Happy Easter to Ex Christians. Jesus death wasn't like you think

[FoundationOfUnity]

What if you were going to die? What if your reward for dying a painful, torturous death was ruling the world and destroying your enemies while being seen as the only hope for all of your disciples? What if your pain and anguish would only last the weekend? Then glory forever!!!! That is what Jesus did. He knew it was the deal. He would be the most magical powerful man in the entire world for about 33 years. 

He'd be a normal person with a mother, father, brother and family. Work as a carpenter. Be a bit precocious and just be a regular guy. Then he would start doing miracle and no one, I mean no one at all anywhere for any reason could beat him at anything. He was the super hero. He fasted hard and trained hard but he was god on the ground to all the poor powerless humans and faltering leaders. 

Finally, not like you or I, it was time for some real pain, about 12 hours. Then the pain stopped. He died. He was absolutely positive that, come Sunday...it would be over and he would rule the world forever as super god.

 

This is not a real sacrifice and it is not death as real humans fear it. It is a story of lust for supremacy and power over you and I. Easter celebrates this lust. Easter talks of death but is really just a few hours of horrendous pain, like many a person in the poorer parts of the world and in inquisitions felt worse. Wake up to the facade of sacrifice, death, and hope. It is just a childhood dream of being a winner forever played out by ignorant theologians on dumb masses. When the Easter Egg is cracked...it smells of untruth. 

[SkepticsApprentice]

Hey there F.O.U.,

 

Pretty much every year around this time for as far back as I can remember, I would read the accounts of Christ's crucifixion and death with a sense of sorrow for the immense suffering that he endured while on his mission to save me from my 'sins,' and a feeling of awe for the God who cared so much for mankind that he would willingly die for them. Growing up, I often heard the line that 'even if you were the only person on Earth, Jesus would have died just for you.' As time has passed, however, I've come to realize that Christ's sacrifice wasn't really a sacrifice at all. 

 

If Jesus was truly God, he would have known that in a mere 'three days' (not even two, really) the pain would be over forever and he would take his place at the right hand of the Father to be crowned with glory and power, a position that he supposedly held since the beginning of time. His suffering to save the world from sin would be completed in twelve hours, not even a heartbeat's worth of time compared to the eternity in Hell that supposedly still awaits those who fail to accept God's 'gift.' The whole idea of a sacrifice is that there's no possibility of regaining what was lost, so God really didn't sacrifice anything, ultimately, by going through with this whole convoluted scheme. 

 

Perhaps a bit off-hand, but I find it interesting that Jesus' sacrifice was supposed to atone for all sin, except for the so-called 'unforgivable sin', blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (which isn't very well defined to begin with). So even if all your other sins are forgiven, if you've blasphemed the Holy Spook at some point in your life, you're still screwed. 

 

A very happy Ex-ter to you, my good sir. 

[Geezer]

The last few days I've been reading excerpts from a few of Dr. Robert M. Price books that deal with the belief in a historical Jesus. He noted when he began his research into a historical Jesus he was certain Jesus was a real person. After years of research, and several books later, he is now convinced the Jesus of the Gospels was a literary figure & that no such person ever existed in the flesh. 

 

For those that might be interested check out The Christ Myth & It's Problems & The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man. 

 

Price also lists a number of other scholars that have reached the same conclusion about Jesus. 

[♦ ficino ♦]

11 hours ago, SkepticsApprentice said:

Hey there F.O.U.,

 

Pretty much every year around this time for as far back as I can remember, I would read the accounts of Christ's crucifixion and death with a sense of sorrow for the immense suffering that he endured while on his mission to save me from my 'sins,' and a feeling of awe for the God who cared so much for mankind that he would willingly die for them. Growing up, I often heard the line that 'even if you were the only person on Earth, Jesus would have died just for you.' As time has passed, however, I've come to realize that Christ's sacrifice wasn't really a sacrifice at all. 

 

If Jesus was truly God, he would have known that in a mere 'three days' (not even two, really) the pain would be over forever and he would take his place at the right hand of the Father to be crowned with glory and power, a position that he supposedly held since the beginning of time. His suffering to save the world from sin would be completed in twelve hours, not even a heartbeat's worth of time compared to the eternity in Hell that supposedly still awaits those who fail to accept God's 'gift.' The whole idea of a sacrifice is that there's no possibility of regaining what was lost, so God really didn't sacrifice anything, ultimately, by going through with this whole convoluted scheme. 

 

Perhaps a bit off-hand, but I find it interesting that Jesus' sacrifice was supposed to atone for all sin, except for the so-called 'unforgivable sin', blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (which isn't very well defined to begin with). So even if all your other sins are forgiven, if you've blasphemed the Holy Spook at some point in your life, you're still screwed. 

 

A very happy Ex-ter to you, my good sir. 

Toward the beginning of ISIS' reign, they kidnapped an Iraqi women's rights activist and lawyer, Sameera Salih Ali Al-Nuaimya, from her home. After torturing her for five days, they publicly put her to death. I thought of only this one incident. How many people are tortured for longer than that? Jesus is portrayed as being scourged at night and then crucified for three hours.

[FoundationOfUnity]

Consider the claim of the big sacrifice Jesus and the Farter endured while separated for 33 years during the time Jesus "came" to earth. What is 33 years in comparison with eternity?

 

It is about the same misplacing your car keys only to find them in your pocket under your wallet, or...if a lady, in the wrong section of your purse. No pain, just a laugh at ourselves.

[MOHO]

This sacrifice concept has always puzzled me.

If Jesus came back to life then there was no real sacrifice, eh? A whole bunch of pain that no human should have to endure but, still. no sacrifice.

 

I'm thinking the whole sacrifice, dying for our sins, and raised from the dead thing is a cover story. Whether Jesus was real or a mythical figure the throngs of people thought he was a kind of deity. A deity would be able to save himself from crucifixion. But he could not. So those who benefited from the continuation of the myth needed to come up with a cover story.

 

"He did not save himself, by choice, because he...er...um... made a sacrifice! Yeah...dat's it!"

[Margee]

On 4/15/2017 at 2:00 AM, SkepticsApprentice said:

 

 

 

 

If Jesus was truly God,

 

One of the things that hit me like a brick the other day was that if jesus was really god in the flesh, then he was the 'monster' god of the old testament!! Think about that. I always disliked the old testament god (and could Never understand how cruel he was??)  but then the 'gentle' jesus came along....(that's what we were told)

 

No, they were supposed to be one and the same according to the bible...so 'gentle' jesus wasn't so gentle afterall. He was the god of the old testament!! 

[SkepticsApprentice]

I know right! One of the things that really hit me once I started truly thinking about the implications of the Incarnation doctrine was that not only was Jesus God, but he was the jealous, rage-filled God of the OT who had no qualms about slaughtering anyone who failed to worship him. The 'greatest commandment' to love God with everything hints at this, even though many Christians don't realize it. If someone has to explicitly command you to love him, on pain of death or eternal torture should you decline, you are in an abusive relationship. 

 

By contrast, Jesus (with a few exceptions depending on which Gospel you're reading) treated people with respect. He healed people when they came to him, without requiring that they grovel at his feet first. The Sabbath that he supposedly instituted in the Old Testament was repeatedly broken in favor of helping others, or simply in performing necessary tasks like picking grain for food. If Jesus had lived in OT Israel, he would have been stoned to death for violating his own commands. At least he'd be in good company when he got to the 'other side' and met up with the guy who Moses stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath.

 

Maybe God's laws apply to everyone, just not to him. That would explain a few things...

[TheRedneckProfessor]

jesus slept off a three-day hangover, nothing more.

[Tsathoggua9]

I always felt this way, myself, though I never voiced it in Sunday school.  Sure it was pretty painful, but not really so much of a sacrifice, considering the already-mentioned factors.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

2 hours ago, ExPCA said:

 

Must've been one Hell of a party

I heard they were doing white crosses after they finished with the Crown.  

[Casey]

On 18/04/2017 at 1:30 AM, TheRedneckProfessor said:

jesus slept off a three-day hangover, nothing more.

 

Yep. He got hammered on Friday, was still hammered Saturday and arose on Sunday. So what else is new? And if that's gonna get me thrown into Hell, bring it on!

 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

 

Yep. He got hammered on Friday, was still hammered Saturday and arose on Sunday. So what else is new? And if that's gonna get me thrown into Hell, bring it on!

 

He got nailed, too; but Mary Magdelene claims she had nothing to do with that.  Apparently, it happened sometime after jesus and Judas were seen making out in the garden.

[LimitedGrip]

On 4/14/2017 at 7:00 PM, FoundationOfUnity said:

What if you were going to die? What if your reward for dying a painful, torturous death was ruling the world and destroying your enemies while being seen as the only hope for all of your disciples? What if your pain and anguish would only last the weekend? Then glory forever!!!! That is what Jesus did. He knew it was the deal. He would be the most magical powerful man in the entire world for about 33 years. 

He'd be a normal person with a mother, father, brother and family. Work as a carpenter. Be a bit precocious and just be a regular guy. Then he would start doing miracle and no one, I mean no one at all anywhere for any reason could beat him at anything. He was the super hero. He fasted hard and trained hard but he was god on the ground to all the poor powerless humans and faltering leaders. 

Finally, not like you or I, it was time for some real pain, about 12 hours. Then the pain stopped. He died. He was absolutely positive that, come Sunday...it would be over and he would rule the world forever as super god.

 

This is not a real sacrifice and it is not death as real humans fear it. It is a story of lust for supremacy and power over you and I. Easter celebrates this lust. Easter talks of death but is really just a few hours of horrendous pain, like many a person in the poorer parts of the world and in inquisitions felt worse. Wake up to the facade of sacrifice, death, and hope. It is just a childhood dream of being a winner forever played out by ignorant theologians on dumb masses. When the Easter Egg is cracked...it smells of untruth. 

 

This is one of many points of logic which led to my atheism. What is a 30 year period of time to an infinite being? Infinitely irrelevant. It is clearly a human inspired story, pulling on the heart strings that are human emotion. 

[Abrooks2007]

Geezer: EXACTLY!  When I was a Christian, I also looked forward to Lent, the "Great 3 Days," and then Easter.  Then, when I began to REALLY think about it the last couple of years before I finally left, I thought, "What we (Christians) do is metaphorically CRUCIFY JESUS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER +2000 again!  This is nuts!"

 

And then I REALLY began to think of all the "pictures" of Jesus: The white guy with the white flowing robe (esp. "The Greatest Story Ever Told") and seriously began to wonder if he ever existed.  Given how stories change from generation to generation...as well as the tradition during those times of changing author's names and so on...I question whether "Jesus" existed at all.

 

FoundationOfUnity: Also agreed.  I also recommend viewing "The Gospel of Judas" documentary...it's about a codex of this Gnostic work that was discovered relatively recently.  It goes into the history of the church...and its rapid ascent into power the first few hundred years after its inception.