lindborg@cs.washington.edu (Jeff Lindborg) (05/23/91)
Another attempt to justify God's cruelty and vengence against the race of humans he created by blaming all the 'bad stuff' on Satan and emphasising our deservance of hell for our sins: > What about the theory that Jesus was 'wired' for perfection, that He could > not have sinned, that there was no chance that He could fail. Speaking of > Lucifer before his fall into sin: > "You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till ini- > quity was found in you. "-- Ezek 28:15 (NKJ) > If Lucifer was 'perfect' as it says and yet could sin in a perfect heaven > but Jesus could not sin on this earth - if Jesus was 'wired' with the > instincts for perfection, having advantages that we do not have - then Satan > would have every right to step forward and declair a fraud - hold God hos- > tage - insist that we are either all doomed along with him, or that if God > saves any of us sinners, that God must return Satan to his place in heaven. There is a fundamental difference here... Satan was (supposedly) well aware of the existence and divinity of God. He could not have had doubts as to the existence or intentions or motivations of God. He was there and he chose to try to take over, as it were. We humans have no such evidence (direct or otherwise regardless of what the religious insist is 'proof'). We do not know His motivations or intentions or even that He exists. He feels no need to dispel these anxieties and seems content to let us flounder in our fear and allow Himself to be represented by a flawed organization of men who seem prone to mistakes just like the rest of us. Again I must ask why he did not provide a more concrete, systematic, accurate and clear representation of His word. This is humanities fate for eternity were talking about here and all we have to go on is a slip-shot book that seems to contradict itself, is rather vauge in many places, is far from complete and contains historical errors. > Only because of the genuine life of Jesus as a human can He stand as our > High Priest and mediator and stand up before Satan and turn asside his argu- > ments against our salvation. Certainly He brought divinity down to this > earth with Him. But it was not perfect divinity, but rather perfect human- > ity that He presents at the throne of judgement, as He stands as our advo- > cate against that prosecuting attorney named Satan. Jesus DEFINATELY had an advantage! How can you even suggest otherwise?? He was able to perform wonders that mere humans were not. He KNEW God existed (in a very real sense he WAS God). He could have NO doubt about his 'salvation' (He did not, indeed, need to be saved) or of the proper 'method' to go about getting this salvation. He was not handicapped with an enigmatic book to try and discern what God's desire for Him was and God's plan for the human race in general. He had a HUGE head start over the rest of us. If I were to be given such knowledge and abilities, doubt as to my fate and purpose here on earth would be unknown to me. The claim that he lived a perfect life and that, therefore, we are all worthy of eternal punishment because we can't do the same (and we, indeed, CANNOT do this... it says so in the Bible, remember?) Hence if we do not (or cannot) believe in God and that Jesus is the Messiah then we deserve our spot in hell for all eternity for the sins we commit in this lifetime. This is, of course, the hallmark of a vengeful, violent God... not a God of unlimited compassion and mercy and love. Lets face it... speaking for myself if this is indeed the one true God who runs things around here I would rather nevery have been born then to be born and face the (rather good) possibility of screwing up and failing to recognize Christ as the Messiah and, subsequently, going to hell. Unfortunately I was not given such a choice, none of us are. We sort of get thrown into the field of play to sink or swim, as it were. Further, the notion that Satan is to blame for all the negative things in this world is, of course, childish. God created all... good, sin, Satan, us, hell, the universe, heaven etc... He is ultimately responsible for everything, period. To try and distance him from this responsibility is to deny His ultimate control of all... Is God so weak he can't keep Satan in line? Or does He just enjoy the entertainment that Satan provides? The belief in hell as punishment is not compatible with the notion of a loving, caring God. Formulas that try to rectify this obvious contradiction all fail misserably. Much like trying to show that 1+1 is really equal to 3 and not 2. You can keep trying but you'll never make it work... Jeff Lindborg "He who thinks but does not learn is in danger. He who learns but does not think is lost." -Confucius