Jesus died for who?
Have you ever been told that Jesus died for you? I have. Many times. And for the majority of my life I believed it. But, as we live life, we each encounter different and sometimes unusual circumstances; and such things have an effect on us and the we think. Thus, things happened in my life that resulted in my perspective changing. Yet, now when I reply that I personally find the Jesus story a bit too unbelievable, I'm told that I shall spend eternity frying in Hell. Doesn't this sounds like the same con that gang members use to sell "protection" to store owners?
If a shopkeeper pays the gangsters for protection, his store is spared from the horrible fate suffered by the stores whose owners don't pay the required price. However, it is the gangsters themselves who vandalize the store when payment isn't made.
By the way, in some societies the people believe you owe the person (or the group) your life who saves your life. Indeed, it may even be instinctive to feel obligated to someone or something for saving your life. After all, the sense of obligation is pretty much universal. This means there is a high probability that the story of Jesus "dying to save others" is a story told merely to prey upon the individual's sense of moral responsibility--to make him (or her) feel obligated. Undoubtedly the story would generally have that effect anyway. Yet, the main problem with the Jesus story is it is not reasonable to take the story as literally true. A person named "Jesus" did not die around two thousand years ago to personally save my life. Besides, if Jesus "paid the price in full" for me then I owe nobody nothing. However, I'm told that I shall fry for eternity if I do not buy the story. This scare tactic cannot logically be true, though some folks are selling their souls (read that as mental faculties) to buy the story even in this modern age.
Oh, and by the way, where did Hell come from? What type of place is it and who made it as it is? How would I manage to get to this place called Hell? Would I walk there? Would I drive my car? Would I take the next flight out from the local airport? Or is it possible the story of Hell was invented as a result of primitive man's fears of the unknown? Or maybe the story of Hell was invented merely to scare the wits out of individuals?
Answer this: If a person was trying to manipulate an individual, do you think the person had rather try to manipulate an individual who possesses a degree wit or an individual who is witless?
I'm also told that I'm free to accept the Jesus-Belief-Otherwise-Hell story or not. That is like telling a store owner that he is free to buy "protection" or not. How can someone threaten another person and then, in the same breath, tell that person he (or she) is "free" to choose? Can you imagine a thief, who had robbed you at gunpoint, using the defense that you freely chose to hand over all your valuables, and the sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun loaded with buckshot didn't have anything to do with your choice?
A religious freak, in this case it was a Satanist, once told me that there is only one god; and He is both Good and Evil. This Satanist also told me that he worshiped the same god as the Christians, but he called his God by His Real Name, instead of the pseudonym used by Christians. Well, after considering the fact that the Christian God supposedly created Hell to threaten nonbelievers and nonconformists with, not unlike the thief with the shotgun, then the Satanist's statement makes sense.
Isn't the Christian God supposed to be omniscient? Wouldn't He know every feeling you would have, ever choice you would make, and every circumstance you would encounter even before you were born? And realizing your every circumstance, feeling, and choice would be ultimately determined by God's omniscience, wouldn't that make Him the Epitome of Evil for creating Hell to eternally torment you (or anyone else) with?
Threats, regardless of whether the threats are made with a 12-guage shotgun or made with the images of eternal damnation, are typical of selfish and thus wicked individuals. A god who would create a hell, or allow any person to fall there by mere error, would be a wicked god by definition; and anyone who admired such a god would be just as wicked; and therefore those who admire such a god are truly frightening. They have taken evil and called it good, and under the banner of self-righteousness they justify the most horrible ideas and wishes--and then they claim the hatefulness, which arises out of their horrible ideas and wishes, are expressions of love. Yes, both Satan and a god who would create hell, a god who would give eternal life so that he could subject people to eternal damnation, would be the same by definition: Evil.
The above cases could be offered as evidence that Satan is indeed the greatest trickster who has ever existed. After all, wouldn't the very fact that Jesus was none other than Satan himself be the greatest deception of all time?
Such a deception would explain why people who believe in a literal Hell tend to be the most conniving, two-faced, underhanded, backstabbing, bigoted, prejudiced, and pious frauds in existence. In addition, such a deception would also explain why some Christians, in order to try to coerce you into joining their cult, prey upon your sense of cooperation and fair play by further claiming that if you are not for them, then you must be their enemy. (Of course, once they have you branded as their enemy, they immediately start conspiring and working against you.)
Surely Christians ought to start calling their god by his
real name, i.e., Satan, instead of the pseudonym presently being employed.
On second thought, I guess I'm being a bit sarcastic here. I realize Satan is nothing more than a fabrication--exactly like the Resurrection Story. Maybe Christians ought to admit that the story of Satan is merely a story that serves to evoke unrepentant hatred, and serves to justify prejudices and hostilities against nonbelievers and nonconformists! And the story of Jesus is just that, a story. Plus, when Christians say they have a personal relationship with Jesus, what they are really saying is that they are pretending to have a personal relationship with the main character of a tall tale. Furthermore, the story of Hell is an imaginary threat used to scare the daylights out of individuals in order to force them into unquestioning obedience, just like toy guns have been used in the past for coercion and robbery!