John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
To many fundamentalist, and some not-so fundamentalist, Christians, that's the key passage of the whole Bible. In fact we could narrow it down further. According to a quick Google search I just made, the King James Bible contains 774,746 words, but the whole essence of the fundamentalist belief can be narrowed down to just 0.0009% of the whole; seven words: "whosoever believeth in him should not perish."
Oh, they'll spout a lot of verbiage about good works and so forth, and shout from the roof-tops about living a sin-free life, but that's of secondary importance in the eyes of the god they kowtow to. In the end your chances of avoiding an eternity spinning on Satan's own spit-roast are absolutely nil, they say, unless you believe in Jesus as your personal saviour.
'Saviour': Now there's a telling word if ever there was one. The goal isn't, it implies, to get to Heaven. The goal is to be saved from Hell. The afterlife, to them, is not a promise but a threat. Fear, not hope, as Alistair MacLean might have put it, is the key to their belief. 'God-fearing Christian.' We hear the phrase so often that it loses the literal meaning; but what a disgusting, cowardly phrase it is, when examined! But I digress slightly.
What does this say about the morality and priorities of their god? Is he, maybe, interested in our well-being? Not that I can see. Not if a life-time of sinning can be discounted in light of a last-minute repentance and a quick death-bed conversion. He's certainly not interested in rewarding good works; not if all the charity and selflessness in the world doesn't even get you an interview with St Peter unless you also believe in Christ as a personal saviour.
This god isn't a judge of character; he's a judge of faith. He's not just; he's vain. He's not the loving father they like to proclaim he is; he's a sadistic vainglorious father who demands loyalty from his children, on quite literal pain of eternal punishment in the torture chamber he built in the basement.
It's sad, but true, that many fundamentalists will actually state quite proudly that the best-attested evidence in the world won't shift them from their faith in this 'loving' god. Well I call them spineless cowards. Not because they'd deny evidence that might trouble their word-view. Oh no, they're much more cowardly than that. They believe wholeheartedly in this sadistic bastard of a god, yet haven't the moral fortitude to stand up and say, 'I have better morals than this creature. I would never punish the good, nor let the evil walk free, merely based on whether they hold a belief about the afterlife.'
Well I say it. Show me all the evidence you like, prove to me that such a god exists, and I will look it straight in the eye and spit. If a human judge were to let Joseph Fritzl, that epitome of abusive fathers, walk free against all the evidence, then I would judge myself his moral superior and state that he has abrogated his right to be called a fit judge of human affairs. I see no real difference, bar one of scale, between these hypothetical human and godly judges. Both are morally inferior to me, and neither deserves my respect or my worship.
If there's an afterlife and a judgement, I demand and expect to be judged on my actions and their effect on those around me. My beliefs about the existence of these things cannot affect their reality by one iota, and no sane or just god would judge me based on something not under my control. Those, including gods, who demand respect and worship as their inborn right, are the least likely, in my experience, to deserve the respect and worship they crave. If this god truly did create me, then it also created my sense of human worth in this life, and of justice. If it cannot judge me by the same standards it instilled in me, then it can, to coin a phrase, go to hell.
—Daz
In Malaysia, people have to sit through a 5 hour seminar on driving theory before they are allowed to take real driving lessons. I just realized a few weeks ago that it included over 2 hours of talk of the importance of “fearing none but God”.
The lecturer literally spouted for over 120 minutes on the importance of fearing God, or He will not protect your safety while driving. He also emphasized how road safety has nothing to do with one’s driving abilities, but is the blessing of God. Yeah, apparently I should believe in God, or I’ll die in a car crash very soon and burn in Syatian’s hell for eternity.
Excellent post, I’ve always wondered at why people value faith so highly and why “saving” is based on it rather than goodness or morals or whatever. As you say, vain and sadistic – almost as if it were designed to control people.
That’s…
Bloody ‘ell, I’m speechless.
Thank you. Yeah, it do seem that way don’t it.
You make a really good point. As long as they believe with all their might, refusing to consider any other options, everything they do is forgiven and everything will turn out alright. It doesn’t matter how contorted the mental gymnastics have to be to keep supporting the notion.
If You Put Your Mind To It You Can Believe Anything
That about sums up the mindset of every hardcore “fundie” I’ve ever encountered.
However, the next time someone quotes John 3:16 to prove God’s love, point them to the expanded version given at Defaithed:
“For God so loved the world, that he…
– Decreed sickness, painful childbirth, and death for all descendents of Adam and Eve;
– Drowned every man, woman, and innocent child on Earth, save a handful;
– Slaughtered every man, woman, and innocent child in Sodom and Gomorrah;
– Murdered countless babies in Egypt to impress a Pharoah;
more
… gave his only begotten Son – to preach death, damnation, and eternal torment for disbelievers; to criticize Jews for not executing disobedient children; to defend Old Testament atrocities like slavery, massacres, and bloodythirsty laws; and to doom thousands of valuable pigs in a botched exorcism.”
QED
Thanks Ron. I’ve added that to my bookmarks.
I’ve seen a similar point made somewhere or other regarding the kind of thinking prevalent in Wall St prior to the current crisis. People were, apparently, shunned and sidelined for expressing ‘negative waves’ and the like. The power of positive thinking, run amuck.
So, by their own belief system, there is nothing wrong with homosexuality then. If someone truly believes in God, then regardless of their gender, orientation, race or creed they are saved, right… wait what, you are changing the Bingo game now?
I never said they were consistent… 🙂
But yeah, by this token, all a gay person has to do is repent their ‘sin’ and as long as they believe, they’re heaven-bound. At least, that’s what the message seems to be. The really important part, though, isn’t the repentance. All the repentance in the world won’t save ’em unless they believe.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he nailed a bloke to a plank
Is that the Sparko? How the devil are you?
Daz – Keep up the brilliant posts.