People who think God cares deeply about my genitals sure like to jump right to that "you committed a murder" equation for sin.
You and your holy book are the only sources of info I have for the desires of this particular God... and it is no less ludicrous when you say that all the things that are "sins" are equal to murder, for which we must pay a penalty that is just and right, than if I came up to you and said "You snarfled my graftim, and now you must pay!"
Like it or not, your "free gift of salvation" comes with the price of "confessing" that God is one's Master. Complete submission, no less, is what a master requires. This is no simple question, to be considered lightly. And yet, when we consider the entire story of the Master being proposed to us for consideration, we must look at a few factors, whether you want to call them peripheral or not:
1) Master expects certain behavior of us, which Master's adherents say we all fail to live up to.
2) Master can only give us The Gift if we first accept him as Master.
3) Master seems oddly concerned with where I put my genitals, and in general appears completely made up to correspond to human psychology.
4) Master will torture me, out of some warped sense of justice, if I find the claims of the followers to be too silly to follow.
5) Master's secretaries are infallibly "inspired", even though any honest reader of those writers' work concludes that they were not whom they claimed to be, and can see that the writers are not more than an usually-ignorant variety of follower.
You may see this as a "personal relationship" with one's master, but we see it very, very differently, and your willful blindness does not endear you to us or anyone else with a skeptical or rational approach.
You and your holy book are the only sources of info I have for the desires of this particular God... and it is no less ludicrous when you say that all the things that are "sins" are equal to murder, for which we must pay a penalty that is just and right, than if I came up to you and said "You snarfled my graftim, and now you must pay!"
Like it or not, your "free gift of salvation" comes with the price of "confessing" that God is one's Master. Complete submission, no less, is what a master requires. This is no simple question, to be considered lightly. And yet, when we consider the entire story of the Master being proposed to us for consideration, we must look at a few factors, whether you want to call them peripheral or not:
1) Master expects certain behavior of us, which Master's adherents say we all fail to live up to.
2) Master can only give us The Gift if we first accept him as Master.
3) Master seems oddly concerned with where I put my genitals, and in general appears completely made up to correspond to human psychology.
4) Master will torture me, out of some warped sense of justice, if I find the claims of the followers to be too silly to follow.
5) Master's secretaries are infallibly "inspired", even though any honest reader of those writers' work concludes that they were not whom they claimed to be, and can see that the writers are not more than an usually-ignorant variety of follower.
You may see this as a "personal relationship" with one's master, but we see it very, very differently, and your willful blindness does not endear you to us or anyone else with a skeptical or rational approach.
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.