Posted by:
MCR
(
)
Date: April 18, 2014 09:06AM
Simply because the fact is, Jesus WAS tortured and killed. The first century Jesus-myth spinners had to come up with something to make Jesus' death salient to something rather than simply be the failure of Jesus to prevail over his oppressors. If not, there wouldn't have been a Jesus myth to survive. At the time, sacrificing one for many wasn't abhorrent--look at the similar myths of the time. Also, after the fall of Rome, Christianity blended with barbarianism to create Western Europe. Many of our modern concepts, including Just War, and group punishment, came from barbaric Christianity, not Roman-empire Christianity. Group punishment crescendoed with the Crusades. These battles were historic events in which Christians really did slaughter every man, woman, and child breathing within the gates of a city. It was unprecedented. It wasn't the Roman way. Romans were empire-builders, not genocidal purgers. What comes down to us is 2,000 years of European political history, not 2,000 years of purely religious history.
So now, science has made us stop fearing God. A global community has made us far less tribal. The experience of two World Wars, the annihilation of the Jews, and the development of weapons too destructive ever to use, have taught us to fear the concept of group punishment, and mass-killing itself. Furthermore, the development of psychology and sociology have given us a clearer picture of successful parenting and mental balance. Our metaphors for God and Jesus have collapsed. God, as father, is at best, a sociopath. Jesus, as son, makes no sense. Public, as sinners, who are punished for their sin, makes no sense in light of God's power as creator. How can a just God punish his creations for behaving exactly as he created them? Because it gives the creations an opportunity to choose the good path and worship God to avoid the punishment. So, we're back to sociopathy: "worship me, and I'll save you from, well, me!"
This myth definitely needs new myth-makers. The current story is long past its sell-by date.