Easter

Last Sunday was Easter, an especially horrible holiday for an especially horrible religion. Of course, this is not to say there are good religious holidays or good religions. All religions are a scourge and bane upon man; however, in this particular post I will be addressing Easter specifically the atrocious lesson it teaches, and the trauma it instills in children.
In order to understand how astoundingly terrible the Easter lesson is one must understand what it actually celebrates. First I will explain the Easter celebration in Catholic terms, then I will expose the truth, which actually is not that different from what the church says. Basically, Easter celebrates that God, the Father, sacrificed his only son, Jesus Christ, to forgive man for his sins. It is also important to note that Catholicism argues that the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are the three parts that compromise God; therefore, God essentially sacrificed himself, meaning let himself be tortured and killed, in order to pay for man's sins. Something else important to note is that "man's sins" compromises all of man's sins that have ever been committed and will ever be committed. However, this is not to say that man is free of sin, for man is still born with original sin and still commits sins daily according to the Catholic church. Basically, since God died for man's sins man can now go to heaven. This means any decent person that died before Jesus was sacrificed did not go to heaven. These people also did not go to hell. They lived in a strange non-existence between heaven and hell, which was also not purgatory. This is the reason why Easter is celebrated as told by the church. It still really does not make sense, which is most likely due to the fact that it starts with a false premise: that there is a God.
In any event now I shall explain what this holiday is really celebrating. It is celebrating that the greatest human being that had ever existed and will ever existed let himself be tortured and killed so a whole bunch of people he never even met would not be responsible for their actions and could eternally exist in a paradise after they died in this less important life. Easter celebrates that the alleged greatest man every, who is in reality not that great just influential, committed the ultimate vice, altruism, in order to remove responsibility from everyone. This is an absolutely horrible event to celebrate. It also teaches an equally horrible lesson. The basic lesson of Easter is that people should do what Jesus did. Therefore, a great person, a person with amazing abilities, skills, and reason should not live for his own fulfillment but for the fulfillment of others. In actuality the person does not even have to be great. People of mediocre or poor abilities, skills, and reason should not live for their own life but for the lives of others, according to Easter and Catholicism. This is the essence of altruism and the true vice of altruism is best captured in Easter because Jesus does not just give money to the poor or work at a soup kitchen in his free time Jesus allows other people to kill him, Jesus allows his life to be destroyed for others' lives. There are a few important aspects of Jesus' death and motive for choosing death, that is correct Jesus chose to die, that must be addressed. First, according to the Bible, Jesus was not simply killed like beheading or hanging. Jesus was certainly also not simply shot in the head because they had not invented guns yet. This argument is not to say that death is good; however, one can establish a hierarchy of death based upon how much damage is done to the human body intentionally. The more intentionally and the more excessive the damage is, the worse the death is not just in the amount of pain but in what the motives of the killers, or in this case victim, were. According, to the Bible, Jesus basically had the shit beat out of him. He was wiped and beaten with leather straps that had thorns in them. He then had to wear a crown of thorns. He also had to carry his own cross to the place he was to be killed. In modern terms that could be equated to a man carrying the electric chair to his own execution site, or loading the gun that would kill him. Furthermore, there are painful intricacies involved in crucifixion. The individual is nailed to wood through the hands and feet. The cross is then lifted to stand in the hot son for a long period of time, so dehydration and hunger play a role in the torture. Also, being nailed through the hands and feet does not necessarily cause enough blood loss to die; however, I must admit I am not a doctor but just from common knowledge I know there are no major arteries or veins in the palms of hands or centers of feet. The true cause of death when being crucified is I believe exfixtiation. Basically, what happens is the cross provides no back support; therefore, the individual must keep his back aligned by his own strength. Mind you this person has lost some blood, this is especially true in the case of Jesus because he was tortured prior to being crucified. Of course, the Bible could be a lie, but for this is an example following the alleged truth of that story. Anyway, as stated before that person is also dehydrated and hungry, and in Jesus case he had to carry his own cross to his execution site. There is only a limited amount of time any individual can maintain the alignment of his back. Eventually what happens is the upper torso begin to press down on the lower torso, which makes it difficult to breath. Again I am not a doctor, but I did go to Catholic school and this is the one time the religion class used science. I really should not believe them, but I am just going to accept what they allege in order to make my point.
Now that it is understood the amount of pain in suffering the story claims Jesus experienced it is important to remember Jesus chose to do this so other people could get into heaven. This is the truly horrifying nature of altruism. As stated before Jesus did not just give money to the poor or work in a soup kitchen he surrendered his life and body to the complete and utter control of human beings. This is what Easter teaches. One's body and life is not for one's own self, one's body and life is not for one's own happiness, one's body and life is to be sacrificed, to be tortured, to be murdered for the sake of others'. Basically, what Easter and Catholicism and many religions teach is that no one has a life or body, individualism is a lie, and no one has the natural rights to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and property. This is a sick and horribly twisted perversion. More importantly, Jesus did not die for someone he valued. Of course, Jesus claimed he valued everyone, even people he never met, equally. My argument is that Jesus did not die taking a bullet for his wife or friend. A wife and friend are distinctly different from everyone else in the world because one has chosen a wife and friend as more valuable as everyone else. Jesus chose to be tortured and murdered for everyone, for people he never met, for people he never had the chance to evaluate and choose to value. Therefore, the lesson of Easter is even more perverted. Easter does not teach that one's body and life exists for one's friends. Easter does not teach that no one has a life or body, individualism is a lie, and no one has the natural rights to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and property amongst friends. East teaches this as an absolute because everyone exists for everyone else. There is absolutely no one that has a life or body, individualism is absolutely a lie, and there are absolutely no natural rights to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and property. Easter is an absolutely chilling holiday.
Now I will address how Easter traumatizes children. Like Christmas, Easter's traumatic element is two fold because Easter employs both God and the Easter Bunny like Christmas employs both God and Santa Clause. Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and God are all exactly the same. They are all incomprehensible omniscient beings. They are all lies poor authority figures employ to control children. The concept with Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and God is that a child is told these beings exist; however, these beings are too complex for any human mind to understand. Basically, the authority figure just told the child to stop thinking, which is another enormous problem. Obviously, the authority figure does not want the child to think because then the child will reason that these beings are lies and then the lies will no longer have the desired affect: control. This is the second half of these fictional beings roles. Aside from too complex for the human mind to understand these beings see everything the child does. These beings also give the child rewards for behaving well. Of course, the reward from Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are distinctly different from that of God, but they all reward the child and they all see everything the child does. Thus, the authority figure employs these lies to control children. They are always being watched, every one of their actions is being accounted for; therefore, if they mess up in any way, meaning if they disobey the authority figure in any way, then the child is not rewarded. See here is the true sinister element of these lies. They are lies. They do not actually exist. Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and God are all extensions of the authority figure. These beings provide no reward because they do not actually exist. The authority figure provides the reward. Therefore, these beings do not have a judgment independent of the authority figure. It is not like Santa is an Objectivist and the authority figure is an altruist. In this case the authority figure would continue to say the child is bad for being selfish; however, then receives presents from Santa. In turn the child would understand the authority figure is actually wrong and he is actually right. Since these beings are just extensions of the authority figure the authority figure determines what is the truth. Basically, the authority figure ignores that fact that truth exists independent from man's desire and control, and thus defines truth as obedient. The truth then becomes the child must do whatever the parent says or else he will not be rewarded. The child is not being taught to what is right or wrong, but just being taught to obey. This only reinforces the earlier emphasis on not thinking. The child is taught that thinking is not necessary only obedience is necessary. Therefore, taking this to the extreme, if an authority figure orders an individual to kill and innocent man, killing the innocent man is not wrong because it is being obedient. In reality it is wrong to kill the innocent man regardless of whether or not an authority figure ordered it to be done because an innocent man initiates no force.
Another way Easter traumatizes children is that it teaches children not to be honest. Of course, on occasion lying is fine; however, one should never lie to someone he cares about. Easter teaches the opposite. Inevitably the authority figure will teach the child to always be honest. However, the authority figure creates all these false beings, in this particular case the Easter Bunny. This is not to say that God is a true being, He is absolutely a lie; however, the problem with this lie is people continue to believe it past their youth. The Easter Bunny is eventually exposed as a lie. Thus, there is a contradiction. The authority figure tells the child to be honest, to always tell the truth; however, then the child eventually finds out the authority figure lied to the child about these beings like the Easter Bunny. Then the child learns that being honest is not important, especially if one is in the position of authority. In reality the exact opposite is true.
The final traumatizing element of Easter returns to its religious aspect. In addition to being told several lies such as altruism being a virtue, one should value friends and strangers equally, and that one has no body or life, individuality, or natural rights to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and property, Easter also traumatizes a child by teaching him that he is guilty for existing. When explaining Easter to a child one states that the greatest man that has ever lived and will ever lived died because he was born. Easter only reinforces the lie of original sin. Eastern continues to beat into the child's head that he is inherently evil. He, like every other human being, is so inherently evil the greatest man that had ever lived and will ever lived had to die. This makes the child assume he is bad, it will cause the child to feel depressed not immediately but later in life. The child also adapts a poor way of life based on being humble and disliking himself. The child is basically sent down the path of self loathing. Additionally, the child could feel he has to follow this man. Clearly, if the Bible's account of the event is true, Jesus was a fool. He should have never chosen to die for everyone's sins. First, his death has no bearing on anyone else's responsibility. Second, altruism is a vice. However, death, sacrifice, are very powerful regardless of the reasons behind them. This is especially true for a child who does not have the greatest grasp on his reason and has already been traumatized by his authority figures in other ways. As a child may see it, the greatest man that has ever lived and will ever live died for him. In order to in essence pay back this man he has never met the child may start to blindly follow this man. Of course, as stated before this man, part of God, is a lie. Jesus did exist, but he was not God. Also as stated before God is just an extension of the authority figure. He is only employed to control the child, to cause the child to be obedient. Therefore, this essence of Easter is just a second front to instilling that control.
As in some of my other posts I cannot except full responsibility for my argument. Many of my points are based on similar arguments made by Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain Radio. Specific episodes related to this argument are 1020 and 1009.