These past 10 days have been some of the most welcoming and enlightening moments of my spiritual journey so far. To deconstruct every idea that I held so true and close to my heart is one full of relief, hope, and joy for the truth I seek. One of the biggest obstacles I’ve had to mentally overcome is the current concept of Sin.

For those uninformed, here’s the most basic definition of “Sin”

“An immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.”

Sounds pretty rigid and clear, right? After all, every citizen in the world understands how important law is to keep the order in every nation. And if this law were to come from the Almighty themselves? No amount of preparation would serve to aid you when it came to facing divine judgment. It’s no surprise why many have converted and still cling to Judeo-Christian religions when the takes involve eternal torment in Hell vs eternal life in heaven. This is the present ultimatum that has been popularized for millennia.

And no other doctrine has made me sicker to the core, for it goes against basic humanistic principles. It drives people to see themselves as worthless wretches that cannot function without a belief in a particular version of God. It’s doctrine is inherently anti-human and evil.

But I found out that the early church Christians actually had three possible theories for Hell. One as described above, another where you cease to exist if you don’t believe in God (meaning there is no Hell), or one based in universalism, where Hell is temporary and we’ll all end up in Heaven based on the severity of our mortal crimes.

Source: https://iep.utm.edu/origen-of-alexandria/#SH3c

Source 2: https://www.theopedia.com/annihilationism

So then I ask the following question. “How can Christianity claim absolute morality in the first place when their early church members couldn’t answer the biggest questions about correct divine judgement?”

They can’t. No other religion can’t. To attempt to prove one faith has that morality in the first place is actually quite impossible. Absolute Morality cannot come from a singular God, for God by nature is amoral. God does not have a reason to subject the entire existence of humanity to a long history of confusion, conflict, or suffering unless it breaks one of its sacred “Omni” statuses

Omnipotence – There is nothing God can’t do that does not result in a logical paradox
Omnibenevolence – There is no evil in God. He’s the source of all good and will know what’s best for his creation
Omnificent – No knowledge is outside of God’s own.

So what do people in the toxic church environment do? Mental gymnastics. Tons of them, riddled with leaps in logic to attempt to explain away their absurd claims. The majority of such attempts invoke the Free Will approach, therefore blame humans for every evil act done since creation. Or Theists outright discredit people that bring up this Problem of Sin/Evil, claiming that there is no way for humans to understand why God has chosen this reality for us.
I cannot and will NOT accept a stance that undermines an attempt at a discussion. It is a cop-out and one based in sheer hypocrisy, end of story.

The reason why modern-day Christians and other popular faiths stick with the Eternal Hell doctrine is due to the power it has over many humans. People are more willing to convert in the sake of self-interest versus a genuine interest in helping the many humans in true need. And that ALREADY belittles the point of Jesus walking this Earth by establishing a culture based in things very similar to the Pharisees. Christianity nowadays is now a hateful political movement that seeks to engage in a constant culture war with everyone else, under the order and false protection of their “Absolute Morality”.

We’re enemies of God (which is a terrible term to use in the first place) because we willingly choose to hurt God’s feelings through sin? Isn’t God supposed to be above feelings to truly be the Supreme Being he is? Humanity is essentially an existential experiment for him, something he felt like starting because he was bored of simply ruling in Heaven all this time. Why should we care if we hurt their feelings? We humans are the one that end up humanizing God more than treating it like the faceless and amoral being it truly is, if it exists in the first place.

So now that I am certain Absolute Morality cannot possibly exist, there can only exist the reality of Relative Morality. Every action has positive/negative consequences to consider. Unfortunately, what’s abhorrent for the majority can be still beneficial for the few that engage in it. But just because this is a statement of an observation of reality doesn’t mean we should all turn into savages, start an anarchy, and have every man live for themselves. Humans should always have the authority to question and overturn moral standards as society changes. We’re all a dynamic species, and yet religion tries to pigeon hole everyone into convenient labels.

This isn’t religious dogma inspired by the divine. It’s a manipulative tactic used to rally up groups of people in ancient times to survive wars. To create “tribes” of like-minded people to defeat a common enemy. And you don’t have to look any further than the vast majority of stories in the Old Testament to see why this is the truth of the matter.

So my friends, if you are still a believer, I seriously want you to ask yourself the genuine reason of why you believe in God. Is it truly a genuine belief supported by mounds of credible evidence? A flimsy one based on experience that could possibly be explained in more rational terms? Or is this faith forced onto you out of fear from family and societal abuse?

Think about it. And don’t be afraid to think for yourself for once. Thinking is completely healthy. Don’t let anyone else lead you down the dangerous path of blind faith. Humanity, in the end, is one team. We must work together to evolve an ever changing world if we wish to survive as long as possible.