The Myth of Guilt

Long ago, and far away, there was a beautiful garden in a tropical paradise. God made man, and told him to go and enjoy the Garden, enjoy its fruits and everything, take care of the animals. Have a good time, man, and watch out for that Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eat that, and you'll die.

Fast forward.

Looking down from the heavens, the Logos saw what was going on below. "First Father, you sure about this? I mean, if you're for serious, ok, but man... Look, alright, we'll just get this over with."

Fast forward.

Rufus Opus, aged 10, cutest kid in Christian Camp. Climbed up in a tree with a Bible because he wasn't getting it. The other kids got it. They prayed, cried, and got baptised. He prayed, read the right parts (Romans Road much?), prayed some more, and finally did cry.

In freaking frustration.

Fast forward again to a couple years ago. Rufus Opus Gets Saved. This hammer fell down and knocked some sense into me, and I cried for real then. Not in shame or pain, but in awe. God was friggin' huge! And He was KING God. Oh boy did I fall down and worship Him, for in all honestly, no sarcasm, I tell you the TRVTH: He is worthy to be praised.

But he's got praise  and worship already. He didn't make Man in His Image so that he could have another psychophant. The original intent was to have a companion like himself.

But then Man got enmeshed in the material realm. Fell in love with his own image. Entered material existence. And "Fell."

OR... he was made perfect in the material world, which was also perfect, and told to watch out for that nasty apple. Knowledge of Good and Evil. That shit will fuck you up, dog. God said so.

But Man went for it anyway. Ate that apple, and wha-bam - INSTANT GUILT. They knew right and wrong all of a sudden, and the emotional offspring was guilt. They hid from God and put on clothes for why? For shame. For serious.

And God said... "Well, shit."

And Logos said, "Yeah, I know, right?"

Look at what we do out of "guilt." We give to charities that make us feel guilty for having life so good. We apologize for stuff that we didn't do on purpose. We support churches, pay ministers to drive fancy schmancy cars and wear tailored suits, we buy indulgences... We keep jobs we hate, we hang out with people we don't like, and we don't have fun. Because fun is wrong... for some reason.

But wait, there's the Logos. He came down as Jesus Christ, and performed a holy hell of a damned fine ritual for all mankind. He ATONED for the SIN of eating the apple. He made up for it. Now, lots of my readers don't believe in original sin. They don't believe in the Fall. I don't care. Look around you. The world has a lot of shit that isn't beautiful, isn't right, and isn't fun. It can be a beautiful perfect place, but it can also be a house of horrors. That hellacious horrifying mess is part of life, yes, but remember for centuries people believed THEY DESERVED IT.

Karma? That's really practical consequence, but in the West we pretend it's punishment for "sins." Bad decisions lead to bad stuff happening. Bad. As opposed to Good. As in, stuff we feel guilty for, or should, because it's BAD. Knowledge of good and evil, the consequence of sin...

But wait! Logos came down and made up for that. What does that mean? It means (and this is going to piss off a lot of Christians) there is no more guilt. Right and Wrong are illusions, Good and Evil are points of reference. They are necessary for everyone who doesn't get that we aren't servants to its law anymore, but for those who seek God, who seek to return to being the originally intended human being, there is no more sin. No more guilt. No more right or wrong.

The crucifixion was totally God saying, "You think you can't get to me because you know Good and Evil and feel guilty? You feel unclean unless you do all that shit? Well surprise, surprise, surprise! You're all CLEAN now, and you've got no excuse to hang back at the edges of the dance hall while I'm whirling my bride around the floor. You're the bride, and you're clean, now let's hang out and talk!"

So let's face it folks. Guilt is a myth. Whatever reason we have for feeling guilty is gone now. Can we do whatever we want? Yes! There will be consequences, of course, but the aren't "Good," they aren't "Evil," they are "consequences." And it's harder to live without God. We were designed to be his companion after all, but he gives us space if we insist. The thing is, there's no more reason for us to feel guilty over shit we screw up. the point is to recognize that what you've done didn't result in what you intended and try something else instead.

I got a kick out of the picture above. I don't know where I found it, but I thought it was hilarious, because that's really what it was all about. The crucifixion was a drama play. It was played out to prove once and for all that there's no excuse for you or anyone to stay away from God. No more sin. No more punishment from God. We aren't pre- mid- or post-adolescent children anymore. Logos fixed that.

Now go see god.