The Cellar - View Single Post

hot_pastrami · 07-07-2003, 11:48 AM

Here in Mormon country, parents blackmail children into going to church, going to seminary, going on religious missions... It's sad. I was a church-going Mormon until I was about 15... then I stopped going to church because my bullshit flag was getting worn out from being raised so often. To me, Christianity in general makes a case about as strong as a wet kleenex. Although I generally dislike analogies, I think I'll use one here, because unlike most analogies, I think it does effectively make a point.

Let's say I have a son, my only child. I love him dearly. One day though, I am given a terrible choice... I learn that an entire family of eight may die a horrible death, and only I have the power to stop it. But if I do so, my son will certainly die. I have to choose whether to sacrifice my only son to save the family, or to take my son and run to safety, and let the family perish. Though it would be a terrible thing to let eight people die to save my one son, it would understandable, and maybe even forgivable, to save my beloved son's life at the expense of theirs. This is akin to the choice God supposedly had when Jesus was to die for makind's sins... and speaks of the weight of His sacrifice... right? Well...

Say I have this same choice, to save my son or to save the family... but this time, I happen to know that my son is basically immortal, and will gloriously rise from the dead after three days or so (don't tell me that the ressurection was a surprise to the all-seeing, all-knowing God). How hard is my choice now? I would have to be a really loathesome, shitty, worthless speck of a being to let the family die under such circumstances, since I can save the family without losing my son for more than a few days... and moreover, I get to hang out with my dead son's spirit for the few days that he's dead! Yeah, really tough choice there.... big sacrifice.

Organized religion, to my eyes, is seldom more than emotional blackmail at an enormous scale. I think spirituality and philosophy are very good things, but you won't become an elightened person by going to church any more than you'll become an automobile by sleeping in your garage. If there were a God whose punshment for failing to believe in Him was damnation to Hell, and if He loved His children, I'm sure He'd make sure the message He sent them was more substantial than a 1400-year-old bastardized text.

If I go to hell for not believeing in God, it's His fault, because He gave me a logical mind, and then failed to give me ample evidence of His existence. He sent me here knowing exactly what choices I would make, so I was damned from the start. Fuck that. Besides, if heaven is anything like going to church here, the Mormons can have it... I'll take hell.

07-07-2003, 11:48 AM	#47
hot_pastrami I am meaty Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Salt Lake City, UT Posts: 1,119	Here in Mormon country, parents blackmail children into going to church, going to seminary, going on religious missions... It's sad. I was a church-going Mormon until I was about 15... then I stopped going to church because my bullshit flag was getting worn out from being raised so often. To me, Christianity in general makes a case about as strong as a wet kleenex. Although I generally dislike analogies, I think I'll use one here, because unlike most analogies, I think it does effectively make a point. Let's say I have a son, my only child. I love him dearly. One day though, I am given a terrible choice... I learn that an entire family of eight may die a horrible death, and only I have the power to stop it. But if I do so, my son will certainly die. I have to choose whether to sacrifice my only son to save the family, or to take my son and run to safety, and let the family perish. Though it would be a terrible thing to let eight people die to save my one son, it would understandable, and maybe even forgivable, to save my beloved son's life at the expense of theirs. This is akin to the choice God supposedly had when Jesus was to die for makind's sins... and speaks of the weight of His sacrifice... right? Well... Say I have this same choice, to save my son or to save the family... but this time, I happen to know that my son is basically immortal, and will gloriously rise from the dead after three days or so (don't tell me that the ressurection was a surprise to the all-seeing, all-knowing God). How hard is my choice now? I would have to be a really loathesome, shitty, worthless speck of a being to let the family die under such circumstances, since I can save the family without losing my son for more than a few days... and moreover, I get to hang out with my dead son's spirit for the few days that he's dead! Yeah, really tough choice there.... big sacrifice. Organized religion, to my eyes, is seldom more than emotional blackmail at an enormous scale. I think spirituality and philosophy are very good things, but you won't become an elightened person by going to church any more than you'll become an automobile by sleeping in your garage. If there were a God whose punshment for failing to believe in Him was damnation to Hell, and if He loved His children, I'm sure He'd make sure the message He sent them was more substantial than a 1400-year-old bastardized text. If I go to hell for not believeing in God, it's His fault, because He gave me a logical mind, and then failed to give me ample evidence of His existence. He sent me here knowing exactly what choices I would make, so I was damned from the start. Fuck that. Besides, if heaven is anything like going to church here, the Mormons can have it... I'll take hell. __________________ Hot Pastrami!