The questions need to be raised by some people, because their "faith" is going to have large weaknesses in it otherwise. Some people need less evidence from others for support for their faith; there's no sense in disparaging people for wanting more explanation.
I appreciated Liquid Laser's explanation; essentially, it is the answer to the question, "Why does God permit evil/suffering?" by saying God has chosen to pay the ultimate price for human sin, rather than just sticking us with the bag o' crap that he himself permitted. That's another valid way to look at the sacrifice of Jesus.
Why is it God who must take the blame? (I like the analogy b/w God and parents btw) Aren't we supposed to learn
not to blame our parents (unless it's reasonable. i.e abuse) but learn from them of both their good points and bad points and all in b/w, so we can become
better? If we just kept blaming them, we wouldn't become self-aware of
our rightful mistakes. We find it easier to blame
other's too and not take rightful blame, if rightfully so. So simple misunderstanding is one cause to just easily blame a person or even ourselves through guilt! It's the same as blaming God for not helping us or not listening or claiming god's now listening to
punish (like a parent) b/c Hurricane Katrina is a reminder of
our sins (misbehaving) or Asian Tsunami's too (bad bad children!) or any other natural event or unnatural event (We have to learn from it, God's Testing us). It used to be "God made it rain! God won't make it rain!" We now know otherwise, so why not ditch the rest? The scapegoat of Jesus dying for 'our collective sins'. Why not a new son? (WHY all males?! Males dominate society,
especially during the times of "Jesus" etc). Sin was BEGUN by a FEMALE (Eve) in order to justify that it's women who must be kept under control so as not to be tempted or to tempt men into corruption (or seduction) It's largely convenient to keep it for people. That isn't to say good things haven't come from religion. But I wouldn't say it's from religion, it's from the people who've become better by learning from other's and just use religion rather like modesty ("God has made me stronger. I passed the/His Test"). If we have Free Will, wouldn't it be that through our Free Will we've become stronger w/o God pulling the strings of our "fate"? I love it when people claim not to believe in fate yet believe in religion and their God/s' 'direction' of them b/c it implies their fate is controlled by this deity, albiet to help them grow from the 'crises' in their lives.
Wouldn't it be more likely that, by anthropromorphising this + other 'deities', humans needed the excuse that they have a
Grand Parent watching out for them but that allows them to make mistakes b/c they need to make them? I recall from Noah's Arc (+ similarities in most cultural holy texts + myths) that God wiped OUT everyone due to an abundance of Sin. Wouldn't it seem likely God would remove Free Will? Wouldn't we as a more advanced technological society, who probably has destroyed more and is more 'corrupted', than other societies from the past be better off destroyed than allowed to live?
What is 'sin'?
Who/what is to be condemned? Whomever/whatever is defined
by the majorities' of peoples during points in society against the minorities' around them. Just as "Jesus" was an invented minority scapegoat "against the majority of corrupted Jews" (who have paid ever since). We do it to others. If anything, the Jesus story should help other's to embrace differences (He did touched lepers, prostitutes, the
outcast!). If he existed, I can imagine him hugging a homosexual
not b/c this person is sick and needs his salvation but b/c this person
needs his love and acceptance. We all want and need love. We're all different. We all rage against the machines of ignorance when not understood. Some enjoy being misunderstood (having been failed), I'd think most would want to be understood.
Terms become
put in place for both majority and minority when people fear the "new" thing. Gay and Fag's etymological roots are happy/carefree and 'the end of a cigrette'. Then it was derogatory. Then used for fun "That's like so gay! lolol!" It's now largely embraced by LGBT people.
They made it positive for themselves, took power of the word from their oppressors. Same with other minority groups. Straight? Implies 'right' on the 'straight and narrow path'. Black/White/Yellow/Brown people? Never existed before modern times. Why would West/North Africans kidnapped and placed in other countries call themselves "Black" when they
had their own names of their ethnitices? Europeans were French, English, Dutch, whathaveyou. Look at the roots of what those words were used for. Black = Bad/Evil White = Good/Purity Yellow can be happy but also SALLOW/sickly complexion. I've stepped outside the bounds of God and religion but it's to point that "God", if existening as an entity, would likely embrace all of its creation (Why create them if otherwise? EVEN LGBT!) and not condemn them. Religion correlates to all facets of ugly and beautiful society. Interconnected.
Religion influences the masses and is influenced
by the masses
when the people choose to 'change'
to now suit their needs. So, when someone says its' PEOPLE who do the condeming and twist the words of "God/s" then why isn't it thought that perhaps all the documented texts of all religons which were created BY people FOR people of their eras were
distorted to suit their needs due to lack of understanding.
It's justifying for what we, the majority, want and expect and wish for w/o a lot of care for the minority. We see this in poltics. We do this personally in our lives with our families and friends w/o a lot of care for strangers.
People don't surface with religion when thrust out the womb, they're
parents put a religion
onto them. Cyclical pattern. Until one breaks away. Adopts new religion, becomes atheist or something else enitrely.
If the modern religions didn't rush to claim territories or convert people into their religion (b/c it's the "right" one compared with the others'), we wouldn't largely be Christian or Mulsim. They wouldn't be well known. Imagine Buddhists trying to convert through mainly forceful means, we'd likely be Buddhists at this point. If no one pushed for religion, we wouldn't have it in modern times. If one can accept the Theory of Evolution and disrepute the Thoery of Creationism, they have ultimately rejected the power of their Deity as the holy texts made BY the people of the past FOR the people of the past to explain how they came to be.
The invention of Jesus, made conscientious and pure, didn't have to die but people needed him to suit their needs, w/e they may be and for whom. Nietzsche proclaimed "God is Dead." (people's morals are dead) I'd think it's also along the lines of "God is dead
within Us" (our morals are dead). We grow with the "God within us" if allowed to flourish w/o corruption/not accepting others and connect with the "Gods within other's" when we accept differences and the (conscientious souls/minds of) "Jesuses" outside whom cross our paths in life, directly or inadvertently, help us connect with our Inner God again.
Edit: And we can become Jesus too and help others! We even have our very own local one on the forums, right? Who says he has to be the only one?!