Is Humanity Innately Evil and In Need of the Forgiveness of Jesus?

It is bothersome when Christians focus on how bad they are, such that they proclaim how badly they need Jesus’ forgiveness. This is a mistake because when Hashem created us; He created us “Good.”

Genesis 1:31 (courtesy of www.chabad.org), “And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good, and it was evening and it was morning, the sixth day.”

That goodness did not fade away. The incident of Adam and Eve in Gan Eden does not mean that since then, humans have been hopelessly evil or wicked. Nowhere does Gd say something so disparaging as to say humanity, His creation, is evil. Quite the contrary as Isaiah teaches (60:21), “And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the land forever, a scion of My planting, the work of My hands in which I will glory.”

Focusing on the evils that are possible because Hashem has given us freewill is not even half the story.

Psalm 139 says, “For You created my mind; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will thank You, for I was formed in an awesome and wondrous way.”

We should take pride in ourselves and be thankful that we are Hashem’s creation, and not blaspheme it through constant proclamation of our iniquities. Truly, Hashem made us good, and our goodness out of the womb is a reflection of the wisdom He used to create each of us with when we were formed. Rather than focusing on our iniquities, we should be thankful for all that Hashem has given us.

Social Intelligence

Many people think that the person who is the center of attention has the greatest social intelligence.  That is not true, as sociopaths, a diagnosable and almost untreatable personality disorder, are often charismatic.  Hitler was charismatic, but his social intelligence was deplorable.  Hitler was often the center of attention, but his social intelligence was deplorable.

Social intelligence is something that is desirable.  People that don’t have it are often in prison.  Bernie Madoff could see things from other people’s perspectives, but because he didn’t use it for good, he was not intelligent.  So, what is good?  I have to define that before I start.

The definition of good is doing that which is most correct to the best of one’s ability, otherwise known as good deeds.  There is forgiveness for those that act their best.  However, there is punishment for those that try their hardest.  That is, social intelligence does not require for one to try their hardest.  Therefore, doing one’s best and trying as hard as one can are not the same thing.

People that are socially intelligent are nice, and see judgment and ethics as being very important.  They also know when to be merciful.

Many people that are socially intelligence have written works that far outlast their generation.  The authors of the Bible were socially intelligent.  Plato was socially intelligent.  Plato often didn’t even put himself first in his works.  His works were usually about Socrates.  And, though Plato was a philosopher, and most learned individuals would consider him the important philosopher, being a philosopher does not make one socially intelligent, as there can be knowledge of good and evil.

The socially intelligent person turns the evil into good by doing good deeds, while the person that creates knowledge of evil for its own sake is not socially intelligent.  That is, even if there is seemingly nothing redeemable about a situation or a person, a socially intelligent person can say, look at that guy, he does evil, therefore, his time of judgment will eventually come.  Thus, though a socially intelligent person may not able to redeem the evil person himself, he can at least use that person as an example that in the battle of good and evil, where good always wins eventually.  It may take many, many years, but good wins eventually.

People that are socially intelligent are those that will call someone and be nice, without asking or expecting anything in return, even though it means that they are calling someone who is not a social butterfly or even popular, and the socially intelligent person is able to put a smile on his or her face, knowing that he or she has done a good deed.

Though a socially intelligent person is not a villain, he or she can act the role of a villain, if it is required that someone play that role.  Devil’s advocates are important too!  Being a good devil’s advocate requires social intelligence.

People who are socially intelligent don’t see themselves as needing to be the greatest hero.  Someone who is socially intelligent would more likely try to be the best fan.

A Case for a Less Materialistic Christmas: Christmas, Jesus, Materialism, Forgiveness and the Day of Judgment

I do not believe Jesus is G-d, nor am I a Christian. I do not even believe Jesus was or is a savior. I do not believe in the Trinity. I do not believe Jesus was the Messiah or the Christ. If you are a Christian, please put those negative sentiments toward my belief aside. I have read the New Testament. I am not ignorant of it. Casting aside my own opinion of Jesus, as a whole, I will focus on Jesus’ good aspects in this essay.

To Jesus’ credit, like all those who love knowledge, philosophers, Jesus was not a materialist. Thus, I will use the teachings of Jesus to drive my message home. Jesus would be shouting to his many of his modern followers every Christmas, “You liars! You hypocrites! You are in danger of the fires of Hell!”

Who was Jesus?

My view of Jesus is very negative, but I am not beyond using positive things he said to drive home a message. Let’s consider the identity of Jesus. Jesus was a homeless person (Matthew 8:20). The prophet Mohammed concurs and believes Jesus to have been the least materialistic prophet. I have no doubt that Jesus was very clever, such that he was probably homeless by choice, probably because having a home would have given him a locus, and that would have hindered his ability to preach his message. Jesus was most likely homeless because he felt he needed mobility. Jesus thought his message was more important than materialism. By choice, Jesus would not be someone who would even had a place to put a present. Jesus would have preferred repentance to presents. There is no evidence of Jesus accepting birthday presents. He would have no use for them, as he was not a materialist. If you are his follower consider this: The New Testament calls us to be imitators of Jesus the Christ (Ephesians 5:1). In fact, as evidence of this I suggest that Jesus deemed a homeless beggar whose sores had been licked by dogs to be a sign of his kingdom (Luke 16). He never praises riches. The evidence all suggests that Jesus outright rejected materialism.

Turning Jesus’ birthday into a day of presents, and making Christmas into a season of materialism, is blasphemy of his message. To such things, there was who asked, “How many times should I forgive my brother?” Jesus’ reply seems close to infinite forgiveness, but it is not. Indeed, the forgiveness of Jesus is limited to 70 times 7, or 77 times (Matthew 18). Such limited forgiveness suggests that by the time someone had reached middle age and was still participating in the blasphemy of the birth of Jesus, that if you meet Jesus on the day of judgment, he would say “Away from me evil doer.” In Jesus philosophy, your place would be hell if you are a slave to the materialism of Christmas, going into debt just to buy more presents.

Though Christmas is an invented holiday, and all attempts to determine the date of Jesus’ birth are mere speculation. The best evidence shows Jesus was born in 4 CE during the summer. I am not one who believes Jesus was very concerned about the date of his birth. Celebrating Christmas would probably be just fine by Jesus. I am not one who believes completely doing away with Christmas, despite its lack of historical accuracy is unimportant in this case. To radically change anything except the materialism of Christmas is really unnecessary and inconsequential. The inaccurate yearly celebration of the birth of Jesus should be considered an outright harmless event. However, do not call yourself a Christian if you celebrate Christmas materialistically, then Jesus would not allow you in his kingdom.

Note: The inspiration for this blog is Bill McKibben's book Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for A More Joyful Christmas.