Vicarious Expiation

The Christian religion is based upon vicarious expiation.

It is taught that the very first man committed a crime in the eyes of God for which all of humanity was then held responsible. All men, throughout all time, were then proclaimed guilty of a sin for which they had no personal involvement. God essentially damned the entire human race for the actions of the first single human being.

God, in his wisdom, then devised a scheme to let man atone for the sins of another. This scheme allowed for the suffering of the innocent (in this case the Son of God) - in an extreme fashion, to pay for the perceived sins of the many.

To carry out his plan, God was himself born as a human being called Jesus Christ. God lived out this human life filled with kindness and mercy, and after 33 years, was sacrificed, taking the place of man- bearing his guilt and sin. In that way, God was then satisfied that the death of his own human persona would justify to himself that this sacrifice would allow him to forgive the sins of all who might believe in this action.

God justified the killing of himself in human form (Jesus Christ) as a means of transferring the sins of the sinners (all humans).

It is apparent that in the entire scheme of things, man is simply a bystander. God made the rules: he alone perceived the breaking of those rules as criminal- he alone decided that in order for man to atone for the perceived offenses, he must come to earth as a man and be killed, so that he can forgive mankind.

Aside from its closed-loop absurdity, and from a humanistic standpoint, the transference of guilt is simply not logical, moral, ethical, or humane. In human nature, and in what I like to call the “real world”, is it possible that civilized society would enforce a law that would require an innocent man pay for the crimes of another? Would we knowingly execute an innocent man in place of a criminal? Would we hold generational grudges and punish the sons for the crimes of the fathers? What purpose could that possibly serve? It simply makes no sense- yet, we have a religion based on those very precepts.

Let us pretend that a man who we will call Paul (who happens to be a Christian) killed his wife and children. The police had an airtight case against Paul. Even though Paul was guilty, a police officer (Jack) stepped forward and was willing to go to the electric chair in place of Paul. In that way, the police, the courts, and society as a whole, could forgive Paul because Jack took his place. Jack suffered and died for the sins of Paul. The police should be praised, as well as Jack for transferring the sins of Paul to Jack. In this way, Paul’s sins were forgiven. Does this seem logical to you?

To make innocence suffer is the greatest sin. To find logic and reason in the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible is impossible.