What is the nature of the guilt that your teachers call Original Sin? What are the evils man acquired when he fell from a state they consider perfection? Their myth declares that he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge—he acquired a mind and became a rational being. It was the knowledge of good and evil—he became a moral being. He was sentenced to earn his bread by his labor—he became a productive being. He was sentenced to experience desire—he acquired the capacity of sexual enjoyment. The evils for which they damn him are reason, morality, creativeness, joy—all the cardinal values of his existence. It is not his vices that their myth of man’s fall is designed to explain and condemn, it is not his errors that they hold as his guilt, but the essence of his nature as man. Whatever he was—that robot in the Garden of Eden, who existed without mind, without values, without labor, without love—he was not man.
Man’s fall, according to your teachers, was that he gained the virtues required to live. These virtues, by their standard, are his Sin. His evil, they charge, is that he’s man. His guilt, they charge, is that he lives.
They call it a morality of mercy and a doctrine of love for man.
No, they say, they do not preach that man is evil, the evil is only that alien object: his body. No, they say, they do not wish to kill him, they only wish to make him lose his body. They seek to help him, they say, against his pain—and they point at the torture rack to which they’ve tied him, the rack with two wheels that pull him in opposite directions, the rack of the doctrine that splits his soul and body.
The Garden of Eden was not without labor. God instructed Adam to grow a farm and orchard. However it was without drought, disease, invaders, jealous neighbors, mortgages, guilt, blackmail, taxes, and death.
But Adam and Eve were not satisfied with what God had provided them, so they entertained sin. They were not satisfied with their farm, and they wanted to know what else they could get. They wanted innovation, and so they got obsolescence and rust. They wanted a kingdom, so they became enslaved and raised the kids of others. They wanted riches, and so they got debt, jealousy, theft, and rot. They wanted an enhanced life, and so they got disease, betrayal, and death.
If you doubt God, I encourage you to get to know God by reading the Bible.
If you reject God, I think it's wise to live the most hedonistic life you can afford to live. Get busy living or get busy dying. The faster you become buried in guilt, the faster you will seek Christ's redemption. The faster you become enslaved to addiction, employers, bankers, lovers, blackmailers, bullies, pride, and the government, the sooner you will plead for Christ to set you free. Try to prove me wrong ASAP. But know that you will have to face your slavers even after Christ sets you free, and they will be angry when you proclaim your freedom. It will be a glorious struggle to overcome your oppressors by the grace of God, but it will be filled with hardship and perhaps death. It's much easier to get to know God early and inherit his wisdom and wealth before you take on the debts of your sin.
And it's funny that you say the doctrine is the torture rack. The doctrine is not condemnation. The Word of God is the wisdom to avoid sin and thereby avoid the debts and disease it brings. The torture device we point to is the cross. It's the perfect way to condemn someone for their crimes. It puts you where everyone can see your naked body and mock you. Your sins are labeled on it, so they can point and say to your face that you deserve it. Your lovers will deny ever loving you, and they will mock your genitals, if they even pass by. Your parents can come and weep, for their last name is borne on the cross with you, and they weep for failing to protect you from your sins. Your employer does not even show up because they are embarrassed by you, not that you sinned, but that you have been punished in public and they don't want to be publicly associated with criminality. You will beg for food, but the passersby cannot reach you. They will instead throw stones at you and tell you to shut up for your screams are unbearable to listen to. You will beg them to stone you to death for your hands and feet are burning from infection and each breath strains your wounds, your exhausted muscles, and your stretched ligaments. Your body slumps forward, but your hands are bound to the wood by big nails, so your arms start being ripped from your shoulders. You beg to see your kids one last time, but your family cannot bear to see you like this, even to calm you. Eventually your only friends will be the criminals on their crosses, the flies that bite your face, and the vultures that await your death. You will probably drown before your start to hallucinate from thirst.
We point to the cross.
The cross is what we deserve for our sin. It represents all of the different punishments rolled into one. Jesus takes it upon himself so that we may be justified in heaven. The ultimate oppressor in this world is death, and Jesus makes it such that we do not have to fear it.
We point to the cross to convey that we cannot be enslaved by death.
Jesus’ teachings were evil.
What is the nature of the guilt that your teachers call Original Sin? What are the evils man acquired when he fell from a state they consider perfection? Their myth declares that he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge—he acquired a mind and became a rational being. It was the knowledge of good and evil—he became a moral being. He was sentenced to earn his bread by his labor—he became a productive being. He was sentenced to experience desire—he acquired the capacity of sexual enjoyment. The evils for which they damn him are reason, morality, creativeness, joy—all the cardinal values of his existence. It is not his vices that their myth of man’s fall is designed to explain and condemn, it is not his errors that they hold as his guilt, but the essence of his nature as man. Whatever he was—that robot in the Garden of Eden, who existed without mind, without values, without labor, without love—he was not man.
Man’s fall, according to your teachers, was that he gained the virtues required to live. These virtues, by their standard, are his Sin. His evil, they charge, is that he’s man. His guilt, they charge, is that he lives.
They call it a morality of mercy and a doctrine of love for man.
No, they say, they do not preach that man is evil, the evil is only that alien object: his body. No, they say, they do not wish to kill him, they only wish to make him lose his body. They seek to help him, they say, against his pain—and they point at the torture rack to which they’ve tied him, the rack with two wheels that pull him in opposite directions, the rack of the doctrine that splits his soul and body.
The Garden of Eden was not without labor. God instructed Adam to grow a farm and orchard. However it was without drought, disease, invaders, jealous neighbors, mortgages, guilt, blackmail, taxes, and death.
But Adam and Eve were not satisfied with what God had provided them, so they entertained sin. They were not satisfied with their farm, and they wanted to know what else they could get. They wanted innovation, and so they got obsolescence and rust. They wanted a kingdom, so they became enslaved and raised the kids of others. They wanted riches, and so they got debt, jealousy, theft, and rot. They wanted an enhanced life, and so they got disease, betrayal, and death.
If you doubt God, I encourage you to get to know God by reading the Bible.
If you reject God, I think it's wise to live the most hedonistic life you can afford to live. Get busy living or get busy dying. The faster you become buried in guilt, the faster you will seek Christ's redemption. The faster you become enslaved to addiction, employers, bankers, lovers, blackmailers, bullies, pride, and the government, the sooner you will plead for Christ to set you free. Try to prove me wrong ASAP. But know that you will have to face your slavers even after Christ sets you free, and they will be angry when you proclaim your freedom. It will be a glorious struggle to overcome your oppressors by the grace of God, but it will be filled with hardship and perhaps death. It's much easier to get to know God early and inherit his wisdom and wealth before you take on the debts of your sin.
And it's funny that you say the doctrine is the torture rack. The doctrine is not condemnation. The Word of God is the wisdom to avoid sin and thereby avoid the debts and disease it brings. The torture device we point to is the cross. It's the perfect way to condemn someone for their crimes. It puts you where everyone can see your naked body and mock you. Your sins are labeled on it, so they can point and say to your face that you deserve it. Your lovers will deny ever loving you, and they will mock your genitals, if they even pass by. Your parents can come and weep, for their last name is borne on the cross with you, and they weep for failing to protect you from your sins. Your employer does not even show up because they are embarrassed by you, not that you sinned, but that you have been punished in public and they don't want to be publicly associated with criminality. You will beg for food, but the passersby cannot reach you. They will instead throw stones at you and tell you to shut up for your screams are unbearable to listen to. You will beg them to stone you to death for your hands and feet are burning from infection and each breath strains your wounds, your exhausted muscles, and your stretched ligaments. Your body slumps forward, but your hands are bound to the wood by big nails, so your arms start being ripped from your shoulders. You beg to see your kids one last time, but your family cannot bear to see you like this, even to calm you. Eventually your only friends will be the criminals on their crosses, the flies that bite your face, and the vultures that await your death. You will probably drown before your start to hallucinate from thirst.
We point to the cross.
The cross is what we deserve for our sin. It represents all of the different punishments rolled into one. Jesus takes it upon himself so that we may be justified in heaven. The ultimate oppressor in this world is death, and Jesus makes it such that we do not have to fear it.
We point to the cross to convey that we cannot be enslaved by death.
Yup. Creepy death cult.
Seek help dude.
Hey, death is relatable. Everyone suffers it.
"Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'"