Cruelty and Violence: Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ. His name is everywhere. His teachings have been recorded and distributed to millions of people around the world. The simple mention of his story inspires passionate loyalty and belief in some and fierce denial in others. What is so special about this man? Why have so many people come to believe that he is the true son of God and the savior of mankind? How has his influence come to be so widespread?

In this episode of Cruelty and Violence I am going to take on one of the most controversial stories to ever surface in the history of mankind. Just who is this Jesus character, anyway? What did he do during his lifetime to warrant such a following? And more importantly: was he perfect?

Cruelty and Violence: Jesus Christ
Before I address some important issues concerning the modern perception of Jesus Christ as the personal lord and savior of all of mankind, let's take a look at just what he did to earn his Son of God merit badge.

I thought for a while about simply describing in intricate detail the every suffering of the Christ, however, this is the 21ST CENTURY and whatnot. To reinforce their perception of the true sacrifice of Jesus, feel free to share these images with your children.


For claiming to be the Son of God, Pilate and a murderous melting pot of Romans and Jews condemned Jesus to have nails driven through his hands.





And through his feet...




There is some debate as to whether or not the nails were driven through his hands or his wrists. I don't see how it really makes much of a difference either way, but whatever. If you want to nail up one of your friends at home and truly find out if the center of a man's palms can fully support the weight of his upper body without tearing, feel free to email me pictures.

Oh, and let's not forget the flogging! Before Jesus was sentenced to carry the cross, Pilate had him publicly scourged from head to toe.


If Jesus had lived long enough after the flogging for his wounds to heal, his back would have probably looked something like this.


According to scripture, every inch of Jesus' body was maimed to the point that people could hardly recognize him anymore.


Props to my boy Mel for this one.


And this one.

Pretty gruesome, eh? According to scripture, all of this was completely necessary in order for God to even consider the possibility of offering redemption to mankind. Jesus served as the 'Lamb of God', and if you have any knowledge of the Old Testament you know exactly what this means. Jesus was the sacrifice we offered up to God in order to justify our sinful ways. You could pray and fast and observe the Sabbath and make the best attempt to live a perfect life that you were capable of back in those days, but God simply refused to grant mankind the luxury of deliverance without first demanding the brutal and unnecessary slaughter of an innocent life.

Let me pose this question to all of you Christians out there: just who the hell are you calling wicked? Your God has consistently proven throughout the fables of the Bible that he can one-up all of our best efforts at brutality and ignorance, yet you want to say that those who don't love Him are evil? Take a look in the fucking mirror.

Whether or not you believe in Jesus, you have to admit that the story of His sacrifice is epic and moving. This man supposedly led a perfect life. He traveled throughout the world teaching people how to properly worship God, healing the sick and the blind, and generally causing problems for the people who perverted and distorted religious beliefs in order to turn a profit. To top it all off, he went and got himself sliced, diced and thrown up on a cross in order to save all of us filthy sinners. What a guy!

The story of Jesus has prevailed throughout the centuries as one of the most controversial issues in history. However, there are quite a few misconceptions concerning Christ that abound in today's modern consciousness.

Was Jesus God?
Don't get me wrong with this one. I don't want to touch the jumbled chaos of an issue that is the Trinity with a ten-foot pole. I'm not going to go one way or the other on the whole Father, Son and Holy Ghost shit, as it makes little sense no matter how you look at it. I'm simply addressing the idea that some people seem to think that Jesus was God incarnate.

Given the characteristics of God as they are depicted in the Bible, one can conclude that mortality and immortality are mutually exclusive characteristics. God, by nature, is immortal. He cannot be destroyed, nor can He die. Jesus, on the other hand, was very mortal. He didn't even make it to 40 before proving to the rest of the world that he is made of the same earthly substance as the rest of us.

In Matthew 19:17 Jesus makes an important distinction between himself and God, claiming that only God is good and perfect. This brings me to my next point, which is that Christ was tempted by Satan. For Christ to be tempted (albeit unsuccessfully), there must have been the smallest little sliver of a chance that Christ had the capacity to commit sin. James 1:13 explicity states that God cannot be tempted. However, Jesus endured the temptation of Satan by praying to God.

Does anyone have an exerpt from the Bible in which Jesus says "Oh heavenly ME, please hear my cries. In all of MY greatness, please deliver me from peril."? I didn't think so. Jesus prays to God just like every other Christian.

In Luke 2:40 and 52 it is described how Jesus came to grow and learn. Jesus lived as any normal human being does. As he grew older, his wisdom and his stature increased. If Jesus were God, why wasn't he omniscient from the beginning? God clearly exhibits that He has neither the desire or the capability to learn throughout the Bible. However, Jesus earned the knowledge that he possessed at the time of his death. It was not given to him, nor was it an inherent quality.

There are lots of other common sense instances strewn throughout the story of Christ that make it pretty obvious as to his origin and nature. When Jesus arises from his baptism, God speaks from Heaven saying "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Why would God speak to Jesus and others claiming to be pleased with His son if He were His son?

In John 8:17-18 Jesus states that evidence, in order to be considered valid, must be viewed by two witnesses: himself and God. If Jesus and God were one in the same, there would be only one witness. Furthermore, Jesus explicitly states that there are two, so if you subscribe to his teachings you must acknowledge that there cannot be only one.

So there you have it, in case you happened to be confused about this one. Jesus, in fact, was not God. He exhibited none of God's unholy qualities, and specifically stated that he and God were separate on multiple occasions.

Is Jesus the Only Path to Salvation?
Unfortunately, according to the Bible, the only way to get to Heaven is through the Son of God. Whether Jesus is pleased by faith, works, or any combination of the two is an entirely separate debate. The fact still remains that Jesus is the only way you're gonna get there.

Is this cruel? Yes indeed, sir. As stated previously, the fact that God required the sacrifice of an innocent life in order to extend the proverbial olive branch to humanity is the pinnacle of His reckless career as a hateful and unjust tyrant.

However, it's also bad for the rest of us. If you're anything like me, you've spent years sifting through endless books and articles concerning every different flavor of mainstream religion around the world. Like it or not, Jesus is not the only prominent religious figure in history. There's Buddha, Confuscious, Lao Tsu, Muhammed, Allah, Zeus, Shiva, Earth Mother, Ra, Elvis, and all sorts of other deific figures for Jesus to contend with out there. Who are we to label one as prominent and the other decadent?

According to the last statistics I bothered to look at, there are roughly 6 billion people on this planet. Of those 6 billion, 1 billion profess to be Christian.

Question: where is the other fifth of humanity going to go when the supposed apocalypse happens? Call me crazy, but I'm guessing HELL.

As brutal as it may sound, I sometimes find myself wishing God had lined up all of these deific motherfuckers for a nice healthy dose of crucifixion. If I have to have a savior to keep me from Hell, I'd at least like to be able to pick one out of a lineup or something.

Was Jesus perfect?
Interpret this as you will, but the word of Jesus was not always proven to be infallible.

"Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, Oh Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour."

Here a woman pleads with Jesus to heal her sickly daughter. Rather than feeling pity for the woman and helping her, Jesus ignores her. She continues to plead and Jesus likens her people to dogs. Only when the woman outsmarts Jesus and turns his insult against him does he acknowledge her crisis.

All in all, Jesus lived and died as nothing more than an ordinary man who happened to be chosen by God for an unjust sacrifice. He was and is still considered to be a great teacher, but he was not God. He was not perfect. If you consider the fact that he labeled a distressed woman from Canaan as a dog and damn near refused to help her, you might even be able to say that he wasn't entirely without sin.

One can logically surmise that Jesus was one of the greatest martyrs in history, and his following of loyal (and sometimes crazy) Christians is a direct result of that. Whether or not his death has any bearing on your personal view of the afterlife is entirely up to you.

While Jesus may have died for your sins, he certainly did not die for mine. For those of you who wish to pray to the disembodied spirit of this influential man for the forgiveness of your sins, well, good luck with that. If you choose to take personal responsibility for your actions and learn from your mistakes without letting your existence slip into a perpetual state of guilt and redemption, sleep well tonight knowing that you have a much better chance of leading a full and satisfying life.

Forever yours,
Miscreant