One of the strangest theological stories of all time goes something like this:

-God sent Himself (His “Son”) to die, then came back from the dead to return to Himself.

-God died so God would forgive Humanity (for being Human … “sinners”), but God will not forgive unless Humanity believes this wild story.

-If Humanity does not believe this story, the “God of Love,” who “forgave the world” when Jesus died, will graciously torture Humanity for Eternity.

That’s the essence of The Story … The “Gospel” according to Fundamentalists and Evangelicals (aka, “True” “Bible-believing” Christians).

For more Liberal, Progressive Christians, there is still a bloody death and eerie resurrection and uncomfortable questions such as:  why did he die?  where did he go?  what kind of God would choose such a violent “lesson” for humanity?  and, how does a faith or a religion emerge from this in-credible story?  Also, why did people tell this story and write it down if modern Christians don’t really believe it?  If it’s a myth or legend (a fictional story), why devote your life to it, repeating the story over and over?

By rights, every secular person in the world should celebrate today (“Good Friday”), but especially tomorrow, Saturday, when God was (officially) dead.  I don’t celebrate that because:

1.  I don’t think God ever was alive
2. I don’t think Jesus was God
3. Jesus died
4. Stories were created (esp. by Paul) to make converts and form a Religion
5. All we can do is learn something from his life and teachings, if we can dig under the theological gloss of centuries