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Author | Topic: What is The Atonement? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
robinrohan Inactive Member |
This topic came up briefly in another thread, and it got me interested in the idea. One problem I have with Christianity is this notion that Jesus died for our sins.
Here's the problem I have: If God was going to forgive us anyway, why did He not do so? Why was it necessary to go through this painful rigmarole of dying on the cross? I would like to hear what people think about the meaning of the Atonement. As I noted in another thread, an ancient tradition says that Jesus died on the cross as a ransom paid to the Devil. This was the prevalent view, apparently, for a thousand years. Mighty strange, that view. This message has been edited by robinrohan, 10-13-2005 07:54 PM
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
The sacrifice was not so much Jesus death, but rather the fact that he lived. He became man. Nonetheless, I think we can say truthfully, that "Jesus died for our sins" is a rock-bottom essential doctrine of Christianity. It's Pauline, of course.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
It points to our belief that GOD becoming Man was the basic sacrifice. His death, which is covered in the next section, again delimited by colons, is simply a continuation of his life. Jar, the central Christian symbol is not God becoming man. It is the Cross--the crucifixion--the nails going into the hands. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
the cross is bare It may be bare, but the cross is there because it stands for something--the crucifixion. It strikes me that the Prostetants, or whoever, don't want to face the Crucifixion. That's what it's all about.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
It is a message of hope and a lesson of how to live that life. Love GOD, and love others as you love yourself. It really is as simple as that. Well, this is piety, and it is no better or no worse than the humanistic piety I've been reading lately, about how if I can help one fainting robin into its nest again, I shall not live in vain, etc. Piety is piety, whether humanistic or religious. It's all a load of crap.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
It's all a load of crap. This was rude and uncalled for. My apologies, Jar. I don't know what gets into me sometimes. Must be the liquor. This message has been edited by robinrohan, 10-14-2005 07:16 AM
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
If one works towards the second Commandment, starting with trying to figure out how one loves oneself, then trying to love others in the same way, whether they are Atheist, Agnostic, Buddhist, Confucian, Satanist, Hindu, Muslim or whatever, their life improves. I understand and appreciate your open-minded, tolerant theology.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
As long as you bear in mind that it is Jars theology. Yes, Jar's ideas could hardly be called orthodox.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
But how are we to reconcile this ancient belief, which according to the source I read, was the view for a thousand years--that the Atonement was ransom paid to the Devil?
It appears there have been developments in doctrine.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
In a word, bugger the 1000 year belief. Are you saying that Christians understand Christianity now better than they did in the second century?
Don't rely on man or religion. Rely on God and his word How are you supposed to tell the difference? The "word" has to be interpreted.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
Now, I gather you are not a believer but if I may be frank, you sound like you would like to believe if only you could. Perfectly rational. How can you believe in something you've no evidence for? I've always had an interest in theology, for some reason. Perhaps I was a monk in a previous life, who wrote tedious theological tracts by candlelight.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
Actually, I like this ransom-to-the-devil idea. It makes the devil powerful, and suggests dualism (in the old sense of that word): Two equal and opposite powers battling it out through eternity.
If you believed that, the world would make sense--the mixture of good and bad that we see. ABE: In which case heaven would be a military post. This message has been edited by robinrohan, 10-14-2005 02:25 PM
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
God's word is what he carved into the rocks, the mountains, the fossil beds A truly Deistic remark. Thomas Jefferson would be proud of you.
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
I'll repeat what I said in an earlier thread.
I think the idea in general has something to do with balance. In Shakespeare's tragedies, the world of the tragedy is said to be out of joint, unbalanced, and in order to get the equilibrium back, somebody has to pay, and so the tragic machinery proceeds along its inexorable course. Same thing here. In order to get the world back into equilibrium, somebody must pay the debt by way of suffering. This is what the idea of a "ransom" suggests to me. The debt is being paid to nature. This message has been edited by robinrohan, 10-17-2005 02:27 PM
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robinrohan Inactive Member |
We who have lived in a Christian culture all our lives have gotten so used to the story that we have become insensitive to it, but I think it is possible to step back and be able to see it afresh. If one can do that, one realizes that it is a very powerful tale, speaking of it artistically.
It is probable that it is the drama of this story that led to the triumph of Christianity in the Western world. Everything I've read on this thread reinforces my idea that it does not make a lot of sense to say that "Jesus died for our sins." But emotionally speaking, it is a very powerful message. The nails going into the hands--He died for You--each of you personally. That's the idea. This dramatic quality of the Christ story shows us that the aesthetic aspect of a given doctrine has a lot to do with whether or not it is accepted generally.
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