Spontaneously, without any theological training, I, a child, grasped the incompatibility of God and shit and thus came to question the basic thesis of Christian anthropology, namely that man was created in God's image. Either/or: either man was created in God's image - and has intestines! - or God lacks intestines and man is not like him. The ancient Gnostics felt as I did at the age of five. In the second century, the Great Gnostic master Valentinus resolved the damnable dilemma by claiming that Jesus "ate and drank, but did not defecate." Shit is a more onerous theological problem than is evil. Since God gave man freedom, we can, if need be, accept the idea that He is not responsible for man's crimes. The responsibility for shit, however, rests entirely with Him, the creator of man. Milan Kundera
About This Quote

This quotation is very powerful when you think about it. You can take an example of someone who has committed a crime and in order to make it right decides to do something in the name of God. Now, in this case, let’s say that the person who has done the crime realizes that it is wrong and they want to make amends for what they have done. It is clear that he must be punished by the law but they also realize that they cannot undo what they have done.

Hence, the person chooses to turn to God in an attempt to fix their wrong-doing. But what if this person is not correct? What if God does not forgive them? Will the person be able to live with that guilt? These are difficult questions for anyone to face but especially so for a child who was not brought up in religion. Will he be able to live with the knowledge that he has done something wrong?

Source: The Unbearable Lightness Of Being

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