Bruce Gerencser, a former pastor, points out that the entire Christian idea of the atonement is crazy.
Imagine that you owed First City Bank $1,000,000 and had no way to pay the debt. Imagine that I went to the bank and paid your debt in full. Awesome guy, right? But what if the bank refused to accept my payment on your behalf unless you stripped naked, ran through the streets of your city, and told everyone that you were a low-life, dirty, piece of shit who doesn’t pay his bills? Only after you humiliated yourself before your family, friends, and community would the $1,000,000 payment be credited to your account. Would you do this?
You would think — Wouldn’t you? — that the Creator Of The Whole Big Universe could have come up with a better scheme for settling His differences with His Beloved Children, and done a better job of communicating His thoughts?
Bah. You’ve got to be out of your mind to take this stuff seriously.