God the Monster

Everybody loves Jesus. Gandhi loves Jesus. The Dali Lama loves Jesus. Everybody thinks Jesus just the best.

Not exactly everyone, because some thugs hated Him enough to kill Him. But now we see their error, and everybody loves Jesus.

But many of those who love Jesus don’t believe He rose from the dead, because resurrection from the dead is impossible.

So the end of this lovable Jesus is a cross and a tomb. 

And then what must we say about the Father that Jesus said He served? Jesus trusts His Father, and then His Father just turns Him over to the thugs and leaves Him in His grave.

If this is so, Jesus’ end is not only tragic; it’s pathetic, and Jesus is a lovable loser, a gullible holy idiot. And that Father of His must be a monster, to leave the lovable Jesus just when Jesus needed Him most.

Without the resurrection, it becomes easy to love Jesus and yet to hate God.

And then we must wonder how much the church contributed to this rending of the Father and Son by focusing exclusively on the atoning effect of the cross and neglecting the resurrection, an account in which many hear that the Father’s only role is to punish His Son for crimes He did not commit.