Llwellyn Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 What is it? It seems to me that at the heart of Christianity is this idea that there is a divine penalty for the violation of the divine law. Out of this idea of divine vengeance come the explanation of the meaning of Christ's death (to "suffer the penalty of our sin"), the idea of hell (experiencing "God's punishment for our evil") and the Christian idea of how we unite with God, "soteriology" (being "pardoned of the divine penalty by believing in Christ's sacrifice). So, at heart of Christianity is the idea that "we've done wrong" and "there is a divine penalty for what we've done." It's understandable why this idea should have crossed a person's mind at least once in our 1 billion year history as a human. I mean, there are an infinite number of frightening thoughts that people have conceived over time, including the idea that the sky is falling, that Pterodactyls shall eat our children, and the idea that the lake at the foot of our caves is is possessed by an evil spirit. Imagining terrors is one of the downsides of having a 10 pound brain capable of sophisticated analysis and language. So... One person (let's call him St. Paul) thought the idea that God requites wrong with destruction. Such a problem calls for a solution. Plato, Plotinus, and ennumerable pre-Christian theologians provided one solution to this problem: "Fear not, the operation of divine punishment, although frightening and painful, is always calculated to transfigure its object. Therefore yield yourself to its operation and adopt a stance of desiring to leave your evil and be transfigured. God shall not ruin you." But St. Paul provided a different solution of the problem: "Fear not, although God punishes in a manner calculated to destroy its object, the reason why Christ died was to bear this divine punishment so that, believing in this theory thus explained, the Christian shall be pardoned of divine destruction. God shall not ruin you (so long as you believe)." St. Paul's solution to the perennial fear of divine destruction has reified and fixated the idea of divine penalties. Somehow, as a manner of solving the problem of the fear of divine penalties, he did not do away with it, but instead fixed it indelibly in the human consciousness by providing an explanation of the meaning of Christ's death that referred to it. By being exposed to St. Paul's theories, a mind is caught in a kind of mental "bear trap." It's like a cognitive virus that fixes itself in a person's head upon exposure to it. Only the most creative intellects -- those people who have very vigorous emotional and imaginative "immune systems" can resist the cognitive/linguistic parasite that St. Paul created. So, that's exactly what I believe Christianity to be: A cognitive virus not unlike a chain letter. The correct answer was provided a million times through the ages: Divine punishment is always calculated to correct its object... But the other resolution of the problem only had to be provided ONCE (1nce) for it to begin carrying itself forward as a cognitive rumination infecting the human consciousness. Any questions? Any other ideas of what Christianity is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RHEMtron Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 like we said before... it's a meme virus!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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