Virgin Sacrifice

Tom was talking to the warden.

Warden: It seems that the state has a program now where convicted criminals are set free, their record wiped clean and an innocent person is given the death penalty in their place...but only if you apply to this program and you meet the requirements.

Tom: What do you mean?

Warden: Here's the photo of the young girl that would be going to the gas chamber instead of you.

Tom: She looks like she's not even out of high school.

Warden: She's 19, and a nun, or at least becoming a Catholic nun.

Tom: This makes no sense to me. This girl is totally innocent.

Warden: Well, not TOTALLY innocent. She said she stole a pudding cup from a friend when she was 9 years old, and she admitted that when she accomplishes something after working really hard, she sometimes feels a personal sense of pride.

Tom: No! What I mean is that she's done nothing to deserve MY punishment. I'm guilty. It doesn't make any sense to me why anyone would set me free and kill an innocent girl in my place.

Warden: (Confused), but Tom, the price is someones life and someone has to pay. Rest assured, she WANTS to do this. This is an all volunteer program, remember? She said that as long as she can remember, she's dreamed about being able to do this, to save a wretch, to be like Jesus and give her virgin life in a sacrifice to save those who don't deserve it.

Tom: But warden, I don't care if she wants this or not, it's still immoral. It's still WRONG. If it's justice for me to get my sentence, then it's wrong to kill the innocent in my place and set me free. If sending me to the gas chamber is justice, then killing the innocent, even the willing innocent in my place is a gross injustice. How could it be anything else?

Warden: But Tom, the State would be satisfied, and the girl will be satisfied, and surly you want to live free, right? Where is the wrong?

Tom: The wrong is the immoral bloodlust of the State, to accept such an atrocity and call it "Justice". There is nothing "Just" about this deal at all. It's just WRONG.

Warden: Tom, this program will continue whether you accept the State's gift or not. The girl is going to die in the gas chamber by either taking your place or someone elses, and there is nothing you can do about it. So, you can see how you would be a fool if she went to the gas chamber, and so did you. What would you be dying for anyway?

Tom: Because it's justice that I go to the gas chamber, and it's wrong for this innocent girl to go in my place. Just like she's making her choice, I'm making my choice, and I choose to not be evil, even if the State pushes such a program, I think the program is evil.

Warden: Tom, this is the justice system you're talking about, ran by people smarter about these things than either of us.

Tom: I don't care, its evil and it's wrong. I won't do it.

Warden: But some inmates have said that the sacrificed person is just showing that there's a better way, serving as an example. Since the girl represents the position of the state, then this is the state's way of putting itself in the gas chamber instead of you. It's an act of forgiveness.

Tom: What?!, That just sounds like gobbledygook to make people feel better about condoning an innocent person's death. Sorry warden, if I exploited, condoned and accepted this unjust death, then I would be an accessory after the fact, and I want no part of it.

Warden: But the experts...

Tom: Damn the experts, don't you know the difference between good and evil?! 


Yes, this is a metaphor. At it's very core, Christianity is fundamentally evil, even if many Christians themselves are too unsophisticated to see or understand why this is so.