Rhea

That he briefly loaned his first child.

I was listening to FundyRadio for entertainment today and they (naturally) brought up John 3:16 at one point.

And it made me wonder...

How do you "give" something when you know you're going to get it back?
How do you give "someone" when they are you?
Is it right to "give" someone else away?
If Jesus volunteered, did God really do the giving?
And why does God only have one child?
Is he infertile?
Do you think a good reproductive endocrinologist could help him out?

But seriously, this verse is always given as if it's a Big Deal that Jesus was his only Son and that he "was given". But it seems to beg the question. Well several, as noted above.

(maybe this belongs in another forum - mods, do with me what you will...)

Clutch

And...

Why not mention the many other children belonging to other people, that Yahweh seems to have donated rather liberally to his own cause.

For God so loved the world that he killed the firstborn sons of everyone in Egypt... Feel the love, baby!

Yellum Notnef

I was thinking about something related to this the other day.

If we`re ALL Gods children whats so special about Jesus?

christ-on-a-stick

This part has always bugged me.... Xians love to refer to Jesus' death as some kind of ultimate "sacrifice" - but how can something qualify as a sacrifice when it is restored? Maybe it could be stretched to say it's a "temporary sacrifice" but that doesn't really make it all that ultimate-amazing-superspecial then.

Also, a sticking point for me (which my fundy family members have been stumped by over and over... I love bringing it up!) -

Stipulated by Xians: The penalty for being a sinner, without some kind of salvation/redemption, is eternal torment in hell.

In order to provide salvation/redemption, Jesus took our sins upon himself and paid the price for us.

Then how come he only got 3 days?!?!?!?!?

It makes no sense.

Even setting aside the questionable ethics of the concept of someone supposedly being "deserving of punishment" getting off by somebody innocent taking the rap for them, there is the complication of the disparity of the "sentence".

As an example, let's just say that Person A is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. The judge allows Person B, totally innocent, to volunteer to take the sentence instead. Whereby, he suddenly decides to change the sentence to.... oh, say, a weekend in prison.

WTF?!!?!?!?!?

Bobzammel

What's interesting is that in 1 John John states that "Loving the World" is a sin.