I know I said I was skipping this week, but I felt like sharing some of my heretical thoughts this morning so here I am. I am going to skip the Lectionary readings and just go with some thoughts on the crucifixion and resurrection.
I've come to seriously question the idea that Jesus had to die to satisfy some kind of sin debt for humanity. What kind of monster god would do that?
Have you ever really thought about the kind of scary crap we teach our kids?
God sacrificed his son, and
...wait for it - You are a child of God!
Hmmm...
It may be true that Jesus died for our sins and opened heaven for humanity -- but that would be for everyone, right?
Or is it just for a select portion of humanity?
What if Jesus came to teach us how God loves us -- unconditionally?
What if Jesus came to teach us how God forgives and how we are to forgive?
Even in the shame and humility of the cross -- Jesus had forgiveness for those that condemned him.
His whole life taught us to love society's unlovable, to stand for those that are being oppressed, to forgive those that have wronged us.
Over and over, he taught -- The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's here! Quit trying to earn something you already have and start to live and love like you are a child of God and an heir to eternal life.
I still believe that Jesus is divine.
I believe the resurrection shows us that this person was no ordinary human being.
But is it possible that we have missed the point of his death?
Isn't it weird that we've put more emphasis on his death and resurrection than we have on his life and what he taught us?
These are the kind of thoughts that can get a guy kicked out of a conservative, evangelical church.
Ask me how I know!
John
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4 comments:
I’m completely with you! How could a loving God ask such a penance? Perhaps the death had many meanings. How to forgive. How to carry our own crosses, which may not be as terrible as this, but are certainly terrible to us. How to love through everything. I don’t know, but I don’t believe it was a substitutionary death.
"Ask me how I know!"
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Best thing that ever happened for you.
Amen, Mike.
Amen
Dolores, I think much of the sacrificial nature of the Hebrew religion was assimilated from the pagan cultures around them. As it is today, religion seemed to be more about man's perception of how God would be more like us than about us trying to be more like God.
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