ORIGINAL SIN
Last night, I had an unusual experience – well, unusual for you, not for me. I’ve been through it around 40 times.
Every spring, the Jehovah’s Witness religion holds its only ceremony, called the Memorial of Christ’s Death. It is held on the Jewish date of Nisan 14, and, for an outsider, it is one of the strangest customs you will ever encounter. It’s kind of like Easter, in a perverse sort of way.
It begins with the local congregation beating the bush for every warm body that they can find, to bring up the attendance. Although I haven’t been in a Kingdom Hall for a couple of years, I thought I would throw the relatives a bone this year by taking in the local memorial. They still hold out hope that I will return to the flock.
Once the hall is filled, a short sermon is given, explaining the events on the last day of Jesus’ life. Then a glass of wine and a plate of unleavened bread is passed around – but, you’re not supposed to drink or eat any of it. Only those who are going to heaven get to eat the stuff, and most of them died in the 1920s. Us lowly other ones are just observers.
So, we observe the glass and the plate being handed around, then wrap up the proceedings and go home. Sixteen million people did this last year. What a fricken waste of time.
Anyway, at least it got me thinking. This whole issue of Jesus ransom sacrifice is based on some pretty shaky logic. Let’s take a look at some of the flaws in it.
Unfairness – First of all, we have the problem of the unfairness of original sin. Why are people punished for the sin of their ancestors? Why am I sentenced to death because a naked chick ate a piece of fruit at the insistence of a talking snake? Never mind the lunacy of the premise, I want to know what kind of court would convict me for a crime committed by someone else.
Proportion – Where I live, the toughest sentence for a crime is life in prison, which ends up at 25 years or less. This means that the worst crime that our society can imagine is worthy of taking only a portion of a person’s life. Yet, for the sake of a piece of fruit, God has sentenced billions of people to the death penalty. The crime committed in Eden is on par with a parking ticket. Get some perspective, God.
Science – As I understand the story, we all die because Adam and Eve sinned, and they passed on their sin to us. But, why would sin be hereditary? You can only pass on to your decendents the contents of your genes. If Adam and Eve were created perfect, then their genetic material must also have been perfect. You can’t inherit something like theft – it isn’t a genetic item. It would be like inheriting a haircut or a trip to the store. God needs to brush up on his genetics.
Consistency – If we grow old and die because of original sin, then why do animals grow old and die? They age and get sick, just like us, often from the same diseases. So, if human aging and death is such an unnatural state that it requires a supernatural explanation, then why don’t we require the same explanation from the animal kingdom? Dogs were created directly by God, and everything he does is perfect. So, dogs must therefore be perfect. If they die, then aging and death must be the perfect progression and ending state for them, unless they also sinned. Perhaps Rover ate a forbidden kibble.
Suffering – Much fuss has been made about Jesus suffering on our behalf. Mel Gibson has shown us in graphic and profitable detail exactly what Jesus went through, so we should be grateful. But, I say what’s the big deal? Jesus was tortured and killed. Many other people have also been tortured and killed under equal or worse conditions, notably the guys who were crucified beside him. He had a bad experience, but it wasn’t supernaturally bad. Others have had worse. The son of God should have been subjected to a whopper of a torture session. But, he wasn’t.
Death – Can we really say that Jesus died for our sins? The tragedy of death is really twofold – the experience of the moment of death, and the eternal oblivion that follows it. The true tragedy is the lack of a return. Jesus had the first part, but he didn’t stay dead very long – only about a day and a half, and he skipped the worst part entirely. He missed out on the eternity of oblivion. So, Jesus didn’t die for our sins, he just had a really bad weekend for our sins.
Ransom – Now, I must ask the central question to this discussion: What’s the point? For the sake of argument, let’s concede that the original sin thing is real. But, we are told that Jesus died for our sins, and because of his sacrifice, he has made salvation available to humans. What kind of logic is this? What good can come from killing a person? On what planet does the murder of an innocent person fix anything? By way of analogy, imagine that you are in court, charged with murder. The judge finds you guilty, and sentences you to life in prison. Or, if you prefer, you could just kill your son, and they would call it all even. That’s the story of the Bible.
This story has more holes in it that Swiss cheese. But, I am overlooking what is probably the biggest flaw in the story. Let’s take a brief look at the life of Jesus.
The Bible says that Jesus was baptized in 29 AD (at age 30) and died in the year 33 AD (at 33 ½ years of age). So, he must have been born in the year 1 BC. Right?
Yet, Matthew says that Jesus was born "In the days of Herod" (Matt 2:1). As well, Matthew tells us that Herod issued the command to kill all babies under the age of 2, so that he could be sure to exterminate the Messiah. (Matt 2:16) Herod died in 4 BC. Therefore, Jesus must have been born between 4 and 6 BC. Hmmm, that’s a bit of a problem.
Then, Luke says that Jesus was born "When Cyrenius was governor of Syria." (Luke 2:2) Cyrenius served as governor of Syria on two occasions. The first time coincided with Herod’s reign, prior to 4 B.C., but there was no census at this time. The second time began in 7 A.D. There was a census during this period. Luke appears to have taken events from one period and transposed them into another period.
This is just one example of many inconsistencies in the story of Jesus. There are many others, ranging from the contradictory genealogies presented by Matthew and Luke, to the specific events of his life.
In addition, many events recorded in the Bible (such as Herod’s massacre of infant children) are not found in any secular records, even though the historians of the day were very anti-Herod and would have loved to ensconce something like this in the permanent record.
When you take these errors and omissions, and add on the mythological similarities to other ancient legends, you come to an inescapable conclusion: The majority of the Jesus myth is simply wishful thinking. The Bible account may be loosely based on an actual individual or composite of individuals, but the finished product is just a cartoon. Jesus is no more likely to return from the grave and redeem me of my sins than Spiderman.
So, I traveled home from the memorial with a lot of food for thought – no unleavened bread or wine, unfortunately, but more useful ideas than I ever thought I could take home from a kingdom hall.