This is a thought that I had on a jet ride from Calgary to Halifax. Bear in mind that I am an atheist: I genuinely believe that my corpse will rot and my memories be lost forever. So you may not wish to read this.
Now Jesus was supposed to die a real death, a human death, full of actual suffering and pain to attone for our sins. Now, it must be a very real death to have any meaning. If his suffering is an act, then he is merely mocking our condition or at the very least Jesus's crucifixion would be rendered meaningless: he could have simply told us in sincerity that he was going to absolve us. If the death was an act than it was not a sacrifice and the son of god was not sacrificed for the sins of man, more like a pin prick: the nuisance of taking on an avatar. Simply put, Jesus must die a real, human death.
Yet, to die a human death, you must fear the loss of life. Sure there are some people that go running to their death for reasons of glory but a reasonable person would deem that a sort of suicide. Furthermore, none of us really has the certainty of "a life everlasting" or of reincarnation, there could be nothing but a grave, or worse: eternal damnation. Furthermore, no reasonable person sees any meaning in death. Although "the meaning of life" is nebulous at best, helping the weak, spending time with family and friends, taking pride in our creations, and seeing the next sunset are all things that give us meaning of sorts. Death, it serves no immediate purpose to look forward to and life will always flee from death so long as it has the strength.
The supposed miracles that Jesus performed: walking on water, turning water to wine and bread to fish, quelling a storm, making a fig tree die, curing the sick, and banishing demons all point towards Jesus being deific. Yet in his godliness, he could take himself down from the cross. He could smite those who would crucify him like the people of Soddom and Gemorra. Jesus has the certainty of a life everlasting by verily knowing that he is the son of God and therefore immortal. Also being God, Jesus would know that his death would serve the greatest purpose of all: the absolution of sin in humankind.
So to me, there is an apparent conflict between Jesus being a God on Earth, and Jesus dying a human death. Since with a snap of his fingers he could have, as he was alleged to have done before, performed a miracle, his death was at best a suicide, a mock sacrifice.
To me, an atheist, that is a simple and manifest conflict. With the power to bend the laws of physics I would never die a real death. I would have to choose the hour of my own death. With the knowledge of a greater life waiting for me through my own death, I would simply be en par with a very unpleasant operation. Only by not having these powers at my disposal do I die a human death. Thus I pose the dichotomy: either Jesus was God on Earth, or he died a human death, not both.
Now Jesus was supposed to die a real death, a human death, full of actual suffering and pain to attone for our sins. Now, it must be a very real death to have any meaning. If his suffering is an act, then he is merely mocking our condition or at the very least Jesus's crucifixion would be rendered meaningless: he could have simply told us in sincerity that he was going to absolve us. If the death was an act than it was not a sacrifice and the son of god was not sacrificed for the sins of man, more like a pin prick: the nuisance of taking on an avatar. Simply put, Jesus must die a real, human death.
Yet, to die a human death, you must fear the loss of life. Sure there are some people that go running to their death for reasons of glory but a reasonable person would deem that a sort of suicide. Furthermore, none of us really has the certainty of "a life everlasting" or of reincarnation, there could be nothing but a grave, or worse: eternal damnation. Furthermore, no reasonable person sees any meaning in death. Although "the meaning of life" is nebulous at best, helping the weak, spending time with family and friends, taking pride in our creations, and seeing the next sunset are all things that give us meaning of sorts. Death, it serves no immediate purpose to look forward to and life will always flee from death so long as it has the strength.
The supposed miracles that Jesus performed: walking on water, turning water to wine and bread to fish, quelling a storm, making a fig tree die, curing the sick, and banishing demons all point towards Jesus being deific. Yet in his godliness, he could take himself down from the cross. He could smite those who would crucify him like the people of Soddom and Gemorra. Jesus has the certainty of a life everlasting by verily knowing that he is the son of God and therefore immortal. Also being God, Jesus would know that his death would serve the greatest purpose of all: the absolution of sin in humankind.
So to me, there is an apparent conflict between Jesus being a God on Earth, and Jesus dying a human death. Since with a snap of his fingers he could have, as he was alleged to have done before, performed a miracle, his death was at best a suicide, a mock sacrifice.
To me, an atheist, that is a simple and manifest conflict. With the power to bend the laws of physics I would never die a real death. I would have to choose the hour of my own death. With the knowledge of a greater life waiting for me through my own death, I would simply be en par with a very unpleasant operation. Only by not having these powers at my disposal do I die a human death. Thus I pose the dichotomy: either Jesus was God on Earth, or he died a human death, not both.
