Jesus - Savior or Scapegoat

Jesus – Savior or Scapegoat?

After six plus decades of living on this planet and being raised to be a good Christian, go to church on Sundays, be baptized, read the Bible, and believe in Jesus, I came to contemplate the validity of it all and the true meaning of the messages handed down in all religious disciplines, not just my own. It seems to me, after all, that they all have the same core values; be nice to one another, be chaste, honest, don’t steal, meditate, and have respect for all living things. So what matter is it which one you should adopt? Doesn’t it matter that you just believe in something?

I always believed in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, so I was perplexed when I would hear the preacher admonishing parishioners from the pulpit to “accept Jesus as your personal ‘savior.’” What does he want, I would wonder? I already believed. Isn’t that enough? It seems there was another step that I should take, but I just didn’t get it.

As time went on, I found myself fascinated with religious history; its roots, why so many interpretations of the same man’s teachings have come about. Why is it that generations worldwide have been willing to kill one another over their elucidations? To kill, rape, maim, torture, and otherwise make miserable my fellow man as historically evidenced during the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and even the legalized genocide practiced against American Natives, in the name of the Prince of Peace made no sense. I could not reconcile these mixed messages.

Sunday mornings, the pews would be full of self-righteous individuals some of whom had spent their week cheating, stealing, and ignoring their brethren in need, practicing greed, and a host of other sins. The message was, “accept Jesus as your savior, and all is forgiven.” No further responsibility required.

After countless years of observing these repeated sins and repeated repentance, it occurred to me that these individuals just didn’t get it and had no intention of taking responsibility for themselves and their actions. All they had to do was say, “Sorry, Jesus” and the damage was behind them.

It has taken me all of these long years to come to the sad conclusion that this is not about salvation; this is about scapegoating. “Salvation” implies that something has been learned and corrective action will be taken in the future. Collectively, what have we truly learned as a nation, as a society, as a neighborhood, what do we do better today than we ever did before? Do we love more? Do we involve ourselves with our fellow man for the benefit of our culture? Do we forgive one another? Do we take only what we need? Do we respect the earth that God gave us and his bounty? Or do we just take and take and take and then ask forgiveness?

Next time you pray for forgiveness, be brutally honest with yourself and ask if you’re really asking for salvation, or are you just looking for a scapegoat so that you are relieved of the burden of ‘responsibility.’