December 3, 2020
At some point in the latter years of my faith, I was having a conversation with a friend and he made a very astute point:
They keep talking about Jesus’s sacrifice, but he didn’t actually sacrifice anything.
My entire brain stopped dead in its tracks as I mulled that over. He was right. Jesus really didn’t sacrifice anything, did he?
In the Church, we’re told that Jesus “gave it all” and “paid the price” and “died for our sins.” I’ve sat through numerous sermons where the sole objective was to paint as graphic a picture of the crucifixion as possible in order to induce guilt in the congregation. This became a lot easier once the film Passion of the Christ came out and preachers could simply use clips from the movie.
But what happened after the crucifixion? We all know. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead and then ascended into heaven and assumed his position at the right hand of God and proceeded to rule over the universe for all eternity while receiving nonstop praise and worship from millions of people all over the planet throughout the generations.
No matter how painful your death was, you could maybe argue that it would be worth it if that was the result.
So what exactly did Jesus sacrifice?
His life? He didn’t need his life — he was God (according the Trinity doctrine).
A shitload of pain? Pain is temporary. Especially when it’s followed by eternal life as a deity.
Jesus was far from the only person to be crucified. What about all the others that endured it?
It would probably be argued that Jesus’s crucifixion matters because he supposedly lived a sinless life and that is what makes his death a “sacrifice.”
Would Jesus still be worshipped and revered if he’d died quick and painlessly? Say if he was beheaded? What if he had merely gotten sick and succumbed to a disease?
Ever since I had this conversation, I winced every time I heard someone mention Jesus’s sacrifice or God sacrificing his only son. Honestly, I was embarrassed that I hadn’t picked up on the ridiculousness of Jesus’s “sacrifice” sooner.
This simple little phrase, this choice in words, is yet another of many illogical concepts that are hidden in plain sight. It demonstrates the Church’s power to completely sidestep basic thinking.
Even after I came to this realization, I still dodged the issue. I specifically stopped referring to the crucifixion as Jesus’s sacrifice and instead said things like “Jesus’s death.” As if rewording the phrase fixed the flaw in the concept.
At that point, I wasn’t ready to deconvert so I resorted to the same mental gymnastics as every other believer when confronted with a gap in logic.
If you believe in the Trinity, then you believe that Jesus and God were essentially one in the same. So in a way, God came down to earth and sacrificed himself. But God was the one who created beings that needed to have a debt paid in the first place. So God sacrificed himself for people he created to need a sacrifice. And people who don’t acknowledge that sacrifice (or even hear about it depending where in the world they live) go to hell — the place that Jesus was trying to save us from in the first place. So in some cases the “sacrifice” on the cross didn’t even work.
And another thing. If Jesus was sinless in nature and a perfect human who never did anything wrong and did everything right and loved everyone unconditionally, then it makes sense that he would sacrifice his life for people.
What about a non-Christian who is pretty good most of the time but occasionally commits a sin? Say that person goes against their selfish nature and sacrifices themselves for a friend. They die and go to hell and are subjected to a torment worse than crucifixion for all eternity, but with no resurrection. It would seem that sacrifice is far more meaningful.
The Bible even seems to support this theory. It says the one lost sheep being found is more valuable than the 99 that are not lost. It also says that the tithe of the man who has little is more valuable than the tithe of the man who has a lot. It stands to reason that the self-sacrifice of a selfish and evil individual for the sake of someone else is more valuable than the self-sacrifice of a perfect human who intended to do that all along.
As a Deconverted Man, little things like this are so easy to see from the other side. It’s honestly terrifying just how long people (myself included) continue to not only believe things like this, but base their entire lives and futures on them.