On "Sin", "Satan", and "Hell"

On the day I met my former patient on the street, whom told me that i made a difference in his life, I was also met by a Christian whom tried to get me to go to his church in hopes of converting me to his faith. And since then, I have found myself in much religious debate over my theology and the fundamentalist Christian theology. So I have decided to take the time to actually write about what I feel in regards to what I have been debating against.

Now, before I go any further, I have to say that I have no problems with the religion of Chrtistianity. I think it is actually a wonderful faith filled with doctrine of forgiveness and hope in oppressive times. That we need not feel burdened by the pressures of a material world when a higher spiritual reality beckons us towards enlightenment.

The symbol of Jesus on the Cross is gorgeous. It shows (to me at least) a message that whatever we feel guilty or ashamed about, no matter what brings us down, no matter how awful we feel, we will find forgiveness from that and be released from those burdens to be surrounded in love and joy.

However, I think that people have taken it too far in fundamentalism. Instead of preaching on Self Forgiveness, it has become a doctrine of fear instead. According to most of the Christian faith that I have met or seen in the media (there may be others whom are different, but i have yet to see them), Jesus did not let himself be crucified so that we may find forgiveness in ourselves, but so that God could forgive us. That we as human beings were such awful, miserable people so far away from God's will that we needed the Son of Man to be murdered in the most horrible way so that God may forgive us and allow us into paradise and be "saved" from evil.

There is just way too much to that theology that makes me cringe. The simple truth is that I do not believe in the reality of "Sin", "Satan", and "Hell". They are theats used to control people and not an actuality as would be professed by an omnibenevolent God.

Let me explain. If you do not follow the creeds of the Church fathers, then you are labelled as "Sinful" and as such are against the will of God. Even more to the point that god will literally hold it against you. If you sin too much, then you are under the sway of the source of all evil, named "Satan", who will claim your fragile soul as his away from the beauty of God. And if you let yourself be taken by "Satan" and reject God in any way, then you will be sent to eternal damnation in "Hell".

Tell me. Does that sound like a spiritual truth? To me, it sounds like people in power crafting doctrines to keep people obeying their rules. And for some strange reason, it worked.

Mankind seems to have this strange tendancy of believing that only things outside of himself can bring him peace, and that there is no internal force to bring such a thing. In my experiences, I find the opposite true. Man is the creator of his own reality, his own life, and his own fate. In other words, Man is God.

The bible even teaches this same thing. Jesus stated this in John 10:34 "Is it not written in your law? I said: "You are Gods!""

Sadly, people don't want to believe that. They want to believe that they need a big daddy god to keep them safe and punish the people who do wrong in their eyes. And that is a damned shame.

The truth is that man is as powerful as he believes himself to be. And sadly, people in power saw that too and decided to take away that belief.

This is true for other faiths too. In the Neo-Pagan/Wiccan communities, most people believe that they need the right spell to manifest change in their lives. They need the right words to the spell, the right herbs or crystals or incense, the right garments, or the right entity to make the spell work. When in fact it is one's belief that makes a spell work and that the best spells are the ones that the magician makes for him/herself.

Even in modern secular world, people seem to think that they need the latest medications to make them healthy, the latest technology to make them happy, and the latest fashions to make them accepted. Ultimately all the healing, happiness, and good fortune one desires in found within in the Body, Heart, and Mind.

And yet, people still desire to have all the problems of this world illogically explained to them that an omnibenevolent god would allow for someone who disobeys him to spend eternity in an inferno or allow a terrible fallen angel of negativity to terrorize mankind with "sin".

Sadly, I am not explaining this very well, so I will end it here. Just remember that you do not need a daddy god to forgive you for anything you feel guilty of when you can forgive yourself just as easily.

LVX Amor!