{"id":17743,"date":"2019-02-04T08:41:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17743"},"modified":"2019-02-04T08:53:46","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:53:46","slug":"jesus-and-the-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17743","title":{"rendered":"Jesus and the Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jd4qtmDGIWQ\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/substitutionary-atonement-2019-02-03\/\"><strong>Substitutionary Atonement<\/strong><\/a><br><strong>Sunday, February 3, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For most of church history, no single consensus prevailed on what Christians mean when we say, \u201cJesus died for our sins.\u201d But in recent centuries, one theory did become mainstream. It is often referred to as the \u201cpenal substitutionary atonement theory,\u201d especially once it was further developed during the Reformation. [1] Substitutionary atonement is the theory that Christ, by his own sacrificial choice, was punished in the place of humans, thus satisfying the \u201cdemands of justice\u201d so that God could forgive our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This theory of atonement ultimately relies on another commonly accepted notion\u2014the \u201coriginal sin\u201d of Adam and Eve, which, we were told, taints all human beings. But much like original sin (a concept not found in the Bible but developed by Augustine in the fifth century), most Christians have never been told how recent and regional this explanation is or that it relies upon a retributive notion of justice. Nor are they told that it was honest enough to call itself a \u201ctheory,\u201d even though some groups take it as long-standing dogma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, this theory has held captive our vision of Jesus, making our view very limited and punitive. The commonly accepted atonement theory led to some serious misunderstandings of Jesus\u2019 role and Christ\u2019s eternal purpose, reaffirmed our narrow notion of retributive justice, and legitimated a notion of \u201cgood and necessary violence.\u201d It implied that God the Father was petty, offended in the way that humans are, and unfree to love and forgive of God\u2019s own volition. This is a very untrustworthy image of God which undercuts everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I take up this subject with both excitement and trepidation because I know that substitutionary atonement is central to many Christians\u2019 faith. But the questions of&nbsp;<em>why Jesus died and what is the meaning and message of his death&nbsp;<\/em>have dominated the Christian narrative, often much more than his life and teaching. As some have said, if this theory is true, all we needed were the last three days or even three hours of Jesus\u2019 life. In my opinion, this interpretation has kept us from a deep and truly transformative understanding of both Jesus and Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salvation became a&nbsp;<em>one-time transactional&nbsp;<\/em>affair between Jesus and his Father, instead of an ongoing&nbsp;<em>transformational lesson&nbsp;<\/em>for the human soul and for all of history. I believe that Jesus\u2019 death on the cross is a revelation of the infinite and participatory love of God, not some bloody payment required by God\u2019s offended justice to rectify the problem of sin. Such a story line is way too small and problem-oriented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cac.org\/an-alternative-story-2019-02-04\/\"><strong>An Alternative Story<\/strong><\/a><br><strong>Monday, February 4, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The theory of substitutionary atonement has inoculated us against the true effects of the Gospel, causing us to largely \u201cthank\u201d Jesus instead of honestly imitating him. At its worst, it has led us to see God as a cold, brutal figure who demands acts of violence before God can love creation. There is no doubt that the Bible\u2014both Old and New Testaments\u2014is filled with metaphors of sacrifice, ransom, atonement, paying the price, opening the gates, et cetera. These are common temple metaphors that would have made sense to Jewish audiences at the time they were written. But they all imply that God is not inherently on our side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anthropologically speaking, these words and assumptions reflect a magical or what I call \u201ctransactional\u201d way of thinking. By that I mean that if we just believe the right thing, say the right prayer, or practice the right ritual, things will go right for us in the divine courtroom. In my experience, this way of thinking loses its power as people and cultures grow up and seek actual changes in their minds and hearts. Then,&nbsp;<em>transformational&nbsp;<\/em>thinking tends to supplant&nbsp;<em>transactional&nbsp;<\/em>thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christianity\u2019s vision of God was a radical departure from most ancient religions. Instead of having God \u201ceat\u201d humans, animals, or crops, which were sacrificed on altars, Christianity made the bold claim that God\u2019s very body was given&nbsp;<em>for us&nbsp;<\/em>to eat!&nbsp;<em>This turned everything around and undid the seeming logic of quid pro quo thinking.&nbsp;<\/em>As long as we employ any&nbsp;<em>retributive&nbsp;<\/em>notion of God\u2019s offended justice (required punishment for wrongdoing), we trade our distinctive Christian message for the cold, hard justice that has prevailed in many cultures throughout history. We offer no redemptive alternative, but actually sanctify the very \u201cpowers and principalities\u201d that Paul says unduly control the world (Ephesians 3:9-10; 6:12). We stay inside the small \u201cmyth of redemptive violence\u201d\u2014which might just be the dominant story line of history. I think the punishment model is buried deep in most peoples\u2019 brain stem<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s time for Christianity to rediscover the real biblical theme of&nbsp;<em>restorative justice,&nbsp;<\/em>which focuses on rehabilitation, healing, and reconciliation, not punishment. (Read Ezekiel 16, especially the revelatory verses 53-63, for a mind-blowing example of this.)<strong> (Below)<\/strong>We should call Jesus\u2019 story the \u201cmyth of redemptive suffering\u201d\u2014not as in \u201cpaying a price\u201d but as in offering the self for the other. \u201cAt-one-ment\u201d instead of atonement!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Restorative justice, of course, comes to its full demonstration in the constant healing ministry of Jesus. Jesus represents the real and deeper level of teaching of the Hebrew Prophets. Jesus never punished anybody! Yes, he challenged people, but&nbsp;<em>always for the sake of insight, healing, and restoration of people and situations to their divine origin and source<\/em>. Once a person recognizes that Jesus\u2019 mission (obvious in all four Gospels) was to heal people, not punish them, the dominant theories of retributive justice begin to lose their appeal and authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ezekiel 16:53-63&nbsp;New Living Translation (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>53&nbsp;<\/sup>\u201cBut someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you, too.<sup>54&nbsp;<\/sup>Then you will be truly ashamed of everything you have done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison.&nbsp;<sup>55&nbsp;<\/sup>Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, and all their people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored.&nbsp;<sup>56&nbsp;<\/sup>In your proud days you held Sodom in contempt.&nbsp;<sup>57&nbsp;<\/sup>But now your greater wickedness has been exposed to all the world, and you are the one who is scorned\u2014by Edom<sup>[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Ezekiel+16%3A53-63&amp;version=NLT#fen-NLT-20796a\">a<\/a>]<\/sup>&nbsp;and all her neighbors and by Philistia.&nbsp;<sup>58&nbsp;<\/sup>This is your punishment for all your lewdness and detestable sins, says the&nbsp;Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>59&nbsp;<\/sup>\u201cNow this is what the Sovereign&nbsp;Lord&nbsp;says: I will give you what you deserve, for you have taken your solemn vows lightly by breaking your covenant.&nbsp;<sup>60&nbsp;<\/sup>Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.&nbsp;<sup>61&nbsp;<\/sup>Then you will remember with shame all the evil you have done. I will make your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, to be your daughters, even though they are not part of our covenant.&nbsp;<sup>62&nbsp;<\/sup>And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the&nbsp;Lord.<sup>63&nbsp;<\/sup>You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign&nbsp;Lord, have spoken!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qDSE438XMaQ\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Substitutionary AtonementSunday, February 3, 2019 For most of church history, no single consensus prevailed on what Christians mean when we say, \u201cJesus died for our sins.\u201d But in recent centuries, one theory did become mainstream. It is often referred to as the \u201cpenal substitutionary atonement theory,\u201d especially once it was further developed during the Reformation. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17743"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17743"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17746,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17743\/revisions\/17746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}