From: dgraham@bmers30.bnr.ca (Douglas Graham)
Subject: Re: *TRUE* Christians
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 10:31:20 GMT

In article <rex.721029457@cyclops> rex@cyclops.itc.gu.edu.au (Rex Baker) writes:
>dgraham@bmers30.bnr.ca (Douglas Graham) writes:
>>You might want to consider why, if Christians are supposed to be known
>>for their love for others, they take as their icon a symbol of one
>>of the worst things that one person could do to another.  Does it
>>not strike you as a bit odd that the word "love" and the gruesome
>>image of a crucified man are somehow connected together in your mind?
>>Does it not strike you as a bit odd that the best your loving god could
>>do to show his love for you was to cause his only begotten son to die
>>an excruciatingly painful death?  Why does the preceding sentence have
>>both the words "love" and "pain" in it?  Should there really be a
>>connection between these words?
>
>[...]
>Are you married? Or do you have a companion with whom you are greatly
>attached, (dare I say 'love').
>
>If so , consider the following scenario;
>You arrive home from work to find said 'loved one' being held at ransom by
>a known killer. Would it not be an apt expression of your love for that
>person to offer to take their place as the hostage. Even if that meant dying
>in their place. If you can understand this, and the way your loved one would
>feel about you for doing this in their place, then you can understand the
>way a christian feels or reacts to Jesus death.

First of all, if I were omnipotent, or even just a good bit more potent than
the killer, I would stop him from threatening my loved one without getting
anybody killed.  But that's a bit off the topic.

Secondly, since we're talking mythology here, we have free reign to choose
whatever we want to worship.  It seems highly pathological to me to
give death such a prominent position in our mythology.  Why not celebrate
life rather than death?  But that's a bit off the topic as well.

Yes, I might sacrifice myself so that somebody I loved could live.  But
I sure as hell wouldn't do it if I thought they would then spend the
rest of their life worshipping my corpse.  I would hope that they would
remember the happy times when they thought of me, and not wander around
showing everybody they met a scaled replica of my mutilated body, while
delighting in recounting the story of how painful my death was.  I would
hope that they wouldn't decide to wear a little shotgun on a chain around
their necks.

>Or perhaps,
>There are countless stories from the World Wars, where soldiers chose to
>give their lives instead of their 'mates' (yep, I'm Australian :-).....).
>In cases like these, "love" and "a gruesome image" can be connected. 
>
>How would you feel towards someone if they rescued you from a perilous
>situation which resulted in their own death?

That's very hard to say unless and until it happens.  Perhaps I would
become mentally ill as well.
--
Should the human race not be extinguished by a nuclear war, it will degenerate
into a flock of stupid, dumb creatures under the tyranny of dictators who rule
them with the help of machines and electronic computers.  This is no prophecy,
just a nightmare.  -- Max Born.   **** dgraham@bnr.ca    My own opinions. ****