The Scapegoat Mechanism<\/strong><\/a>\nFriday, February 8, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>The scapegoating ritual described in Leviticus 16 offers a helpful perspective on Jesus\u2019 death. On the \u201cDay of Atonement\u201d the high priest, Aaron, was instructed to symbolically lay all the sins of the people on one unfortunate goat, and the people would then beat the animal until it fled into the desert. It was a vivid symbolic act that helped to unite and free the children of Israel. Instead of owning their faults, this ritual allowed people to export them elsewhere\u2014in this case onto an innocent animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The image of the scapegoat powerfully mirrors the universal, but largely unconscious, human need to transfer our guilt onto something or someone else by singling that other out for unmerited negative treatment. French philosopher and historian Ren\u00e9 Girard (1923\u20132015) demonstrated that the scapegoat mechanism is foundational for the formation of most social groups and cultures. We need another group to be against to form our group! For example, many in the United States scapegoat refugees who are seeking asylum, falsely accusing them of being criminals. This pattern is seen in many facets of our society and our private, inner lives\u2014so much so that we might call it \u201c<em>the <\/em>sin of the world\u201d (note that \u201csin\u201d is singular in John 1:29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We humans largely hate or blame almost anything else rather than recognize our own weaknesses and negativity. \u201cShe made me do it.\u201d \u201cHe is guilty.\u201d \u201cHe deserves it.\u201d \u201cThey are the problem.\u201d \u201cThey are evil.\u201d We seldom consciously know that we are scapegoating or projecting. It\u2019s automatic, ingrained, and unconscious. As Jesus said, people literally \u201cdo not know what they are doing\u201d (Luke 23:34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We hate our own imperfections in other people, and sadly we often find the best cover for that projection in religion. God and religion, I am afraid, have been used to justify most of our violence and to hide from the shadow parts of ourselves that we would rather not admit. Yet Jesus revealed the pattern two thousand years ago. \u201cWhen anyone kills you, they will think they are doing a holy duty for God,\u201d he said (John 16:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Scriptures call such ignorant hatred and killing \u201csin,\u201d and Jesus came precisely to \u201ctake away\u201d (John 1:29) our capacity to commit it\u2014by exposing the lie for all to see. Jesus stood as the fully innocent one who was condemned by the highest authorities of both \u201cchurch and state\u201d (Jerusalem and Rome), an act that should create healthy suspicion about how wrong even the highest powers can be. Maybe power still does not want us to see this. Much of Christianity shames individuals for private sins while lauding public figures in spite of their pride, greed, gluttony, lying, killing, or narcissism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As John puts it, \u201cHe will show the world how wrong it was about sin, about who was really in the right, and about true judgment\u201d (John 16:8). This is what Jesus exposes and defeats on the cross. <em>He did not come to change God\u2019s mind about us. It did not need changing. Jesus came to change our minds about God\u2014and about ourselves\u2014and about where goodness and evil really lie. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus and the Cross The Scapegoat Mechanism Friday, February 8, 2019 The scapegoating ritual described in Leviticus 16 offers a helpful perspective on Jesus\u2019 death. On the \u201cDay of Atonement\u201d the high priest, Aaron, was instructed to symbolically lay all the sins of the people on one unfortunate goat, and the people would then beat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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\/17762"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17762"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17764,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17762\/revisions\/17764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>The scapegoating ritual described in Leviticus 16 offers a helpful perspective on Jesus\u2019 death. On the \u201cDay of Atonement\u201d the high priest, Aaron, was instructed to symbolically lay all the sins of the people on one unfortunate goat, and the people would then beat the animal until it fled into the desert. It was a vivid symbolic act that helped to unite and free the children of Israel. Instead of owning their faults, this ritual allowed people to export them elsewhere\u2014in this case onto an innocent animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The image of the scapegoat powerfully mirrors the universal, but largely unconscious, human need to transfer our guilt onto something or someone else by singling that other out for unmerited negative treatment. French philosopher and historian Ren\u00e9 Girard (1923\u20132015) demonstrated that the scapegoat mechanism is foundational for the formation of most social groups and cultures. We need another group to be against to form our group! For example, many in the United States scapegoat refugees who are seeking asylum, falsely accusing them of being criminals. This pattern is seen in many facets of our society and our private, inner lives\u2014so much so that we might call it \u201c<em>the <\/em>sin of the world\u201d (note that \u201csin\u201d is singular in John 1:29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We humans largely hate or blame almost anything else rather than recognize our own weaknesses and negativity. \u201cShe made me do it.\u201d \u201cHe is guilty.\u201d \u201cHe deserves it.\u201d \u201cThey are the problem.\u201d \u201cThey are evil.\u201d We seldom consciously know that we are scapegoating or projecting. It\u2019s automatic, ingrained, and unconscious. As Jesus said, people literally \u201cdo not know what they are doing\u201d (Luke 23:34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We hate our own imperfections in other people, and sadly we often find the best cover for that projection in religion. God and religion, I am afraid, have been used to justify most of our violence and to hide from the shadow parts of ourselves that we would rather not admit. Yet Jesus revealed the pattern two thousand years ago. \u201cWhen anyone kills you, they will think they are doing a holy duty for God,\u201d he said (John 16:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Scriptures call such ignorant hatred and killing \u201csin,\u201d and Jesus came precisely to \u201ctake away\u201d (John 1:29) our capacity to commit it\u2014by exposing the lie for all to see. Jesus stood as the fully innocent one who was condemned by the highest authorities of both \u201cchurch and state\u201d (Jerusalem and Rome), an act that should create healthy suspicion about how wrong even the highest powers can be. Maybe power still does not want us to see this. Much of Christianity shames individuals for private sins while lauding public figures in spite of their pride, greed, gluttony, lying, killing, or narcissism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As John puts it, \u201cHe will show the world how wrong it was about sin, about who was really in the right, and about true judgment\u201d (John 16:8). This is what Jesus exposes and defeats on the cross. <em>He did not come to change God\u2019s mind about us. It did not need changing. Jesus came to change our minds about God\u2014and about ourselves\u2014and about where goodness and evil really lie. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jesus and the Cross The Scapegoat Mechanism Friday, February 8, 2019 The scapegoating ritual described in Leviticus 16 offers a helpful perspective on Jesus\u2019 death. On the \u201cDay of Atonement\u201d the high priest, Aaron, was instructed to symbolically lay all the sins of the people on one unfortunate goat, and the people would then beat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"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\/17762"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17762"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17764,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17762\/revisions\/17764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}