Appendix 7: A Forsaken God?

From 19 Questions for Christians by Edip Yuksel

The last words of Jesus are one of the few words kept untranslated. Jesus calls God Eli, which has the same root as the Arabic Elah or Allah, and he complains about his fate.

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, E'li, E'li, la'ma sa-bach'-tha-ni? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46 , Mark 15:34 )

Obviously, the followers of St. Paul use sensational language to dramatize the scenario of Crucifixion. They are like a plastic surgeon who gouges out the eye while trying to make an eyebrow! This verse is not only at cross purposes with the fabricated doctrine of Christianity, but also reflects the confusion on the part of the authors of the Gospels. (Compare the wavering hero of Mark 14:36 and Luke 22:42 to the brave hero of John 12:27 ).

Evangelists are fond of using the Crucifixion of Jesus by Jews as a proof of his deity. One of their "strongest evidences" about the deity of Jesus is based on "the deep understanding capacity of Jews." Evangelists pontificate: "Look, if Jesus did not claim that he was God or literally Son of God, monotheistic Jews would not have stoned him for blasphemy". To support their evidence they feel the obligation to add that "Jews definitely understood his teaching." But, the Bible says the contrary:

"Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say" (John 8:43 and Mark 4:13 ).

Not only the disbeliever Jews, but even his disciples, sometimes had difficulty understanding him. See Mark 9:32 Luke 18:34 ; 9:45 & John 8:27 ; 12:6.

Unfortunately, the evangelists and clergy do not have a better understanding of his teaching than the Jews who stoned him. Josh McDowell, in his "one-million-in-print-book" tries to persuade us of the Jews' deep understanding capacity:

"Jesus is threatened with stoning for 'blasphemy.' The Jews definitely understood his teaching. . ." (More Than a Carpenter, Josh McDowell, Tyndale, Illinois, 1989, p. 17)

E. Calvin Beisner, a professional evangelist, advocates another common logical fallacy related to the fictitious divine sacrifice:

"Think what kind of act gets the highest praise among men: isn't it when someone voluntarily sacrifices his life in order to save the lives or others? Such self-sacrifice is a tremendous good. The greatest such sacrifice was when God sacrificed His life in the Person of Jesus Christ to save the lives of all who believe in Jesus." (Answers for Atheists, p. 10).

Before listing my questions, let me share a brief argument:

I asked an evangelist: "Why should God sacrifice 'His son' in order to show His love and forgive us?" He replied with a counter question, "If you love a girl too much what do you do?" I said, "I'll try to help her." "Wouldn't you die for her?" he suggested. "Why?" I questioned, "To the contrary, I would try to keep myself healthy and handsome. When we feel desperately helpless and not able to find a solution, then we may sacrifice ourselves, in another word, commit suicide. But, God does not run out of solutions, and He is never helpless." The evangelist friend did not have an answer; his attempt to justify his faith by reason had failed. So, it was time to resort back to his first and last, perhaps the only refuge: "faith." He was not yet prepared to get out of the dark and windy tunnel he was inviting me to it with a little candle that could not even stand the shortest breath of reason.

Now, here are my questions: