The Jesus That Exists In Our Heads

Despite my outspoken atheism, I am still (somehow) a volunteer at my local church, so because this morning was the traditional Good Friday service, I was roped in to action to help out with some logistics.

In essence, a Good Friday church service is no different to a typical church service, except that it has more people in attendance, and is more Jesus-y.

So there I was, an atheist, surrounded by literally hundreds of believers of all ages and backgrounds. And as the various pastors spoke on, it dawned on me - the Jesus that these people believe in is all in their heads.

People who believe in Jesus don't believe they're communicating with a flesh-and-blood person, like when they communicate with a person who stands in front of them - the only ways that their Jesus communicates with them is either through the words on a page (the Bible), or through what could only be considered telepathic communication (prayer by a different name).

So this is one thing that convinced me that Christianity (not forgetting religion in general) is irrational - when you think Jesus is speaking to you, there is no way to verify that it actually is Jesus speaking to you. No-one has been able to describe a method that independently authenticates or validates Jesus - it all relies on feelings and belief.

And second, no two people's Jesus' are the same. One person's Jesus hates homosexuals, another person's Jesus loves everybody and only wants the best. One person's Jesus came to overturn the Mosaic law, another person's Jesus says that the Old Testament is valid and still in force.

It's almost like Jesus only exists in people's heads, and whatever Jesus they happen to believe in conveniently loves or hates the same things that they love or hate.

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Given that there is no objective method of telling if Jesus is speaking, of telling what he is saying, or even what he said, I'm not convinced this Jesus exists.

This means that the only place that Jesus exists is inside people's heads. Jesus is therefore irrational.

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Have a safe and happy Easter period.


-Damien