July 12, 2007
Jesus, Mo and Socrates
I thought Jesus and Mo was a perfect combination to highlight the illogical nature of religion, but I was wrong – who could pick apart Christianity better than Socrates?
It’s a long read, but it seems to sum up Christianity quite well. A small snippet to tempt you:
Socrates: If God created man’s eyes, legs and mind, he also created man’s desires; all his desires, even his desire for knowledge and sex. Why did man sin?
Jesus: He sinned because of his weaknesses and his evil nature.
Socrates: Who created man’s nature?
Jesus: God.
Socrates: It seems to me that you Lord God has merely created man to watch him suffer. This business of Satan, the Garden of Eden and free will is merely a facade. God merely wanted an excuse to harass, persecute, torment and oppress mankind. If an all-powerful and all-knowing being creates everything, and allows his creations to react in a certain way, he actually intended them to act in that way and is solely responsible for the results.
Link: Socrates Meets Jesus
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Benjamin Polge said,
August 24, 2008 at 1:15 am
I understand that after thinking this through, you would have to conclude that God is a cruel tyrant and unworthy of worship. The problem is that Socrates does not accurately present what the Bible teaches about sin and the fall.
Man did not sin because of weakness. Adam was created in God’s image and was holy, fully capable of perfect obedience even in his desires. When Adam ate the fruit he willfully and with full knowledge of the consequences rebelled against God.
We, his descendants, now have inherited the state that he put himself into. Man does not sin because of weakness, as though if by his own power he were able to be holy. No, man sins because he is true to his nature, a nature that is in full, willful rebellion to God. This nature was not produced by God, nor was God responsible for it. Just as cold is the absence of heat, our sin natures were created by one man willfully removing himself from God. God simply allowed man’s free choice to produce its own consequences.