Recently, I received the following email from a Christian man named Mike:
Bruce, I had my colon removed last year but I still love Jesus for dying for my sins. You had a rough life. If God didn’t spare Jesus from suffering, why should He spare us?
My Evangelical critics often misunderstand or deliberately misstate the reasons I left Christianity. Take Mike. He says I had a “rough life,” and that this is the reason I deconverted. While personal experiences played a secondary part in my loss of faith, they are not the primary reason I am no longer a Christian. While I could justify deconverting based on these experiences alone when compared to what the Bible says about Jesus’ love, care, and compassion for his followers, they are not the prime reason for me divorcing Jesus.
If I have made one thing clear, it is this: I deconverted because the central claims of Christianity no longer made sense to me. In other words, I am now convinced that beliefs I once held to be true are false. (Please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.)
As a Christian, I never expected God to deliver me from suffering. I knew that God used suffering to teach or correct me, and in some instances, he used my suffering for his purpose and glory. My duty was to submit to and obey God’s divine will. I can’t remember a time when I was angry or bitter towards God, even when I pleaded with him to heal me or lessen my pain. Jesus may have been the Great Physician, but I learned that he didn’t make house calls, nor did he offer office appointments. “Pray and wait” was the script Jesus wrote for me time after time, without any semblance of healing or help following.
Mike mentions the suffering of Jesus, as if it is the gold standard for suffering. How much did Jesus actually suffer? Was his suffering worse than the suffering of billions of other humans? Not even close. Yes, he suffered, but it was only for a matter of hours before he died — not from the beatings, but because he chose to die. The duration of Jesus’ suffering was minimal — the equivalent of a long weekend — compared to people who live with unbearable pain for months and years. (Please see I Wish Christians Would Be Honest About Jesus’ Three Day Weekend.)
Mike mentions having his colon removed last year. My partner had part of her colon, along with part of her bladder, removed several years ago. A fistula opened up between her colon and bladder, leading to her — literally — urinating shit. Polly spent three weeks in the hospital and was off work for two months. While her ulcerative colitis is now managed — most of the time — with medication, her months of suffering left a lasting mark on her physical well-being. Thousands of people read this blog, many of whom have had serious health problems at one time or another. Sadly, some readers have died from heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure, and cancer. My point? Many of us have experienced suffering in our lives, and some of us continue to suffer to this day. We know suffering, and that’s why we object when Evangelicals say Jesus suffered more than any other human. He didn’t, and Evangelicals need to quit claiming otherwise.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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So Jesus suffered (allegedly). That’s a shame. Many people suffer. Sometimes it’s because of illness, or grief, or injury. Some of us who do sports suffer by choice. If we are to believe the Jesus story, he suffered by choice. I don’t feel that someone suffering by choice necessarily means that I owe them something. Jesus (allegedly) chose his path, but I didn’t ask him to. Sure, the Christian argument was that he was the ONLY one whose suffering would have been accepted. I mean, sucks to be him, I guess, but I didn’t ask him to suffer, I didn’t make the rule that sacrifice was necessary or what type of sacrifice was acceptable. Ironically, he made those rules. As I see it, it’s not my problem or obligation. Plus, the whole story doesn’t make sense anyway.
I think it’s offensive and dismissive to wave off someone’s suffering with “well, Jesus suffered worse”. Dude, acknowledge the person’s suffering. You don’t need to blow them off with commenting on your favorite entry in the suffering Olympics.
At this time in my life, I see that suffering is a trait elevated beyond reason when it comes to Evangelicals (and for the most part, other religions and beliefs too.) But here we do Evangelicals. It’s worn like some sort of badge of honour. Jesus suffered, you can too. And like Bruce and Michael, I left too. If anything, my suffering and the suffering of others forced me further into study and coming to terms with my reality. Simply, I was not living in reality. I was living in a fantasy.
People who minimize your suffering by telling you how much Jesus suffered remind me of those parents who tell their kids, “Look how much I go through for you!”
So Jesus (assuming the story is true) suffered more than any human. And now, having experienced the pain of a human body, doesn’t do shit to relieve suffering. And how is that knowledge supposed to make me feel better?