Jesus: Surrender Your Sense of Reason
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Jesus made plenty of promises. He talked of kingdoms and miracles to come, as well as heaven. He had to insist his flock had faith:
“Everything is possible for anyone who has faith” (Mark 9:24, NJB.) Everything is possible if one is injected with heroin too, but that is an illusion. One comes back to a cold, harsh world. Faith, like heroin, will never reverse reality.
Jesus stated,
“I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3, NJB.) Children have very active imaginations, which is natural, healthy, and does no harm. They are pliable, and usually do as they’re told. Adults, however, need to face real life, and should think for themselves. To have faith in Jesus is to avoid the responsibility of personally making decisions. It hands some of the control of one’s life over to a priest or a preacher, which is why they promote this prattle.
Jesus, or whoever was writing in his name, was using an old ploy; promising the punters paradise. He never had to prove paradise existed, yet he could control people’s behaviour in the here and now by getting them to dream about heaven. Christian governments and Islamic terrorists have often taken a leaf out of Jesus’ book by promising soldiers they’ll up in paradise if they lose their lives.
Jesus was demanding uncritical belief, threatening anyone who doubted by refusing them heaven. Resorting to ultimatums meant he had a weak argument. These patronising proverbs prove that the Gospels were written for an uneducated audience, and what’s more, that the authors hoped to keep them ignorant.
Jesus also threatened people with hell. He couldn’t prove hell existed either, or that he had the power to send anyone there, yet he used the idea to control people’s behaviour. If the punter is credulous enough to be intimidated by unsubstantiated threats, the priest or preacher, using Jesus as his sock puppet, can wield his authority. This one works particularly well on children, who are easily frightened, and it becomes an integral part of a young Christian’s psyche. It’s psychological abuse.
Uncritical belief, otherwise known as faith or superstition, is integral to theology. Without faith, Christianity completely disintegrates, which is why the Gospels have Jesus praising its value. Yet faith is nothing more than a nice sounding word to describe a belief for which there’s no evidence. When there are facts, there’s no need for faith. Faith walks hand in hand with ignorance and credulity. In Christian parlance it’s portrayed as a virtue, whereas in reality it’s a travesty against our intellects.
If a spiel is repetitively promoted as “truth,” people can lose confidence in common sense. They become convinced the future is out of control, determined by the whim of an unpredictable God, so don’t direct their own destiny. That’s tragic. Jesus, the puppet philosopher, asks people to do something we should never, ever do: surrender our sense of reason.
European societies failed to progress, and in fact declined, throughout the dark ages, largely because Christian churches discouraged logical thought. Any theories or new ideas not focused on a church’s doctrine were seen as a threat to their power. It was only after the reformation, when church power declined, that any social, scientific or ethical progress was made. Yet churches are still holding some of us back, because they still market this faith idea. It should concern all of us if children are subjected to it. The promotion of faith as a virtue must stop.
There is a superior alternative to faith. We become happy, mature and well-balanced by being rational. Society too makes advances in science, education, and law by employing reasoned thought. The fact that science and reason are far superior to faith is a truth that churches are just going to have to get used to.
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Jesus H Christ! – is that him?
Dr. Mark your article assumes there was a Jesus. It’s my understanding that there have been “jesus’ since the beginning of time. Unfortunately this one seems to be hanging around longer than the earlier myths.
Hi Rachel, I agree with your implication that they may have never been an historical Jesus. And, I’m absolutely certain, that if there was such a character he tried to start a war with Rome and got knocked off for his efforts, and he didn’t say all these things attributed to him.
This article really is only about the mythical character that Christians assume actually existed.
My question, Dr. Fulton, is why is it so important to convince the believers that their Jesus never existed, particularly those who are simply using Him as a way of explaining an unexplainable world and as a comfort to keep them from going nuts in this crazy world. You need not bother with all of the wars in His name, nor those who pray in his name rather than seek medical help. The wars in His name are as much political and about power as much as they are about religion and those seeking help from an illness are either too stupid to understand science or they have an incurable disease. Those who are zealots will remain zealots until this rock breaks into little pieces because their brains are wired that way. It is those in the middle who are unsure of themselves and need something to cling to that I worry about. If you take their on security blanket away from them they will be lost. The truth is, none of us know for sure what is out there. We simply follow logic to a reasonable conclusion.
Hi Bill. One of the main reasons I oppose Christianity is that I think, generally speaking, it damages people psychologically. You might care to read my blog on this at http://www.markfulton.org/the-psychological-effects-of-christianity
Then, as you say, there are the international political issues.
People, in reality, would do better without Jesus as a security blanket. I think if they embraced some real things, such as their fellow man, and approached their problems with a rational mindset, they’d be much more happy and successful.
Jesus, the default generic imaginary friend, is nothing more than a priest or preacher’s sock puppet used to dumb down and profit from the people.
Excellent commentary.
Sometimes, taking away a security blanket is a kindness. At others, telling the truth does help those in the middle to see the facts.
In my experience, not many people like to be told the truth and deeply resent those that do. My tag line in my emails and some sites is, “If freedom means anything at all, it’s the liberty to tell others what they do no9t want to hear.”
Obviously, I don’t expect to accumulate many fans for that, it’s not an issue for me.
If you recall the baseball steroids scandal of a few years ago, only one person involved told the truth. That was Jose Canseco. For his honesty, he was reviled and hated by millions. It’s true that Jose could be a bit of a jerk at times, but who isn’t? In this case, he was asked and he answered honestly and I suspect he knew what would happen when he did. He did it anyway and took the heat. Personally, I have to admire that even though I am not a baseball fan or a fan of Canseco, either.
I still think that people have a right to believe or not believe in whatever they want to they choose as long as they leave me out of the equation. There have been beliefs in Gods since humans have been capable of thought so it is unlikely that anyone is going to dissuade them now. Humans have always had a need to somehow explain the unexplainable and what better way than to point to the sky and blame it on Gods. Additionally since humans can never have good without bad to define it, there must an antithesis to God, thus we have the devil or demons to explain the bad things. We are really very simple creatures who want everything and want it now.
How about Buddhism? Is it even a “religion” or more of a state of being? I’ve never seen mention of hellfire and brimstone in any Buddhist teachings. Maybe I missed something?
I have seen a link where none other than the Dali Lama states that Buddhism is a religion.
As far as heaven and hell, the state of nirvana seems to be an analogy for heaven. I have also seen where aspirants are told that, if things are not going well for them in life, it is probably because of their deeds in a previous life. None of that seems particularly harmless to me.
The carrot and the stick is an effective way of controlling horses, mules, and those without the will or intelligence to understand that they are both empty promises and ineffective threats. Still, it makes a good substitute when there are no facts, or rational reasoning to make a case.
If any religion could produce something besides threats of hell and promises of paradise, they would quickly sweep all other religions aside.