Does this story make any sense? Let us put it in terms that are more familiar. Joe Hovak builds a wonderful garden community. He finds a couple of plain, simple, not too bright people to live in the first model home. They are Adam Australopithecus and his wife Eve Australopithecus-Habilis.
Joe tells Adam and Eve that they may live in the model home rent-free. However, they must obey certain strange rules. There is a tree with apples that will extend life spans. However, they are forbidden to eat the apples. There is another tree with nucleotide fruit that expands intelligence and permits humans to inquire, learn, and get smart. However, Joe does not want them to eat this nucleotide fruit because Adam or Eve might get as smart as Joe Hovak. In addition, that would be a major embarrassment.
Joe is a gangster type. You know; he wears a black pinstripe suit, black shirt, and white tie. All are happy.
Then Eve starts having questions about life, love, and the lottery she gets very curious. Then a slick skinny philosopher with no legs or arms, tells her to eat the fruit of the Nucleotide Tree because it will make her as smart as Joe Scar face Hovak. She does, and gives some to Adam. Suddenly Adam and Eve are speaking real vocal language, writing differential equations on the oak tree, and measuring tectonic plate movement with markers placed on either side of the East African rift zone.
Joe is furious. He cannot believe the audacity of those two primates. That sin must be punished. Therefore, Joe plans to sock it to them. He has a son whom he fathers by a human virgin. Joe's purpose is to have his own son sacrificed brutally by other bad humans, Romans, to avenge the sin of seeking knowledge by Adam and Eve.
Joe's reasoning is that by killing his own son, Jay Suss, Adam's sin can be forgiven???? Sceptics ask, "how does killing one's own child avenge a wrong done to you by your neighbour?" The Lord acts in mysterious ways.
Well, Joe sends his son, Jay to Hell as extra punishment in place of Adam and Eve. Duh? However, Joe then brings Jay back to life and raises him from the tomb. Jay, then a talking stiff walking zombie, walks about Jerusalem scaring the bajeezus out of children.
Joe is happy. However, after a few drinks at the Badda Bing, Joe changes his mind. "I do not care if Jay Suss Hovak died in vain or not, the original sin verdict has been upheld. You all are still going to die and you still will sin if you seek knowledge.
So, all of that hoopla about the original sin of illegal inquiry and unauthorised thinking leading to human loss of immortality was a horrible horrible sin against the pride of God. God's solution of shagging a human girl to produce his only begotten son, Jay, for the sole purpose of sacrificing Jay Suss Hovak to atone for the terrible sin...did not work. Jay is tortured, crucified, buried, went to Hell and back, and all for nothing. The sin and penalty still stand. Joe Hovak (God) failed. Jay Suss' life was wasted. We are all back where we started when Eve sought knowledge.
What is lacking mate, is that the story is totally chaotic and insane. It is irrational and so silly it might be part of a Monty Python skit if not so linked to 6000 years of religious bigotry, millions of murders, oppression of women, justification of injustice, persecution of other religions, gay people, and those who show any compassion.
This story told to me by a Scottish Teacher when I was age 7 led me to a rapid conclusion that Christianity was bollocks and no such god could possibly exist. There may be some other god somewhere. But JHWY or Allah simply are self-contradictory if we believe these psychotic stories.
Amhairghine
