Why do we not pass down unfinished prison terms to the children of prisoners who die while serving their sentence? Why is it not okay to punish the child for the transgressions of a parent? The reason is the recognition that we all are individuals and no person, even offspring, are responsible for the actions or debts of another.
Consider the concept of “Original Sin” and the “Fall of Man.”
Why do people think that one mistake by one man long ago is a good justification to punish all of his offspring for all eternity?
For those that tell us the genesis story is merely a fable or parable, that it is not to be taken literally… and/or perhaps who recognize that the story is actually an adaptation of earlier mythos and not even related to Jewish tradition consider the following. Without a literal true “fall of man,” because of committing the original sin, there is no reason for Jesus to sacrifice himself, as there is nothing for humanity to be forgiven for.
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How is it right that if I do wrong to any another person or group, I only need to be forgiven by some third party (god or Jesus) who was not affected by my actions? If I hurt Fred, does Tom get to forgive me? If Fred is still pissed at me would the fact that I’m forgiven by Tom help Fred in any way?
Obviously, I can’t forgive your transgressions against someone else.
If God exists and forgives me but Fred doesn’t, Fred sees no benefit. If God can only forgive me for transgressions against him (God) then my real social obligation is to seek to make things right with Fred. If I steal from Fred, I owe Fred the restitution, not a third party.
The whole concept of Jesus dying for our sins, presupposes, it is okay for a God to punish someone eternally for transgressions they did not commit and that it is okay for Jesus to forgive you for that sin through an act of his own personal sacrifice.
In light of bronze age societal moral development, this concept might fly, but it breaks down when looked at from a perspective of modern morality.
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How can we come to the conclusion that god is good in terms of morality? If we accept that our own moral compass is broken from the start and cannot be trusted, how do we determine and make the necessarily moral judgment call that god is a good moral being to be obeyed.
Should one accept the morality of another, over their own personal morality when they conflict?
If you believe that indiscriminately slaughtering innocent women, children, and babies is wrong under all possible circumstances at any time, no matter who tells you to do it, but you also believe your moral compass is broken, because that’s what your religious belief tells you, you can be convinced that god wants you to kill those you consider innocent. You can justify this as following orders and freely admitting that you can’t understand god’s “mysterious ways,” but are willing to accept the morality of another over your own without justification because you freely admit you can’t understand that justification anyway.
The morality that we find in the bible corresponds perfectly with the time in which the bible stories were generated. Social morality has continued to evolve over the millennia, so that today our society finds many things that were justified behavior in stone age, bronze age, and iron age cultures, are not tolerated in modern western societies. Slavery, stoning people to death for disobedience, killing gays or nonbelievers, holding generations of family members responsible for crimes of someone who came before or for their unpaid debts, are all examples of outdated morality.
Why, if the bible is inspired by god, would he not teach a superior morality than what anyone could so easily find in that ancient society as well as many other cultures from that time in history? Clearly an all-knowing god would have at least the moral understanding that we humans now have achieved over time. After all we’re not gods but we figured it out in spite of his teachings or lack thereof.
The idea that it is okay for parents to kill their unruly children may be okay with bible literalists but modern society has passed laws against it anyway, in spite of what god was reported to have said. If you think morality comes from god then you are blind to the obvious conflict that assertion creates with other assertions of his being all-knowing, or all-loving.
