An Athiest Asks: How Much Does “Jesus Love the Little Children?”

I’ll tell you this:

Athiests ask legitimate questions . . . TOUGH questions. The kind of questions that challenge you to think outside of your existing ideas of what God is. At least it does that for me.

That’s why I find myself in such lively conversations over at a blog I’m enjoying called “Proud Athiests.”

The blog is not for the faint of heart. Don’t go over there thinking you’re going to make a believer out of anyone — you’re not. In fact, if having someone refer to God as “sky pixie” sounds offensive to you, don’t go at all. Then again, if your idea of God that fragile, perhaps you should do some more “inner work” anyway. No one can change my idea of God without my permission.

Anyway, in this blog posting (see below), your host Mark poses the age old question: If Jesus loves the little children, why do so many starve and die of disease? Of course, he poses the question to debunk the idea that God exists. . . . which doesn’t mean I have to take it that way. Part of my response:

As to the topic of this column, “Jesus Loves The Little Children,” I’ll try to be succinct: After performing a miracle, the disciples were all like, “WOW! How’d you do that?” And Jesus himself replied: “Greater things than this shall you do, if you just believe.” In other words, Jesus HIMSELF said we can do anything he can do.

Okay, now get off the question of whether or not Jesus actually performed miracles. To me, the real point — the real POWER — of what Jesus says here is that he sees us as EQUALS. Whether or not that means you can walk on water, well I’ll leave that to you.

But if JESUS can feed people and be kind to the poor . . . and if JESUS considers us EQUALS . . . well, yeah, by all means WE are the ones who can end poverty and disease. You don’t have to be able to walk on water to do it, either. “If you just believe,” the man says.

To me, one of the greatest disservices that traditional Christianity has done to its people is to disempower them . . . to make us believe that we are not good enough, not worthy, not powerful enough to handle the problems in our own lives, let alone the world. We can’t do these things because — according to traditional Christianity, not what Jesus actually taught — we BELIEVE WE CAN’T.

Check out the whole thread below. Like I said, it’s a lively discussion, one worth having. But if you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen . . .

How Much Does “Jesus Love the Little Children”? « Proud Atheists.