3rd Party, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter)

I didn’t ask you to
I can decide for myself
I can forgive
But I don’t need your help

If there is a transgression
Against my person
I make that decision
As to who I am forgiving

You have no right
To take that from me
You’re a third party
Don’t dictate to me

Revenge I do not seek
But that does not mean
I have to keep company
With that person that hurt me

This character Jesus
Takes my autonomy
Far too many people
Buy this fantasy

Once indoctrinated
They cannot see
They cant speak for themselves
These lemmings to be

I have a brain
I choose to use
I think for myself
They haven’t a clue

Ask for forgiveness
And get into heaven
It doesn’t matter
What you have done then

Are they suggesting
If this is the case
If you are murdered
You’ll meet your killer face to face?

How is it the right
Of this third party
To force you to live with
The monster that cried?

“I’m sorry”
Said the bad guy
Jesus said
“You get a ticket to the afterlife”

My self is not mine
My autonomy gone
I am just a prop
Jesus’s pawn.
(end)

I find the entire “forgiveness” motif of the Jesus character immoral. I am all for the idea of forgiving, but that should always be left up to the person hurt by the other. It should not be up to a third party. I am not advocating revenge on anyone. But I should have the ability to part company from that person who hurt me and never see them again.

But if that person gets to say “I am sorry” to Jesus, to me, that would be like having a boss where you work telling you you have to put up with that harassment or bully.

And while we are at it, exactly how is not staying dead, and faking a suicide a “sacrifice”? Altruism to me is doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking. I do not see how this Jesus character’s story constitutes a real “sacrifice”. He didn’t stay dead, and he sought worship and glorification. Real empathy and compassion is not seeking fame or worship. I would say the soldiers of D-Day were a real sacrifice. They did not get famous, they did not have religions started in their name. It was about the country, not them as individuals.

Jesus is God, and God’s core goal is to bully you into worshiping him and if you do not you burn in hell. This is not real altruism or love. It is mental slavery, intimidation.

(DISCLAIMER) This is not a hate poem. It is not calling for the forced end of Christianity. It is simply a poem to get the reader to think about the logic of the motif in the character’s story. I will always value human rights, but claims do no not deserve blind taboo status never to be questioned. Art isn’t just to be about beauty, it is also there to provoke thought. If our species never questioned social norms, our species never would have left the caves.