Recently, my 5-year-old son was running around the house and knocked over my glass. It broke and while no one was hurt, it was a glass I really liked. My son immediately apologized, but I told him that I could not forgive him until he went out and mercilessly slaughtered an innocent lamb. I explained to him that I love him and that I want to forgive him, but until he sacrifices the innocent blood of a lamb, I just could not forgive him. Those are the rules. I didn’t make them up; God did.
Okay, I didn’t tell any of that to my son because… it’s batshit crazy!!! Besides, it was a fictional story anyway. My son didn’t break my glass – at least not yet. He does love to run around and he isn’t all that well coordinated so he could easily break a glass in that manner. But that really isn’t the point. The point is that if my son did break my glass, then I could just forgive him if I wanted to forgive him. It really would be that simple. I wouldn’t create some elaborate scheme or make him perform Herculean tasks.
If I could just forgive my child, then why does the all-powerful deity who is supposed to be all-loving and shit need or desire some sort of blood sacrifice for atonement? It’s stupid and just really creepy. It is a big plot-hole in the story that should make any modern person come to the realization that this is all just ancient fiction.
And there is no metaphorical way around this one either. The idea that Jesus Christ literally died on the cross as a blood sacrifice for the sins of mankind is pretty much THE central tenant of Christianity. If you reject the whole blood sacrifice thing, then all you have left is that Jesus was a regular dude who had some good ideas (most of which, other people had independently before him).
So I don’t think I am generalizing here when I say that pretty much all Christians believe this ridiculous concept of blood sacrifice in exchange for forgiveness… except that pretty much none of them actually do. At least they don’t when it comes to the real world. It seems that Christians only buy into this concept when it comes to their religion, but would laughably reject it in the real world.
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- Christian Films Are Hilarious! (skepticink.com)
- God took the wheel and hit a motorcyclist (examiner.com)
