Peter had just returned from apologizing to his parents again. It’s not that he had done anything wrong in particular. In fact, he is usually unaware of what it is he is apologizing for and would often invent “bad stuff” that he supposedly did during the day just so he would have something to apologize for. It was a family tradition, and 8 year old Peter, as well as his 6 other siblings, had to go through the ritual every single day. That night, like any normal, frank, irritable 8 year old boy, Peter decided to ask his father, “Dad, why must I say ‘I’m sorry’ to you every night?”
His father held him lovingly in his arms and relayed the following story:
“A very long time ago, before you were born, your mother and I had a son named Paul, who made a terrible mistake. We lived in the countryside then, where there were lots of fruit trees of all kinds. But there was this one mango Palwi tree that we specifically asked Paul not to eat from. I must confess that I allowed the neighbor, a very clever young man, to persuade him to eat the mango just to see how obedient Paul was. But he shouldn’t have listened to the neighbor. He disobeyed us and we had to punish him. Although he died many years ago, what he did was so terrible that I would have had to kill every child that your mother and I made thereafter, including you. But fortunately, because I love children so much I was able to come up with a brilliant plan so that this wouldn’t happen.
“When we had our second son, I paid some gangsters to torture and kill him so that I wouldn’t have the cause to kill the rest of my children anymore. You see, my second son already paid the penalty that I would have given you guys. All you have to do now is to acknowledge and accept all what I did to save you and apologize to me everyday.”
“But Dad,” Peter whined, “None of this is my fault. It’s not fair.”
“I understand how you feel son, but you must trust me. It was the best decision. Because of what Paul did you were cursed and you had to pay. When Paul ate that mango Palwi, it caused you and all your siblings to be evil and corrupt from the day you were born. But at least, now I don’t have to kill you anymore. You have a choice. You can either acknowledge the trouble I went through to save you and do exactly as I say, or I will burn your little body very slowly over the barbeque grill in the yard. I brought you to this earth son, and I have the right to take you out.”
Without a second’s hesitation, Peter apologized again to his father.
One may argue that the story above is certainly not the most complete or accurate depiction of the fall of man. I agree and it was not intended to be, but it does capture, in my opinion, some key elements of the story on which the entire Christian religion is based. Because of the bad judgment of two perfect human beings about 6000 years ago, an immortal God had to die in order to save us from the consequences of a decision that we were not responsible for making. Even though the debt that we never owed has already been paid in full on our behalf, because of God’s “unconditional love”, we are still not entitled to it unless we meet certain conditions. The penalty for making the wrong choice, or refusing to believe a ridiculous myth, is eternal suffering because God loves us all so badly.
Religion has a strange way of making many things which would normally be wrong, or evil, perfectly acceptable because God is supposedly incapable of doing wrong. No matter what he does, it has to be right.
The God of the Old Testament is guilty of indiscriminate mass murder and making Peter pay for Paul. In the Old Testament, a group of small boys jeered at the prophet Elisha and called him a “baldhead”. How did God handle that on Elisha’s behalf? He caused two bears to tear up 42 innocent children to pieces (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB). In Beth-shemesh, some men decided to look inside the Holy Ark. What a mistake!
As many as 50,000 men were destroyed as a result (1Samuel 6:19-20 ASV). God promises to kill children, even unborn children, old men, and young women for the wickedness of a few (Hosea 9:11-16 NLT; Ezekiel 9:5-7 NLT; Jeremiah 51:20-26). This God was also guilty of having a lack of patience, the inability to forgive, anger management and jealousy issues, preferential treatment for his chosen ones and inconsistent and unfair judgment and punishment. His moral standards are obviously not to be emulated because they are the opposite of what he wants for us. It basically boils down to “do as I say and not as I do.”
Unlike Peter in my introductory story, I grew tired of apologizing and repenting a long time ago. I have no interest in paying for the curiosity of two prehistoric people, or for crimes that I have not committed. I am not an evil person and the “sins” that I may have committed and will continue to commit are all a necessary part of being human.
One cannot be human without making mistakes or unwise decisions, and it is those same bad decisions which shape us into the people we are today. Sin is inevitable and necessary for personal growth and “spiritual” development. All criminals may be sinners but all sinners are not criminals. Why must anyone keep apologizing for being human? According to Robert G. Ingersoll, “If our thoughts and actions can lesson or increase the happiness of God, then to that extent, God is the slave and victim of man.”
Monday 20 May, 2013
6000 Years later, Peter Pays for Paul
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I think God was the name of an advanced alien. And why would he curse us by making us pay for the arrogance, selfishness and stupidity of our politicians? That God is unjust.
Jason, finally an article which properly argues and shake the foundation of Christianity instead of the personal opinions presented in you past articles. I am a Christian; but I also see that Adam and Eve were not perfect, no, base on what God said they were good. Moreover, the deceiver, is actually one of God’s son which he will bound for 1000 years then will supposedly use again to tempt humans. Is that fair, just or sensible? Heck I don’t know, but who said life was ever meant to be fair?
Mankinds reason on earth is complex.mans tribulation in sin is a show to the heavenly angels that satan was wrong just like you jason when he said that god was unjust.the bible says that this world belongs to satan.satan have been given a chance to prove that his way of ruling is better than gods way.if satan was destroyed immediately when he rebelled this would leave a doubt in the mind of the other angels conscerning the accusations he made against the creator.now it is clear to all of us including the angels that our god is a loving god and his ways are perfect.that said the bible also says that god is omnipotent.when you were at yr parents home you abided by their rules wether you…
when you were at yr parents home you abided by their rules wether you… understood it or liked it.god is the creator of this world and by his rules you shall abide.unconditional love don’t mean that you will not be punished when you do wrong.I love my son no matter what and yet still I whip him wen necessary and when he grow older if he is to rebellious I may throw him out as well.that don’t mean I don’t love him.there are and will aways be rules to govern us.the bible is not perfect as some christians claim but that don’t mean that every thing is false
Great to see St. Lucian journalists taking a stand and voicing their opinions such controversial topics. Your views will no doubt be seen as heretic to our religiously indoctrinated people but, it is a progressive step. Kudos to you sir. Can’t wait to see the comments that follow.
Sin, God, heaven , hell, Jesus and all those magical ideas were invented to control your cowardly and greedy heart. All ideology is born from ignorance and arrogance, that is why everything fails eventually,even God.
since you know so much,please explain to me the origins of creation.if it all started with a particle as you may assume,where did this particle come from.you may ask me where did god come from ,then thats where faith comes into play.you can’t call my faith in god ignorance when you have faith in something which cannot be proven
That which cannot be understood or proven is called a mystery. You have accepted a faith and a belief because you cannot accept that a true mystery can never be solved. Nobody knows why we are here, how we came to be or what we are going to become. We only have existence right now, and that is enough for me. Your sick mind is in bondage with useless questions that never stop asking, mine is in total silence and clear seeing. I do not need a theory to accept my living, I enjoy and celebrate every second without guilt or invented sin, I am free.
good day to you mr Joseph, this is the second letter i’m reading from you and it is clear, you don’t believe that there is a God, and unless He make himself known to you, you will die in your, sins. 2cor;4:6 if you dont get that light, u will never ever understand, my pray is that God open yr eyes so you can see the light, BE BLESSED
If Adam and Eve are our foreparents why is it that the peoples of this world are so diverse in their apperance? eg. Chinese look different to Indians, Africans to Europeans etc etc. Surely if Adam and Eve are our parents, through genetic transmission we should all to some extent exhibit same or atleast near hair texture, skin colour, eyes etc etc. Thus, 6000 yrs could never have contributed to the diversity that we humans exhibit. Therefore, evolution has a strong argument in stating that humans evolved over a millions of years and adapted to their environment to survive. Fossils found in Africa proves that Africa was the craddle of life. Our original ancestors were dark skin. Migrating to…
it is scientifically proven that the white rase is weaker.so my belief is that the other races came about when the sons of god slept with the daughters of cain who was the son of devil.to me this mix which displeased god brought about this change.read genesis 6.it says that sons of god (adam decendants) slept with the daughters of men (‘cain decendants) and they brought forth giants.so if giants can come from this unhealthy alliance what else came out??I believe other races
cont.
the colder climate of the North brought about changes to hair, skin complexion, etc etc over millions of years to adapt and survive their environment. Thus, evolution is a extremelhy slow process that is not immediately evident but can occur at various levels. Remember the years when men hardly run 100m in 10 sec? Today 10 secs in slow. Certain individuals have evolved to run this fast. Of course raw talent is also involved.
No one is certain that there is a God or Gods, but believers have FAITH ( belief in things not seen) which is used to corroborate the actions of their lives. He who believes let him believe and he who don’t let him not. To each his own.
Who are idols pappy ?? Jim Jones or Daivd Koresh or you just rub your hands and salivate with glee when you think of both; oh well to each his own.
All beliefs are just repressed doubts, you have gotten tired of all those unanswered questions, and there are no real answers, so you create faith, it gives this answer some relief to your mind, but what it has actually done is take away your freedom. Better to have no belief in beliefs. You don’t need any answers anyway. just live your life as far away from God as possible.
brother it is the belief in god and not police that have kept society in check.if people didn’t have the fear of god in their heart life on this earth would be unbearable.just look at the behavior of the godless people during a gay pride and tell me if this is how you would like to see society.
The only reason you are not out there committing horrid crime is because in your heart you don’t want too, as well you would not want it to happen to you, so the society has created a truce or a group of laws for behaviour. It has nothing to do with God what so ever.
you talk nonsense man.don’t you know that the heart is the most evil among all things.If men listend to their heart there would be bloodshed every second.when someone steals from you what does your heart tell you???a world without godly morals is condemned.you are assuming that we should be going around having sex with whomever pleases us,what about we start a gbang with your wife or daughters.this should not offend you since to you there is no right or wrong in sex and we are limiting our possible pleasures.
Lion if you want to have sex with your daughter by all means go ahead, but remember it is your society that enforces a code of conduct, and not God. The Royal family in most countries are inbred. I personally have no interest in incest, but if that is your thing it would be necessary for you to live in a society where this is practiced. As regards crime, well that too falls into the code of conduct enforced by your society. Some countries kill women who have extra marital affairs, some condone it and some even love it. So you see now, you are limited by your society you live in.
C.WIZ why hasn’t Black Americans Evolve to adapt to the colder climate in America(oops its global warming, the heat wave is 100 degrees) even though black race have been here for over 500 years they still look like their ancestors that was forced to work the land. Just asking
it is scientifically proven that the white rase is weaker.so my belief is that the other races came about when the sons of god slept with the daughters of cain who was the son of devil.to me this mix which displeased god brought about this change.read genesis 6.it says that sons of god (adam decendants) slept with the daughters of men (‘cain decendants) and they brought forth giants.so if giants can come from this unhealthy alliance what else came out??I believe other races
In your case your grandfather slept with your mother. lol so you are the most white man on the planet. Sometimes I love talking with a stupid mind, very entertaining.
So is this why you are a natural borne bolom? No giants in your genes, everything is tiny.
Great, well written article. I think most people will have problems will such articles because of the lack of education in Caribbean. Part of my college graduation requirements were a class in World Literature where we compare and contract creation myths. Also, you was able to see how creation myths are influenced by culture-the regions where they lived. Also, I had to take a class in Religion, where we discussion the role of religion in society and also compare and contract religions and science. I toke Biology where I learn about Evolution. Being exposed to all those different ideas and theories does help give me a better look and understanding of religion. I am not only exposed only one…
Religion is is the biggest myth and the most wide spread theory, and as you know theory is not truth, it is simply a guess.
Heeee Hawww what is your point ?? “I think most people will have {a problem} with such articles because of the LACK of education in the caribbean” hold your ass with the CRAP you takling. Most Intellegent People don’t ADHERE to the buffoonery that’s written here, that does not mean we don’t COMPREHEND what the writer is trying to bring accross. Did you study Khomeini Laws and Islamic Fundemetals ??? NO!! Go back to your so call “College”. I CAN”T STAND YOU STIFF UPPER LIP PEOPLE WHO GET A TASTE OF FOREGIN AND A TWO CENTS EDUCATION THEN TURN AROUND AND SPIT ON THE REGION BEFORE YOU CONTRIBUTE.
Religion is utter nonsense, in fact the college of religion is a place where one goes to become so stupid that retardation is a guaranteed physical and mental change. The education of hocus pocus crap. All my children understand and avoid this brain damaging practice. You become insane when you play the game of religion game, you become jealous, petty, petrified of life, loveless but mostly perverted. Religion forces you to judge everyone.
The point I was making is with education you are exposed more knowledge and individual are able to make better decisions and judgement. They learn how to question things and I they don’t take anything as a fact because they are taught so as a child. Reading is fundamental!!!
Having no beliefs is fundamental, always question everything because the day that you stop means that you have surrendered to not trusting yourself and your truth. Nobody can give you the answers, only you can.
Religious sheep are goats in disguise that just can’t deal with reality showing them the real way,truth and light of knowledge wisdom and understanding of life while they still saying NAAAH! NAAAH!EUH EUH EUHHH we following FEARRRR THEIRRRR,the story book their reading telling them god help those who help them selves and they still beggin for help,goes to show morons not on mars they right here on earth looking for god the spaceship captain who don’t exist so the search goes on lookin up hopping to fly away some day
Most of you are using bible stories from childhood and a few bible verses yall read to make your arguments…. realizing dat if yall keep reading the bible to much will be learnt preventing you guys from doing wat you love most sin…so here comes the creation of those phony ideas and made up beliefs
READ THE BIBLE IT IS A BEST SELLER WRITTEN OVER 1000′S OF YEARS AND IS STILL IN PRINT STILL BEING PURCHASED AND SOLD ALL OVER THE WORLD IT WILL TEACH YOU WHY YOU SO ANGRY AND Y EVERYONE DESPISE READING IT, IT ACTUALLY PREDICTED EVERY WORD YOU GUYS SPOKE.
To the writer: Prayer is communication with God not just confession as the priest said. Peter was told wat would happen if he ate the…
you say the bible is a best seller and in the same paragraph you say everyone despise reading it.I think you should start reading it so you can make some sence