The Theology of Christianity

Robert Howard Kroepel

Copyright © 2003

New Durham, New Hampshire 03855-2107

Theology, sometimes called religious dogma, is the philosophy of a religion which is a set of concepts (mental representations--ideas--of people and things), principles (mental representations/ideas of relationships between/among people and things) and techniques (applications of concepts and principles for decision-making and problem-solving) relevant to the belief in the existence of gods.

The theology of Christianity includes the following:

1. A single god exists. [Monotheism]
2. The god reveals itself by direct intervention in human affairs by miracles, personal appearances, prophecies--predictions through prophets, and its word as the inspiration for the writing of the Bible, the holy book of Christianity.
3. The god created all matter/energy including the Earth, the other planets and the stars, humans, beasts, fowl, reptiles, insects, fauna, laws of nature, etc.
4. The god has a set of rules--the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule--which is a moral code which defines human sins.
5. Humans must believe in the existence of the god and obey the god's moral codes to achieve salvation and an afterlife (life after earthly/bodily death) in heaven and to avoid sin and an afterlife in hell.
6. The god judges humans according to their intentions and their actions.
7. Humans have been given one life which is a test to prove their willingness to obey the god's moral code and thereby to achieve salvation and an afterlife in heaven and to avoid sin and an afterlife in hell.
8. The reward for obedience to the god is not necessarily to be found in the individual's earthly life but instead in the individual's afterlife--his life after his earthly death.
9. The Bible is completely true.
10. In the first book of Old Testament of the Bible, Genesis, the first woman, Eve, sinned by giving the first man, Adam, an apple to eat, which was from the tree of knowledge; the god had forbidden humans to eat the apples of the tree of knowledge: thus, the first man and the first woman sinned. [We are not told if or not Adam knew that the apple was from the tree of knowledge; if he did not so know, then he is, of course, innocent, unless there is a requirement among gods that humans must first inquire of the gods if or not each and every and all acts are to be sanctioned by the gods and that the people, things and events involved are okay with the gods, including eating apples.]
11. Because of the sins of Adam and Eve, their offspring--all other humans--were and are sinners in need of salvation by a dying/rising savior-god. [This is a clear and obvious case of punishing the offspring for the sins/crimes of the parents, which no rational people in an advanced civilization would permit in their public laws and policies.]
12. Humans cannot save themselves--they cannot provide for their own salvation; instead, they must be saved by a dying/rising savior-god.
13. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the writers report that the god transformed itself into its own son and became a godman who was born of a virgin human mother, who preached and performed miracles, who was arrested, tried, convicted, executed by crucifixion (death by hanging upon a cross), and was resurrected, and by these deeds became the dying/rising savior-god who provided salvation for humans from their sins.

The execution of Jesus by crucifixion is in doubt because of references to a form of execution by which an individual is killed by various methods, including stoning, and his body is then hung upon a tree, or a cross, to show other individuals that he was a criminal, was tried, convicted, and executed, with the public viewing of the body upon tree/cross to be a statement of warning to anyone considering committing the same crime. Contrast the following ...

(A) Deut. 21:22-23. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou shall hang him upon a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day: (for he that is hanged is accursed of God); that thy land not be defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. [NOTE: These are the words of God as dictated to Moses, ordering a sequence of 1. putting to death a convict and then 2. hanging his body upon a tree, and, therefore, these words and this execution sequence are the Law to the Jews.]

(B) Acts 5:30: The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

(C) Acts 10:39: And we were witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree.

... with the following ...

(D) Matthew 27:33. And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of the skull, ... 35. And they crucified him, ... 45. Now from the sixth hour there was a darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. ... 50. Jesus, when he had cried again in a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52. And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53. And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

(E) Mark 15:25. And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. ... 33. And when the sixth hour was come, there was a darkness over the whole and until the ninth hour. ... 34. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ... My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ...37. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38. And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

(F) Luke: 23:33. And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him ... 44. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up the ghost.

(G) John 19:14. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour, ... 16. Then delivered he (Pilate) him (Jesus) unto them (men/officers of the chief priests and Pharisees, the chief priests, and the Pharisees) to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. 17. And he bearing his cross went forth unto a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha (emphasis in original KJV): 18. Where they crucified him ... 30. ... he (Jesus) said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

--End Quotes--

Thus, the Christian Bible contradicts itself (A/B/C versus D/E/F/G) on the question of how the dying/rising savior-god/godman, Jesus, was executed.

The crux of Christian theology is the dogma that proclaims that all humans are sinners and therefore pieces of crap who cannot save themselves and can only be saved by a dying/rising savior-god named Jesus.

From the original sin in Genesis of the Old Testament to the dying/rising savior-god Jesus Christ in the Gospels of the New Testament, humans are sinners/pieces of crap who cannot save themselves but who must depend upon dying/rising savior-god named Jesus.

Humans therefore must believe that they are sinners/pieces of crap who cannot save themselves but instead must be saved by the dying/rising savior-god Jesus Christ.

Thus, the individual must believe that he and all other humans are sinners/pieces of crap.

The belief that he is a sinner/piece of crap damages an individual's self-esteem and self-worth.

Thus, the Christian theology damages an individual's personal psychology--his set of desires (wanting people/things/events), fears (not-wanting people/things/events) and priorities (the importance of each desire or fear compared to all other desires and fears) which cause his behavior--his actions (his seeking to achieve his desires/avoid his fears) and reactions (his emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, and/or fear he experiences in reacting to realizing his desires and/or fears--achieving/not achieving his desires or/and avoiding/not avoiding his fears.

The Christian must hate himself because he must believe he is a sinner/piece of crap. He must be angry with himself for being a sinner/piece of crap; he must fear the god, the god's judgment, and the possibility of an afterlife in hell, and he must fear his inability to save himself from his sins.

And he must hate all other humans because he must believe that they are all sinners/pieces of crap.

We see, therefore, that the Christian theology is self-destructive and self-damaging to the individual.

If humans are not sinners/pieces of crap because of the fall Adam in the Old Testament, then no dying/rising savior-god is needed and the death/resurrection of Jesus in the New Testament is total nonsense.

Christianity rises and falls with the death/resurrection of Jesus: If Jesus is not necessary and/or does not resurrect, then Christianity is nonsense.