Empirically Considered: The Body and Blood of Jesus VS the Body and Blood of Humans

The Blood of Jesus vs. Human Blood

According to the Gospel Tracts (as well as my training in Christian schools), it is the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ and His Vicarious Atonement of His shed blood on the cross that saves the confessed sinner from judgment before God. If one accepts this, then he or she is assured of eternal life with Christ.


So what would an old unsaved sinner (even more damning, a Secular Humanist and Atheist) like me have to offer the world in light of this fantastic Christian claim of Jesus?

How about reality!

For one: Every month I go to the Blood Connection here in Greenville where I spend from one to three hours giving at least two of the following: blood, plasma or platelets. While lying in the donor’s chair, I’m often informed how many lives my blood and its products will have saved (that’s right: SAVED…Amen?!).

Let’s say an old sinner (or saved Christian for that matter) is injured by doing something stupid (sinful) such as driving while intoxicated and wrecks his vehicle with a lot of blood loss. This individual is now facing the “judgment of death” unless he or she can get an infusion of my -or another donor’s - life saving blood. If, in the case they got my blood, then just like Jesus Christ my blood atoned for their sin by giving them life. But real life here and now and not some pie in the sky in the sweet by and by!

Lets go further and put Christ to the test again. Let’s take the example of a hemophiliac or a cancer patient who desperately needs my platelets in order to live. Now they could do nothing and have a total Biblical faith in Jesus and (via prayer) claim John 14:13-14 (“And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” Or they can depend totally on “sinful” and often “unsaved” people (such as my self) and be given life here and now (not just some religious Bull Shit)!

Still have doubts, well just look how many faithful believers in the sect of Christian Science (Mary Barker Eddy’s group) who trusted in FAITH ONLY as promised in the Bible, but have died while praying to Jesus Christ claiming his promises. Also, Jehovah Witnesses who consider honoring God and His Word (the Bible) by not getting blood transfusions.




The Body of Jesus vs. The Body of Humans

Christianity holds the body of Jesus as sinless, pure (that is, undefiled by sin), plus he was fathered by God Himself though a virgin as extra protection. But, empirically speaking, just what value is theology and the body of Jesus for the suffering of humanity in this present life?

In 1999, my fourteen year old daughter was taken to the hospital with chronic vomiting and weight loss. Her blood pressure was 184 over 123. After some lab tests, the staff doctor called in a Nephrologist to confirm the test: End Stage Renal Failure. He told my wife and me that we had three choices: My daughter could live the rest of her life on dialysis, better yet, hopefully one day get a kidney transplant, or we could take her home and let her die. However, we better act soon as she had about two weeks to live!

I remember sitting beside my daughter’s hospital bed and a seeing her now frail body with one tube for in her neck for hemodialysis, plus several more tubes in her arms for plasma and blood.

I also remember my daughter (who had been raised in Sunday School and Church all her life (I let my child attend with their mom and decide for themselves)) who, when she was told that all the churches were “praying for her”, ask me crying: “Daddy, I love my cat and dog and I take care of them. If Jesus loves me, why did he not take care of my kidneys?” I must admit, just how do you answer someone that young and in that much mental pain?

After she was on dialysis for four months and in a state of decline, the doctor told us that some people don’t tolerate it well and my daughter was one of the ones who did not. He told us that any long term life for her would have to be in the form of a kidney transplant.

As an Atheist and Secular Humanist, I came forward and was consider a match.
In short, in November 1999 I gave her one of my kidneys and she has been doing very well health wise since.

With that background said, I want to close with the second part of my thesis below.

Beginning in 2002, my daughter attended her first National Transplant Games. These games are composed of over 3,000 people from the United States who have had kidney, liver, heart, pancreas, lung, bone and bowel transplants given by either a living people or a non-living donors (donated by the family). Although, there is competition at the games, the games themselves are really about the celebration of life here and now.

What I found very interesting at both the opening and the closing ceremonies is that at NO TIME was there ever a prayer offered (even to some god in general), nor did I hear anyone make the statement; “It is only by the Grace of God that I’m here!” Moreover,
at the last two Transplant Games I attended with my daughter, I made it a point to try find out if there was any credit given to religion at all (Christian or otherwise). There was none! I am not saying these people are not religious, but credit was given where credit is due…to secular society and modern medicine.

In short, while Christian apologists sit behind a keyboard in fairly good heath and philosophically discuss the “proofs for God and Christian dogma”, these 3,000 plus transplant reciprocates have looked death in the face and are alive today simply because of secular technology and they know it! Apart from the games themselves, great heart felt thanks are given to modern medicine and the pharmacology that makes their life giving anti-rejection drugs possible…all from sinful man.

In the end, the reality of the body and blood of Jesus (along with Jesus’ fantastic Biblical promises) are, for the terminal chronically sick, left totally out of the reality of life’s reach. Being stored up in some mythical Heaven, they are only awarded after death to those who are deemed good and doctrinally obedient.

However, to try and tell the chronically ill person with end-stage organ failure or someone bleeding to death that somehow it “is God’s will” or that God’s Word requires you to just suffer (or that it was some ploy of Satan) is just plain apologetically trying to save theology at the expense of the dying; a tactic religion is well know for.

8 comments:

Manifesting Mini Me (MMM) said...

I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but your variation of salvation appears to lead to a self-righteous, emotional bullying man that only offers future death - sorry, but I've been there, seen that and done it all before - by faith, I respect that God's grace makes allowances for the life of Harry McCall and that He doesn't condemn, but I firmly reject your "way" - there are plenty of people who make blood donations out of a foundation of faith and don't use their kindnesses to lord over other people. Thanks!

Harry H. McCall said...

manifesting: I had an atheist friend who, during his life as Christian, was a major evangelist, youth minister, was his universities “Man of the Year”. He won his seminary’s sermon contest. An lived as I did (for over 35 years) as a true believer. After he left Christianity, he would walk up to people carrying a Bible or with a cross on and state: “I just wanted to let you know that your Jesus is a lair!”

In light of my post and based on John 14:13-14 as quoted, I must say I agree. manifesting, maybe it’s time you got out of theology and into reality. Listen, I did NOT make the major claims Jesus did in John’s Gospel, but then I’m not in theology… I live in reality and I’ll put my life up against the empty promises of Jesus and the Bible any day of the week.

My post looked at Jesus empirically and not as your untouchable Poster Boy of Faith. Fact is, nothing the Bible promises can be tried in a court of law. The product (the Bible) can lie, and the consumer (the Christian) can not sue since there is NO EMPERICAL PROOF Christianity does any thing supernatural today other than peddle its “Snake Oil” called faith and salvation! I would return the phrase and say that your Jesus of faith is a “self-righteous, emotional bullying man that only offers future death.”

By the way, check out how many people die everyday waiting for an organ transplant and relate this to your God’s Grace! Many of these chronically ill people die daily while praying for His help just a promised in the Bible. As I stated before, such Biblical promises are “Bull Shit” plain and simple.

If John 14: 13-14 (as stated by Jesus) is your “The Gospel Truth”, then Jesus is indeed a lair and your Christian religion has nothing to offer the sick and dying but broken promises of empty words which will end in their physical death.

I noticed your blog is blocked to the general public. Good…go peddle your Snake Oil of faith and salvation out of sight there!

Manifesting Mini Me (MMM) said...

Harry wrote: "maybe it’s time you got out of theology and into reality" and, "go peddle your Snake Oil of faith and salvation out of sight there!"

I'm no stranger to projecting presumptions on people I am not well acquainted with, but these two statements are a bit amiss - in case you haven't noticed, I am theologically/philosophically illiterate (I feel it is somewhat obvious) and as far as the blog associated with my online name here, it's a weight loss site :-)

Now about that snake oil comment - there is absolute validity and truth to what Y'shua spoke of about the religious hypocrites and the venomous viper bites they inflict. I respect that God loves those guys, but that is really serious stuff - I had to take at least, 5, possibly 6 years, to detox from a short exposure to that - to sort out all the mixed messages and wade through the double standards and comdemnation.

However, I do know of some who have left their denominations and churches but continued to maintain faith.

At any rate, thanks for your response.

Harry H. McCall said...

Manifesting stated: “there is absolute validity and truth to what Y'shua spoke of about the religious hypocrites and the venomous viper bites they inflict. I respect that God loves those guys, but that is really serious stuff - I had to take at least, 5, possibly 6 years, to detox from a short exposure to that - to sort out all the mixed messages and wade through the double standards and comdemnation.”

I’ve seen the Hebrew/Aramaic “Y’shua” “Yeshua”, “Yashua” used a number of times in answers to my posts. I’m not sure if this name is suppose to some how remove and redirect this Y’shua form the Greek Jesus of the New Testament and his claims he makes or not. But the fact is that Y’shua (or the better know from “Joshua” as found in the Hebrew Bible) is a common name much like John, James and Peter of the New Testament. I know textual examples of two more people named Jesus (Hebrew: Y’shua) in the New Testament. One as first name for Barabbas or “Jesus Barabbas” (Matt. 27 16 and 17) which was textually suppressed for theological reasons and a false prophet named Jesus (Acts 13:6). So your “Y’shua” is indeed a common everyday name with nothing special attached to it.

God is who and what the believer makes him out to be (look at how Joseph Smith and the Mormons define God/Jesus). Plus, just look at how Yahweh has changed, not only in the Hebrew Bible, but in the Greek Septuagint (the text or Old Testament quoted in the New Testament), the Targums (Aramaic version) and the Latin. With every new translation, both God and Jesus (or your “Y’shua”) is reshaped and redefined in theology; or, to put it another way, God himself has evolved via his own revelation. So by humans reshaping and redefining God and Jesus in the text and creedal statements, humans have kept both God and his son alive in a system call theology. See here examples as noted by John Wevers in his “Notes on the Greek Text of…” of the Pentateuch and Bruce Metzger’s “A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament”.

As long as Christianity is a living religion, then it will (and must be) redefined just to stay alive. In short, Jesus is part of this living religious tradition who (and which) can only exist because we humans need and want it to exist...or God and Jesus serves man and not the other way around. Your redefined “Y’shua” or Jesus has been reshaped by you after you claimed you took “at least, 5, possibly 6 years, to detox from a short exposure to that - to sort “so religion can continue in your life.”

But at one point I got tired of reshaping Jesus and blaming the world for Christianity’s problems. If Christianity claims to do something for the believer (supernaturally) and fails to do it, than it’s simply false. I got tired of keeping God alive at my mental expense! I now feel it’s better (ethically and morally) to be honest than religious.

My daughter whose kidneys failed also left Christianity and now considers herself now an Atheist.



We are what reality forces us to be despite the claims of religion. It would be indeed supernatural (and great) if the Bible and the promises of Jesus were true, but IT JUST IS NOT SO; thus the whole point of my original post.

Finally, I’m just not sure how you get around the Gospel of John, especially your Y’shua’s promise in John 14: 13-14, but either Jesus has lied or his promises ended when he died.

Manifesting Mini Me (MMM) said...

Thanks once again, Harry for your response - I appreciate your input.

It seems I get to increase my capacity to exercise faith and love all sorts of people who are antagonistic towards it. Loving the enemy is not too tough here, but I do feel protective of you guys.

My initial comment was very direct for a purpose - one of the ways that Yshua (BTW, my use of that name is simply one of preference) -has set me free is when others try to assimiliate or collect me towards their sensibilities or agendas. I no longer fall prey to agreeing or conforming to every inuendo or subversive manipulation or overt threat of guilt. I think it's good to question the influences that are encountered on a daily basis.

About John 14 - whatever - I have to look up the scripture you referenced - okay?I'll bet it's about 'whatever I ask in His name' isn't it? The thing about asking in His name is there is a difference between making a demand of an idol and trusting in what Y'shua told us in advance was His Way. Sometimes I would be demanding "snakes" and I would be asking someone I really did not trust or believe - my image of "god' was a black void most of the time and other times, a 'god' whose back was turned away from me - I never acknowledged or confronted exactly what I was doing - I was just going along unquestioningly. I used to pray having more faith in the circumstance rather than god's abilities but that ended up being okay - before my belief could grow, I needed to be small and helpless and immature and know that I am well loved and sought after by Him in my fallible state. I never had that foundation before with anyone, 'god' or man. That, I wouldn't trade for anything. That is the treasure that death cannot steal away.

You wrote: "I got tired of keeping God alive at my mental expense!" and also, "Your redefined “Y’shua” or Jesus has been reshaped by you" -- Harry, that perspective - that paradigm = comes from practicing idolotry and I mean that wholeheartedly and emphatically. I did not reshape God - His Way is immutable but it is a free spirit. Immutable but freedom found in a connected relationship.

In the meantime, if you need support with weight loss issues, and want to join in on the blog, let me know...I've still got a "weighs" to go (and no, I do not want to pray to Y'shua to immediately drop my body size by 15pounds-I actually enjoy having some challenges to overcome in life)..... Thanks! MMM

Harry H. McCall said...

Manifesting, thanks for your honestly and, to be honest myself, your type of faith is not what I have an issue with. I’m sorry if my first response to your comments was a bit caustic, but I’m used to dealing with Christians such as the ones at Bob Jones University here in Greenville.

I’ll keep your blog on weight lost in mind. Thanks

Manifesting Mini Me (MMM) said...

You are more than welcome, Harry - would you be open to accepting my apology for being insensitive in my approach? Thanks!

Harry H. McCall said...

Accepted, Thanks.