Paper Monster
part two
Once god
decides to incarnate, the paper monster from the Old Testament transforms into his own son, Jesus. On the surface,
this change is for the benefit of all mankind. Suddenly, the sacrifices once demanded
in scripture become simply one sacrifice, a sacrifice which is meant to appease
the Godhead for once and for all. Somehow, in order to conciliate himself, god
leaves the ether behind and substantiates into human form. This incarnation is
not some matured and war-torn monster from the past but rather we find god
fresh and young and seemingly more docile than when in his previous form. The
truth is, a god appeasing himself by sacrificing himself seems like something a
mortal idiot would do. Jesus was supposed to free us from the complications
made through the Hebrew covenant and laws, not bind us to them. Jesus may seem
kinder and gentler on the surface, but he is still a warrior at heart. People
don’t change and this god is very much a human being. More like a carbon copy
than an original, the pomp and circumstance may have shifted but the message is
pretty much the same. Do not be fooled by this lamb of god. He is not what you
might think he is. Jesus is the messiah, come to live and then to die, but his
voice is the same old warrior god from the Old
Testament. He even tells us so, like a warning we are informed, “Do not
suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring
peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34,
NIV).
There is no
question, this god is fully human. He not only lives a life but he most
certainly will die. I would have thought things would change once Jesus
manifested. In a sense, they did. Instead of threatening death like his father,
the son of god threatens everyone with hellfire and punishment instead. For
those who do not follow the path of Christ, they will be removed from his flock
and burned for eternity “with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12, NIV). Mankind continues to be expendable. The monster
in the closet is still the same, just the fangs are different. This is not the
Saviour I believed in growing up. Then again, god was ethereal and up in
heaven. He was a nice old man who loved everybody and wanted us all to get
along. I never dreamed that ideas like hell and sin were actually considered
real by many people. In my mind, I could never have imagined that god/Jesus
would abandon humanity to the fire pit of Gehenna. I still don’t understand how so many can follow such a
being. A loving god who casts out those he loves because they somehow failed
him is perhaps the most mortal characteristic we place on this ‘divine’
creature. The forgiveness and mercy we are expected to bestow on others is
sorely lacking in this version. The terror of eternal torment is, we can
conclude, for most of us. Jesus is clear, the majority of people will end up
abandoned by the very being they were seeking. These lost souls will try to “Enter
through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads
to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the
road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14, NIV). I have to wonder why god, in the first
place, needs to warn us regarding something a true God would never do. Holding a
grudge is not a divine attribute. All the punishing, scare tactics and the like
seem suspiciously human if you ask me. Forgiveness is demanded from us but we
do not hold the Judeo-Christian god accountable for failing to give it to us.
When judgement overturns forgiveness, it appears that God has gone missing and some
form of man has taken charge.
“I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Exodus 33:19, NIV)
Jesus can
come across rather limited. When people refuse to follow him, or deny him, or
reject his teachings, he gets very angry. He does not seem to discern between
those who turned from him and the rest of the population. All are lost for the
inaction of a few. He condemns entire cities to hell fire solely for the act of
non-repentance. He speaks to them, asking, “Will you be lifted to the heavens?
No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you
had been performed in Sodom ,
it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more
bearable for Sodom
on the day of judgement than for you” (Matthew
11: 23-24, NIV). So follow me or die? Such insight, such understanding yet they bring nothing but
judgement and woe on those unrepentant towns. Where is the omniscient acuity a
god would possess? Oh right, I forget this is the very human who claims to be
such a god. One would imagine that an incarnate
god would recognize the complexity of existence. Being a mere mortal must have enlightened him. Things on this planet aren’t always so
black and white but Jesus just seems to validate the Old Testament monster he was supposed to reconcile us to. Rather than compassion and empathy, mankind is met with
disdain and judgement. When god ordered that anyone who disrespects their
parents should be killed (Exodus
21:17), it was a different time than that of Jesus, just as it is a different
time for us than when he lived. Instead of recognizing the flaws and
limitations of humanity, and using them for dialogue and rapprochement, it
appears killing children for such a benign act is okay. Easy for Jesus to say (Matthew
15:4-7).
When Jesus warns us that he “did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34, NIV), I can picture him standing, sweeping through crowds of sinners with his glory and might. I can also see a dove, and a lamb and nothing but the blood. That this warrior would meet such an end makes for good literature. Just requiring that type of sacrifice for the universe to work properly makes no sense. It is here that god becomes repugnant. This explains why Jesus has no problem with what his father did to the world of Genesis. After all, he will bring the same when he returns from wherever it is that he was going. If not by flood, then greater for, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37, NIV). Only a human-like god would have no problem drowning everyone on earth. Like father, like son. It really is irrelevant since all those punished will not only die but be tormented forever in hell regardless (Matthew 25:46). The messiah seems to relish the idea of a place where all mortals can be sent to the punishment they so rightly deserve. I can’t figure out why he just doesn’t send us all there to begin with. I hear it’s a dry heat. Jesus can even come across manipulative and somewhat pseudo-intellectual. He tells his disciples the reason he speaks to the crowds in parable is to confuse them. He informs his followers, in secret, all these wonderful things but he hinders everyone else so that they might not be given forgiveness. This confusion will hinder them from seeing the truth. He shares with his special entourage that, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven” (Mark 4:11-12, NIV). Only the righteous man, the person who produces what Jesus calls “good fruit” will be saved. If you do not “bear good fruit” you are to be “hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Luke 3:9, NIV). What about rotting fruit that used to be good fruit but was abandoned and left to nature? What if you produce some good fruit and some bad fruit? What if you’re not a fruit? Apparently, Jesus is not only a lumberjack but a grocer as well.
When Jesus warns us that he “did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34, NIV), I can picture him standing, sweeping through crowds of sinners with his glory and might. I can also see a dove, and a lamb and nothing but the blood. That this warrior would meet such an end makes for good literature. Just requiring that type of sacrifice for the universe to work properly makes no sense. It is here that god becomes repugnant. This explains why Jesus has no problem with what his father did to the world of Genesis. After all, he will bring the same when he returns from wherever it is that he was going. If not by flood, then greater for, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37, NIV). Only a human-like god would have no problem drowning everyone on earth. Like father, like son. It really is irrelevant since all those punished will not only die but be tormented forever in hell regardless (Matthew 25:46). The messiah seems to relish the idea of a place where all mortals can be sent to the punishment they so rightly deserve. I can’t figure out why he just doesn’t send us all there to begin with. I hear it’s a dry heat. Jesus can even come across manipulative and somewhat pseudo-intellectual. He tells his disciples the reason he speaks to the crowds in parable is to confuse them. He informs his followers, in secret, all these wonderful things but he hinders everyone else so that they might not be given forgiveness. This confusion will hinder them from seeing the truth. He shares with his special entourage that, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven” (Mark 4:11-12, NIV). Only the righteous man, the person who produces what Jesus calls “good fruit” will be saved. If you do not “bear good fruit” you are to be “hewn down, and cast into the fire” (Luke 3:9, NIV). What about rotting fruit that used to be good fruit but was abandoned and left to nature? What if you produce some good fruit and some bad fruit? What if you’re not a fruit? Apparently, Jesus is not only a lumberjack but a grocer as well.
As an
example to parents everywhere, god gives up his son to death by crucifixion.
Not only does he require this act in order to save the world (from himself) but
without it all are lost. God has his son/himself slaughtered, well knowing the
world that is to come. Jesus as man-god is brutally tortured and murdered, all
for a blood sacrifice. It’s a good thing there are no volcanoes in Israel . Of
course, like a good businessman would do, there are conditions on the
sacrifice. It is not freely given. We must believe in the Christ or perish and
lose our salvation (John 3:16). Once
he has ascended, Jesus becomes much more than a man. The hints of warrior
throughout the New Testament now
manifest in the risen lord. It is clear, Jesus plans on returning to earth but
in a much more divine capacity. He stills acts like a child throwing a temper
tantrum. With his return, there will be no peace. With his return,
there would be no mercy. Jesus returns like a thief, in secret, but will
eventually burn up the entire earth and everything on it. In fact, “the heavens
will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the
earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10). It is in the book of Revelation that we fully come to understand that everyone is
doomed, well except for 144,000 Jews, no one else (Revelation 7:4, NIV). Kind of makes the entire salvation thing just
a little anti-climatic. It is here that god and Jesus tag team against humanity.
They empower four horsemen to kill one quarter of the earth’s population (Revelation 6:8 NIV). Jesus takes command
and with eyes aflame, many crowns on his head, clothes dripping with blood, a
sword sticking out of his mouth, and a secret name, leads the faithful in
heaven into holy war on earth (Revelation
6:8). At this point, it’s hard to find any sign of the prince of peace so many
people believe Jesus to be. He is now the warrior King, who will rule with “an
iron sceptre” (Revelation 19:14-15,
NIV). Using the sword in his mouth, he will “strike down the nations.” Reading about these
monsters on paper makes one want to go back to the drawing board and start this
god thing all over again. Maybe this time we shouldn’t make him so human.
The ideas
most people have regarding their “God” are limited. Most people don’t even
bother to read through scripture let alone apply the lessons found within it.
We get a basic notion of our god from our culture, then we make the rest up as
we go along. I suppose it is true that with any holy text, you always find what
you’re looking for. I am sure that if I reproached the character of God from a
more positive and favourable angle, he would still come across rather human. To
love, charity, mercy and forgiveness are all lovely sentiments but they are
human attributes, not divine. Omniscience and omnipotence cannot be defined,
let alone ascribed. It seems god is sovereign, he rules and so will Jesus. God
is good, despite being one of the most monstrous characters in all literature.
Jesus fares better but only by proxy. Since good and evil are relative terms,
how could the real God be one or the other? Only a man would entertain such a
schism.
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