WE are told, however, that a way has been provided for the salvation
of all men, and that in this plan the infinite mercy of God is made
manifest to the children of men. According to the great scheme of the
atonement, the innocent suffers for the guilty in order to satisfy a
law. What kind of law must it be that is satisfied with the agony of
innocence? Who made this law? If God made it he must have known that the
innocent would have to suffer as a consequence. The whole scheme is
to me a medley of contradictions, impossibilities and theological
conclusions. We are told that if Adam and Eve had not sinned in the
Garden of Eden death never would have entered the world. We are further
informed that had it not been for the devil, Adam and Eve would not
have been led astray; and if they had not, as I said before, death
never would have touched with its icy hand the human heart. If our first
parents had never sinned, and death never had entered the world, you and
I never would have existed. The earth would have been filled thousands
of generations before you and I were born. At the feast of life, death
made seats vacant for us. According to this doctrine, we are indebted
to the devil for our existence. Had he not tempted Eve--no sin. If there
had been no sin--no death. If there had been no death the world would
have been filled ages before you and I were born. Therefore, we owe our
existence to the devil. We are further informed that as a consequence of
original sin the scheme called the atonement became necessary; and that
if the Savior had not taken upon himself flesh and come to this atom
called the earth, and if he had not been crucified for us, we should all
have been cast forever into hell. Had it not been for the bigotry of
the Jews and the treachery of Judas Iscariot, Christ would not have been
crucified; and if he had not been crucified, all of us would have had
our portion in the lake that burneth with eternal fire.
According to this great doctrine, according to this vast and most
wonderful scheme, we owe, as I said before, our existence to the devil,
our salvation to Judas Iscariot and the bigotry of the Jews.
So far as I am concerned, I fail to see any mercy in the plan of
salvation. Is it mercy to reward a man forever in consideration of
believing a certain thing, of the truth of which there is, to his mind,
ample testimony? Is it mercy to punish a man with eternal fire simply
because there is not testimony enough to satisfy his mind? Can there be
such a thing as mercy in eternal punishment?
And yet this same Deity says to me, "resist not evil; pray for those
that despitefully use you; love your enemies, but I will eternally damn
mine." It seems to me that even gods should practice what they preach.
All atonement, after all, is a kind of moral bankruptcy. Under its
provisions, man is allowed the luxury of sinning upon a credit. Whenever
he is guilty of a wicked action he says, "charge it." This kind of
bookkeeping, in my judgment, tends to breed extravagance in sin.
The truth is, most Christians are better than their creeds; most creeds
are better than the Bible, and most men are better than their God.