Original Sin
When unsure where to begin, I imagine the beginning would be a good choice. Specifically, Genesis. Chapter 2. Verses 16-17. “But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
And of course, most of Genesis 3.
So, there they were, two—just two, from whom billions would descend. The two of them in this garden of bliss—of perfection; no problems, no sickness, no emotional pain, no…the list goes on. According to the narrative earlier in Genesis, god decided to create mankind. A while later, Adam and Eve appear on the scene. No control over having been created. No control over…well, anything.
Genesis 2.9: “God created all things, trees, plants, animals, etc. He decided to put a tree in the very middle of the garden; a tree which he would then go on to forbid them to eat from. And then he placed them in that garden and warned them not to eat from that tree.” This is a big piece of the problem I have with christianity. Notice, god placed the damn tree front and center, and as if that is not enough, he then allows or (most likely, according to the narrative) dictates that another creation of his, the serpent, would tempt or try to talk Eve into eating the fruit. Sound like a set up yet? And a talking snake?
Romans 5.12: Sin came into the world because of what one man did. And with sin came death. So this is why all people must die—because all people have sinned. (It's interesting to note the contrast between Paul here in Romans and in I Timothy 2.13-14 (Biblical scholars credit Paul as the author of both, although there is a prevailing notion that Paul did not author the Timothy books), where he blames Eve instead of Adam. "For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.")
So, according to Paul here (If he indeed did write both books), we are all fucked because of what our great, great…grandpa, or grandma did. Do you realize that, according to christianity, we are all being punished because of something Adam and Eve did? Notice Paul’s attempt to justify it, by stating that we all have sinned. Think about it—if you have more than one kid, would you punish all your kids for something just one did? Of course not; however, that is exactly what god is doing. We are being punished, and ultimately for billions of people, according to christianity, being sent to hell, for something that Adam and Eve did.
God, who is love, and so dearly loves his creation, which he pronounced to be good, then took what seems to be extreme measures to set his creation up for imminent failure. And once they did, this loving god announces judgement upon all parties involved—the snake and both Adam and Eve, as well as every single person to ever be born. He announces the punishments for this original sin not long after they ate it. Shitty childbirth and husbands “ruling over them” for women, and for men, hard labor, weeds and thistles, hot and humid labor conditions, and ultimately, death for all. He set Adam and Eve up for failure, and then holds all of us hostage for what happened thousands to billions (depending on which version you believe) of years before we were even born. As a result of Adam and Eve’s fruit indulgence, and the big set-up, we are doomed. And if the accounts of god in the old testament are accurate, god was just getting started passing judgement onto his creation whom he loves so much.
I have such a problem with the whole Adam and Eve narrative—how they were set up, and how their poor lunch choice fucked all of god’s creation. Of course, christianity tells the story of Jesus and his death as god’s proof that he loves us, and indeed even goes so far as to rescue us from the hell that his set-up would land us in, were it not for the intervention of the one who made intervention necessary in the first place.
Stop and think for a minute…those same people also claim that god is all knowing (omniscient) and all powerful (omnipotent). If this is indeed the case, doesn’t it seem like god could have devised a much better plan than the shit show that has developed as a result of his all-knowing and all-powerful plan? If they are right, that means that god knew what would come about as a result of his plan for the creation he loves so much. Think about that shit show: cancer and other horrific diseases, war, murder, rape, child sex trafficking, death and loss of loved ones, pain—both physical and especially emotional, and the list goes on and on. And according to the narrative and most christians today, it all came about because of Adam’s (or Eve's) sin, and of course, we all followed suite, as if we had a choice or any chance. And as if that’s not enough, christians will attempt to convince you that we deserve it—that somehow our sin acquired from someone who lived long before us makes us such horrific depraved wretches that we deserve the “worst hell has to offer.” (actual quote from a pastor) We were born fucked, are living in hell, and will go to hell where the “worm dieth not”, and the torment, and the “gnashing of teeth”, and…, unless we jump through specific man-made hoops, in order to avoid this hell we so much deserve. Sorry—I just ain’t buying it. If this is the best an omniscient, omnipotent loving god could come up with, I’m afraid I can’t get on board with that god. Seems kind of hateful and vengeful, instead of loving, wouldn’t you say?
Hell
Revelation 14.10: They will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night. “Holy shit—but remember, God loves you.”
There have been many incidents which have caused me to question christianity and many of its teachings. One of the more poignant ones occurred while I was talking to a patient at the treatment center where I worked, who asked a very good question. “Why would a loving god send someone to hell?” I answered him, spewing out the same crap an evangelical christian will tell you now. “God doesn’t send people to hell; he sent Jesus to die for you, and if you choose him, you won’t go to hell. You only go to hell if you reject Jesus, and if you do that, you are sending yourself to hell. God doesn’t send anyone to hell.” As I was regurgitating the same old, tired crap I had heard all my life, and had told many people countless times, something clicked. As I was telling them that they were sending themselves to hell, doubt that had been lingering in the back recesses of my mind, like a computer program running in the background, refused to take a back seat any longer, and rushed to the forefront. As I heard myself saying that god doesn’t send anyone to hell, it felt as if I were lying, or at the very least, forcing or faking it. It felt so incredibly hollow, contrived and wrong. It was then and there that the Kool Aid I had drank so much of began to sour, and logic and reason began to take over; it was then that I began to question the original sin and free will bullshit story. It was there that I began what would become an intense scrutiny of everything the Kool Aid had taught me, and that I would begin to sincerely question the bible and the existence of god.
Recently, my now former boss, who is a diehard Baptist, and whose “faith” is significantly motivated by pure fear of god, and I had a discussion regarding hell and humankind’s deserving it. He said, and I quote, “I deserve the very best hell has to offer.” Of course, by the very best, he meant the very worst. Somehow, a man who has never drank, smoked, done drugs, who doesn’t watch porn, is faithful to his wife, is a good father, has been a pastor for over 40 years, and doesn’t even cuss, is the worst of sinners—the most depraved of all mankind, and as such, deserves the worst hell has to offer. To further appreciate his asinine statement, let’s look at the definition of deserve. According to the Oxford dictionary, the definition of deserve is: to do something or have or show qualities worthy of (in this case, hell).
So, my former boss has done something or has qualities about him that make him worthy of hell’s finest. Upon further discussion, he stated that the more you know god, the more holy you realize god is. The more holy you realize god is, the more you realize how much a holy god has to send people to hell. That concept of a loving god is wearing mighty thin, wouldn’t you say? Of course, the common theme or explanation by the typical evangelical christian as to why one deserves hell, is to refer back to what Adam did, and in the process, own Adam’s guilt and “depravity.”
Think about how fundamentalism christianity describes hell as fire and brimstone. We all know what fire is, but brimstone? According to www.biblicalscholarship.com, brimstone is described as: “Brimstone (man now calls it sulfur) is a lemon-yellow colored stone. Brimstone means, "burning stone" or, "the stone that burns." When a plain brimstone is exposed to the air, nothing happens--but if a match is put to it, it will burn in a peculiar way, like a liquid fire, and it emits noxious fumes. The stone melts like wax but the dripping is a peculiar thick fire, like a piece of wax on fire.”
Other descriptions of hell are: where the worm dieth not, where the flames never end, a place of screaming, torment, and anguish, and on and on. All of this is used to describe the place a loving god created, supposedly originally for Satan and his defectors (also his creations) but is now a place where god will send millions, and more likely, according to christianity, billions of his finest creation—mankind, where they will spend all of eternity. Forever. Nonstop. Unending. Constant. Conscious. Torture. Torment. Anguish. Pain. Suffering. Misery. Grief. All of this forever and ever and ever and…all thought up by and created by the god who also created mankind and loves them so much, all because of a bad dietary choice by his original creation. But, don’t forget…he loves you—in fact, he IS love, and love itself comes from him (1 John 4.7-8), he will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31.6), and nothing will ever separate you from his love (Romans 8.38-39). Nothing, apparently, except hell. Hell will separate you from god who will never leave you and who loves you with an inseparable love. Hell sucks. Don’t eat apples, because apples are kryptonite to god’s love. Don’t eat apples; don’t go to hell. ~continues in Part Eight
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