One of my most favorite cartoons of all times depicts the comet Hale Bopp flashing across the sky with an alien spaceship hidden in its tail. From the spaceship comes a dialogue cloud showing the aliens saying, "They did WHAT?". For those of you too young and/or uninformed to remember what this was about, it concerned the Heaven's Gate religious cult who supposedly believed that an alien spaceship would be following the comet, coming to pick them up, presumably to go to a better place. But their bodies couldn't go with them. So thirtynine of their members committed suicide in preparation of their departure.
Why, one asks (at least this one!) would a god, or even just humans advanced enough to travel through space to pick up passengers for Heaven, want you to give up your life? Wouldn't that god or advanced people be capable of taking your "essence," for lack of a better word, without making you do the hard work of killing yourself? How could people believe such a thing?
Well, I have the same question regarding the practice of giving up something you care about, sacrificing, for Lent. If God did, indeed, give His son to death in order to save your immortal souls, why, then, would He turn around and want you to sacrifice something you enjoy? Why wouldn't He want yo to rather celebrate,your life, your potential everlasting life, and the things that bring you joy during this mortal life?
Doesn't that seem awfully petty of Him? Doesn't it almost seem more like something some HUMAN would think up? "I killed my son for you! Now I want you to give up something you enjoy; carrot cake, sex, Irish whiskey, FACEBOOK!"
If He gave His son out of love for you, don't you think he'd be godly enough not to want such mundane shows of obeisance? Wouldn't He be able to see through your daily lives and your daily thoughts whether or not you love and obey Him and appreciate what He did for you?
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