Christians
would like the rest of us to believe that their doctrinal beliefs are
so profound that it is impossible for the unbeliever to comprehend it!
They constantly remind us that we can't see God's plan because we are
looking with the "eyes of the flesh" and not with those of "the spirit."
That spiritual matters can only be comprehended by the spirit and the
guidance of the Holy Spirit itself to make these so called mysteries
known (revealed) to us.
In this article I plan to layout the biblical deities plan of salvation in the simplest way possible; for dummies. In order to understand the biblical deities plan you must first put aside all the theological philosophizing and psycho-babble, and read the creation story literally so that in it you can see what it is trying to make known to you.
According to Genesis God created man with two purposes in mind: the first was to rule over the earth and the land and all living creatures in the land and the second was to have fellowship with him.
28 God blessed them, saying to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth.' Gensis 1:28
Chapter 2 tells the story a little differently but we will overlook that since it is not relevant to the purpose of this post. What is relevant is that in verses 16 and 17 God gave his second commandment to man, the first was to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
16 Then Yahweh God gave the man this command, 'You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden.17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for, the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.' Genesis 2:16-17
Of course Eve was not yet created yet but based on what she said during her conversation with the serpent it's pretty obvious that Adam must have passed on this commandment to her and she was quite aware of it. But as many Christians who actually take the time to read the bible know, Eve was tempted by the serpent (not the devil in disguise) and ate and later enticed her husband to eat of the forbidden fruit as well. You can read all about the fall in chapter three of Genesis.
According to what we know so far this fruit (not an apple) was some sort of magical fruit in that when you ate it two things would happen. Your eyes would be opened to the knowledge of good and evil and you would bring death into the world. Based on this tale God created man to live forever in peace and harmony enjoying life and to abide in God's presence. So this fruit somehow infected mankind with the curse of physical and spiritual death hence mankind's need for "salvation."
Man was banished from Eden as a means to prevent him from eating from the "tree of life" so that he could not obtain eternal life in his fallen state. So after God banishes man from the garden he has to come up with a plan to try and redeem mankind. We will overlook his attempt to eradicate mankind with the so called great flood.
Fast forward to when God liberates the Hebrews from their 400 years of slavery in Egypt and gives them a set of commandments. These dealt with atonement sacrifices for the sins of families, individuals, tribes, and the people as a whole. One of the stipulations regarding any sacrifice whether of animal or first fruits was that they had to be of the best quality and untarnished. The sacrifices for the remission of sins had to be animal sacrifices.
11 For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar for your lives, for blood is what expiates for a life. Leviticus 17:11
22 In fact, according to the Law, practically every purification takes place by means of blood; and if there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22
But somehow all of these animal sacrifices were not sufficient enough to completely cleanse you of your sin and therefore required constantly sacrificing to God for your offenses under the law. These blood sacrifices would simply cover up your sins or at best get God to overlook them but not to completely forgive them and redeem you from your sins. This is why many Christians refer to Christ as the ultimate sacrifice. In the N.T. it is even taught that all of those sacrifices were a type of the sacrifice that Christ was ultimately going to provide. When John the baptist first saw Jesus at the Jordan river where he had been baptizing he declared:
29 ... 'Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29
In Hebrews chapter nine the entire purpose of the sacrifice of Christ is explained in a very straight forward manner. The temple made of mans hands here on Earth were but a mirror image of the temple in heaven. In the O.T. the high priest represented the people in the temple and presented the sacrifices on their behalf. In the N.T. under the new covenant Jesus is the high priest who represents mankind before God. Not with the blood of animals but with his own as a sacrifice for the sins of all.
27 Since human beings die only once, after which comes judgement, Hebrews 9:27
According to Christianity you or I could not stand in judgement on our own merits that is why we are all saved by faith in Christ by the grace of God. There you have it! Christianity explained without the need for any enlightenment of the Holy Spirit by an atheist!
In the end this is nothing more than another Roman myth inspired by the O.T. Hebrew myths which in turn were mostly inspired by their neighbors the Babylonians, Canaanites, Egyptians, and others. All myths evolve and build upon one another as is clearly demonstrated to anyone who takes the time to study comparative religion. Hebrews chapter 9 contains a verse that proves that Jesus is not coming back but I will post about it some other time.
All biblical citations used here are from the New Jerusalem Bible translation.
In this article I plan to layout the biblical deities plan of salvation in the simplest way possible; for dummies. In order to understand the biblical deities plan you must first put aside all the theological philosophizing and psycho-babble, and read the creation story literally so that in it you can see what it is trying to make known to you.
According to Genesis God created man with two purposes in mind: the first was to rule over the earth and the land and all living creatures in the land and the second was to have fellowship with him.
28 God blessed them, saying to them, 'Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven and all the living creatures that move on earth.' Gensis 1:28
Chapter 2 tells the story a little differently but we will overlook that since it is not relevant to the purpose of this post. What is relevant is that in verses 16 and 17 God gave his second commandment to man, the first was to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
16 Then Yahweh God gave the man this command, 'You are free to eat of all the trees in the garden.17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for, the day you eat of that, you are doomed to die.' Genesis 2:16-17
Of course Eve was not yet created yet but based on what she said during her conversation with the serpent it's pretty obvious that Adam must have passed on this commandment to her and she was quite aware of it. But as many Christians who actually take the time to read the bible know, Eve was tempted by the serpent (not the devil in disguise) and ate and later enticed her husband to eat of the forbidden fruit as well. You can read all about the fall in chapter three of Genesis.
According to what we know so far this fruit (not an apple) was some sort of magical fruit in that when you ate it two things would happen. Your eyes would be opened to the knowledge of good and evil and you would bring death into the world. Based on this tale God created man to live forever in peace and harmony enjoying life and to abide in God's presence. So this fruit somehow infected mankind with the curse of physical and spiritual death hence mankind's need for "salvation."
Man was banished from Eden as a means to prevent him from eating from the "tree of life" so that he could not obtain eternal life in his fallen state. So after God banishes man from the garden he has to come up with a plan to try and redeem mankind. We will overlook his attempt to eradicate mankind with the so called great flood.
Fast forward to when God liberates the Hebrews from their 400 years of slavery in Egypt and gives them a set of commandments. These dealt with atonement sacrifices for the sins of families, individuals, tribes, and the people as a whole. One of the stipulations regarding any sacrifice whether of animal or first fruits was that they had to be of the best quality and untarnished. The sacrifices for the remission of sins had to be animal sacrifices.
11 For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you for performing the rite of expiation on the altar for your lives, for blood is what expiates for a life. Leviticus 17:11
22 In fact, according to the Law, practically every purification takes place by means of blood; and if there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22
But somehow all of these animal sacrifices were not sufficient enough to completely cleanse you of your sin and therefore required constantly sacrificing to God for your offenses under the law. These blood sacrifices would simply cover up your sins or at best get God to overlook them but not to completely forgive them and redeem you from your sins. This is why many Christians refer to Christ as the ultimate sacrifice. In the N.T. it is even taught that all of those sacrifices were a type of the sacrifice that Christ was ultimately going to provide. When John the baptist first saw Jesus at the Jordan river where he had been baptizing he declared:
29 ... 'Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29
In Hebrews chapter nine the entire purpose of the sacrifice of Christ is explained in a very straight forward manner. The temple made of mans hands here on Earth were but a mirror image of the temple in heaven. In the O.T. the high priest represented the people in the temple and presented the sacrifices on their behalf. In the N.T. under the new covenant Jesus is the high priest who represents mankind before God. Not with the blood of animals but with his own as a sacrifice for the sins of all.
27 Since human beings die only once, after which comes judgement, Hebrews 9:27
According to Christianity you or I could not stand in judgement on our own merits that is why we are all saved by faith in Christ by the grace of God. There you have it! Christianity explained without the need for any enlightenment of the Holy Spirit by an atheist!
In the end this is nothing more than another Roman myth inspired by the O.T. Hebrew myths which in turn were mostly inspired by their neighbors the Babylonians, Canaanites, Egyptians, and others. All myths evolve and build upon one another as is clearly demonstrated to anyone who takes the time to study comparative religion. Hebrews chapter 9 contains a verse that proves that Jesus is not coming back but I will post about it some other time.
All biblical citations used here are from the New Jerusalem Bible translation.
Excellent break down. But I've got to add my two cents:
ReplyDeleteI don't think the claim is that Christianity can't be understood without the Holy Spirit, but rather that it will comes across as nothing but foolishness. The Holy Spirit gives believers the assurance that we are not nuts. But lack of the Holy Spirit is what gives the non-believer the absolute certainty that believers are one fry short of a happy meal. :)
Thanks for posting Jackie it's good to see you!
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