In Reply to: Re: I don't see the problem with Paul posted by Rocky on May 09, 2005 at 23:16:02:
If you agreed with all my views I'd be very worried for you. :) What I was referring to when I said the dark side of Jesus were things like his teachings on hell and his claim that he was the one and only way to god. There are other dark and terrible sides to him that the author of the book, Drury, comprehensively elucidates. Perhaps there is nothing new in this book, as another poster has claimed, without having read it I might add. But it is the particular focus on terror that I found most interesting about this book.
Personally, I particularly abhor the cruel concept of original sin and the ideology that claims that I came into this world befouled by the sins of others, and that I can only be "saved" from my state of sin by the blood of Christ. If faith is the key to salvation, then skepticism and unbelief is sin, death, and damnation. Drury explains far more eloquently what I'm trying to say, so here are a few paragraphs from her book:
"Despite his inclination to forgiveness, Jesus makes it clear that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is the unforgivable sin in this world as well as in the next (Matthew 12:31-32). To blaspheme against the Holy Ghost is to blaspheme against the goodness of God. Those who say nasty things about Jesus, insofar as he is a man, might be forgiven. In the Gospels he is called a winebibber and a glutton. But to speak ill of Jesus in his divinity is the same as disparaging the goodness of God or blaspheming against the Holy Ghost. But why is blaspheming against the Holy Ghost more terrible than any other sin? Is it more terrible than torturing little animals for sport? Is it more terrible than cold-blooded murder? Obviously, Jesus thinks it is.
"Aquinas explains, "in comparison with blasphemy, every sin is slight," because blasphemy is unbelief expressed in words. Aquinas argues that blasphemy is even worse than perjury because it involves saying or thinking something false about God. And that is the most serious sin of all because it follows from unbelief. In other words, if I bear false witness in a court of law with the intention of harming someone or having someone unjustly put to death, my sin is "slight" in comparison to blasphemy. It is more grievous to have wrong beliefs about God than to commit perjury, no matter how malicious the intent and how dreadful the consequences. Therefore, to question, doubt, or disparage the justice and goodness of God, as I am doing here, is blasphemy. Critical thinking is monstrous wickedness that is unforgivable in this world and in the next.
"Christians have followed Jesus in defining wickedness as not believing what Christians believe. This assumption has been the source of untold wickedness in the history of the Church. It explains the profound intolerance that has led Christians to persecute others, not for doing harm but simply for being unbelievers or for harboring what Christian authorities think are false beliefs. The Inquisition and the burning of heretics was a classic case in point. It was about punishing people for their beliefs, not their actions. The assumption is that unbelief is itself a sin; this assumption is at the heart of the darkest chapters in the history of human tyranny in general and of the Church in particular."
No matter how Christian apologists [this is me speaking again] try to explain centuries of atrocities committed, and still being committed, in the name of Jesus, it can all be traced back to Jesus' own words, or at least those that are purported to be his that are believed and acted on by his followers. This, I think, is at the heart of what Drury is trying to say, that you cannot exculpate Jesus from crimes against humanity committed by his followers. She exposes Jesus' ethic of love for what it really is.