Are you forgiven?

This reminds me of how religion appeals to our childish impulses. God is the loving parent who’ll make everything better for us, and put our minds at ease. He’s always there to rescue us when we’ve done something bad. No sense of responsibility, and no carrying of burdens required.

Of course, this is part and parcel of being dependent on God for everything, and dependence is the bread and butter of religion.

Seth, that is absolutely the most outrageous, unconscionable post I have ever seen on the internet, and I will not stand for it!!!!

Only kidding

I couldn’t agree more, Seth. We New Atheists are just like your child, in the sense that we’re both terrified of bananas. Ray Comfort said it, so it must be true!

I don’t know, to a certain extent I like that there’s an emphasis on the ability of human beings to overcome their past mistakes and attitudes and become a different person, no matter what they’ve done. And I’m not sure you have to be “weighed down” or tortured by your past in order to be inspired to do better. That’s a little bit like thinking you have to hit your kids to make them grow up to be mature and responsible adults. It sounds too much like revenge to me.

I do see your point regarding some religions, but I grew up Catholic, and that religion by no means said you can just get away with whatever you want because you’re forgiven. I was actually taught to disdain and mock the attitude that said you could just say Jesus is your savior and that’s that – you had to work for forgiveness.

I will support Carla a little. As a former Roman Catholic myself, I know a bit about the religion. One of the primary differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism is that the RCC favors certain Bible verses (James 2:14-26) exemplifying “good works,” while most (maybe all, not sure) Protestant sects favor different, conflicting Bible verses (Romans 3:28) that insist on sola fide, “faith alone.”

So, at least for Roman Catholics, doing good (however that is defined, more on that below) is important for salvation, just as much as belief. The problem therein is that the songs seems to indicate that it is the introspection on past sins that is the problem, while most would argue that accepting them and trying to do better is what makes you a better person. The song seems to say that, as long as you accept Jesus, all of the past goes away and one never need feel regret or the desire to improve.

Of course, this is ignoring the fact the morality of the Bible as a whole is an obedience-based morality, that is that the belief and compliance of the individual is far more important than anything else. Also known as divine command theory, what is “good” is that which god decides is good, and acceptance of that is more crucial than any person’s own sense of ethics. Examples include the Fall, Abraham’s almost filicide, and many others.