Friday, February 20, 2004
The is the contents of a new flyer I created in response to Mel Gibson's new bit of Christian fiction, The Passion of the Christ. You can find the flyer in PDF format by clicking the Pamphlets link to the right.
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Welcome to this showing of The Passion of the Christ. This is a big-budget movie by Mel Gibson, and that alone indicates that you will probably enjoy it. But you might want to take a dispassionate moment to consider what you are about to see. Think about how you are being manipulated by this film. Its excessive and graphic violence is intended to create sympathy for the suffering of the main character. Is this sympathy misplaced? Is it justified?
THINK! An all-powerful being makes all the rules. If forgiveness is needed, a god is capable of forgiving humanity via any method he chooses. The god in this film, who is said to be all-loving, is said to have chosen a barbaric human sacrifice as his method of forgiveness. Do you really have sympathy for a suffering entity who has every other possible non-violent option? Does it really make sense to believe in an all-loving being who forgives via torture?
THINK! It is impossible for an all-powerful being to experience genuine sacrifice. A human being is capable of experiencing sacrifice because he/she is unable to remedy his loss. An omnipotent being has no such limitation. It is important to think of this story in terms of the characters portrayed. If your only son is sacrificed, that loss is genuine. But if you were a god, you would merely recreate or resurrect your son, thus the sacrifice has no real meaning. If you had a billion dollars and you gave it all away, would that be a meaningful act if you had the ability to create a new billion dollars? It is said this god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, yet it's really no great act to give something away when you have the power to replace it instantly.
THINK! Did Jesus even exist? There is not one single extra-biblical reference to Jesus that is not subject to serious scholarly dispute. Furthermore, the many Biblical references to Jesus have important internal inconsistencies. Unless the existance of Jesus is verified in a compelling and objective way, you may as well have sympathy for the characters in a Disney video.
THINK! How can an omnipotent god suffer? An important component of suffering is the unknowability of its duration or outcome. An omnipotent, omniscient god does not have this limitation.
THINK! We are told that the sacrifice of Jesus was needed because of the fall of man. However, an all-knowing deity would know the fall of man was to occur before it happened. If this deity did not want the fall of man to occur, why create the universe in such a way that it would occur? An omnipotent and omniscient deity bears ultimate responsibility for the things that occur in the universe he creates and controls. Therefore, why would mankind be punished?
THINK! We are told that the sacrifice of Jesus was needed because we are doomed to eternal hell without it. Does it make sense to be convicted of a crime we did not commit? Does it make sense to be exonerated by a sacrifice we did not make? Does it make sense to sentence mankind to infinite torture for a finite crime? Is this perfect justice? No, it is perfect absurdity.
The cornerstone of this film and the Christian religion as a whole is a horrific human sacrifice. Careful consideration shows that the human sacrifice depicted here is meaningless, unnecessary, and even fictional. Nevertheless, it does make for great movie material. Enjoy the film.
American Atheists – Ohio
http://www.OhioAtheists.org
Michael Allen, Ohio State Director
E-mail: ========================
Welcome to this showing of The Passion of the Christ. This is a big-budget movie by Mel Gibson, and that alone indicates that you will probably enjoy it. But you might want to take a dispassionate moment to consider what you are about to see. Think about how you are being manipulated by this film. Its excessive and graphic violence is intended to create sympathy for the suffering of the main character. Is this sympathy misplaced? Is it justified?
THINK! An all-powerful being makes all the rules. If forgiveness is needed, a god is capable of forgiving humanity via any method he chooses. The god in this film, who is said to be all-loving, is said to have chosen a barbaric human sacrifice as his method of forgiveness. Do you really have sympathy for a suffering entity who has every other possible non-violent option? Does it really make sense to believe in an all-loving being who forgives via torture?
THINK! It is impossible for an all-powerful being to experience genuine sacrifice. A human being is capable of experiencing sacrifice because he/she is unable to remedy his loss. An omnipotent being has no such limitation. It is important to think of this story in terms of the characters portrayed. If your only son is sacrificed, that loss is genuine. But if you were a god, you would merely recreate or resurrect your son, thus the sacrifice has no real meaning. If you had a billion dollars and you gave it all away, would that be a meaningful act if you had the ability to create a new billion dollars? It is said this god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, yet it's really no great act to give something away when you have the power to replace it instantly.
THINK! Did Jesus even exist? There is not one single extra-biblical reference to Jesus that is not subject to serious scholarly dispute. Furthermore, the many Biblical references to Jesus have important internal inconsistencies. Unless the existance of Jesus is verified in a compelling and objective way, you may as well have sympathy for the characters in a Disney video.
THINK! How can an omnipotent god suffer? An important component of suffering is the unknowability of its duration or outcome. An omnipotent, omniscient god does not have this limitation.
THINK! We are told that the sacrifice of Jesus was needed because of the fall of man. However, an all-knowing deity would know the fall of man was to occur before it happened. If this deity did not want the fall of man to occur, why create the universe in such a way that it would occur? An omnipotent and omniscient deity bears ultimate responsibility for the things that occur in the universe he creates and controls. Therefore, why would mankind be punished?
THINK! We are told that the sacrifice of Jesus was needed because we are doomed to eternal hell without it. Does it make sense to be convicted of a crime we did not commit? Does it make sense to be exonerated by a sacrifice we did not make? Does it make sense to sentence mankind to infinite torture for a finite crime? Is this perfect justice? No, it is perfect absurdity.
The cornerstone of this film and the Christian religion as a whole is a horrific human sacrifice. Careful consideration shows that the human sacrifice depicted here is meaningless, unnecessary, and even fictional. Nevertheless, it does make for great movie material. Enjoy the film.
American Atheists – Ohio
http://www.OhioAtheists.org
Michael Allen, Ohio State Director
