting that there are other gods but the Jews shall not place
“other” gods “before” Yahweh.
If you know the history of the Christian faith you would be
aware of all the troubles throughout history associated with the concept of the
TRINITY; three gods in one? Jews as well as Muslims couldn't fathom why god
would even need a son.
Catholicism muddied the water even more by making The Virgin
Mary into a quasi-god venerated even more than the father, son or the Holy
Ghost. And when you throw in the SAINTS, each responsible for specific tasks,
into the mix, you have a perfect polytheistic faith.
OK so let’s say that we have a monotheistic god that is
omnibenevolent, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; so why does evil exist?
You can believe in a Satan but a Satan created and
controlled by god? This dilemma cannot be resolved unless you take away god’s
Omni benevolence or make Satan the creation of some other god which blows the
whole monotheism thing up.
So now let’s tackle the quote from John 3:16 as mentioned
above.
God sacrificed not only a “beloved” son but his “only” son.
Wow, what a sacrifice but hey, if god was able to get himself one son, why not
more as in a bunch of sons?
Also, god did not save the entire world but only the people
that “believed” in his son and they are the only ones that get to have “eternal
life” so no, god did not love the world so much but only a specific few in the
world.
Another problem is the sacrifice of god’s son on Easter. Why
was god “compelled” to sacrifice his son? Was there no other way to save the
world?
If god was truly omnipotent, could he have not just said to
the world, I forgive your sins?
So the next question must be, what power made god sacrifice
his only son for our sins?
It seems that either there is another power (no more monotheism)
or there is something that forced god to behave in that fashion (no more
omnipotence).
So the conventional story of Easter, when extrapolated from
the quote (John 3:16) challenges the monotheism of Yahweh and his omnipotence;
to add to this reasoning, the existence of evil challenges god’s Omni
benevolence also.
The author states that the Easter Story really does not
logically cohere with the various other tenets of the Christian faith – which calls
into doubt its truth and validity.
On the other hand, religion was never meant to be rational
and logical; it belongs to the realm of myth, fiction, fantasy and wishful
thinking but it does have a place in our society and obviously has had that
place forever.
I guess all this is to show that religion does mean a lot to
people but that truth and logic does not play a role in what religion means to
people.
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