Alien826
No religious beliefs
My problem with the Christian idea of punishment and redemption is that it claims to be "justice" but is anything but.
OK, here we are, for whatever reason unable to meet an artificial standard of "perfection". But we get punished anyway. That's not just.
So how is that balanced? By torturing to death a single man who was totally innocent. Somehow that satisfies God's lust for revenge. That's not just either.
And finally, in order to be "saved" from the unfairly applied punishment, all we have to do is attain some diffuse kind of belief. Those that can't do so are punished, those that can are not. Is that just?
Without claiming that "sin" doesn't exist, I suggest a different approach. Don't compare yourself to the perfection of God, you'll never succeed so why try to improve? Imagine yourself at the bottom of a deep well, and that you had no hand in being there. Consider that the zero level against which your progress will be judged. You can start digging the well deeper, that can be seen as deserving punishment. Or you can try to climb out, some days getting higher and some days slipping back, but never giving up. If you want a progress check, look down to the starting point, not up to the circle of light above that is your objective. That gives you your direction and some encouragement, but is not what you are judged by. How successful have you been in your efforts to climb out of the well?
OK, here we are, for whatever reason unable to meet an artificial standard of "perfection". But we get punished anyway. That's not just.
So how is that balanced? By torturing to death a single man who was totally innocent. Somehow that satisfies God's lust for revenge. That's not just either.
And finally, in order to be "saved" from the unfairly applied punishment, all we have to do is attain some diffuse kind of belief. Those that can't do so are punished, those that can are not. Is that just?
Without claiming that "sin" doesn't exist, I suggest a different approach. Don't compare yourself to the perfection of God, you'll never succeed so why try to improve? Imagine yourself at the bottom of a deep well, and that you had no hand in being there. Consider that the zero level against which your progress will be judged. You can start digging the well deeper, that can be seen as deserving punishment. Or you can try to climb out, some days getting higher and some days slipping back, but never giving up. If you want a progress check, look down to the starting point, not up to the circle of light above that is your objective. That gives you your direction and some encouragement, but is not what you are judged by. How successful have you been in your efforts to climb out of the well?
