I ended yesterday's post on a controversial note. I compared the Christian
doctrine of the atonement of Jesus (and there are several theories about this)
to human sacrifice. Perhaps the most widely known Bible verse is John 3:16: "For
God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
should not perish, but have everlasting life."
I doubt most Christians would find the comparison I made valid. Repeatedly
it is suggested that dying on the cross, laying down his life, was something
Jesus willingly did - even though the gospels record that he asked if his Father
might let that "cup" pass from him (Matt. 26:39). Nevertheless, he submitted
to God's will for him. The same gospel of John I quoted above records that Jesus
said there was no greater love than a man laying down his life for his friends
(John 15:13).
My mom has a plaque that depicts the crucifixion of Jesus with the words:
I asked Jesus how much he loved me, and he stretched out his
hand and answered: "This much."
For orthodox Christians this isn't so much a human sacrifice as it is an
example of supreme divine love.
I never thought much about until I got old enough to look outside the
narrow confines of my religious faith. The liberal theologians who wanted to
distance themselves from the orthodox view of a "slaughterhouse religion" began
to make great sense to me then.
It doesn't make sense that God could not forgive sins simply on the basis
of choosing to do so, with no debt to be paid. Had there been no long tradition
of appeasement of deities with the blood of humans and animals, the shocking
doctrine of Jesus being sacrificed as a payment for our sin debt would never
have been put forth.
Centuries of tradition evidently can make even the absurd seem reasonable.
Or so it seems.
I look back now on my childhood and recall how fixated I was on Jesus'
crucifixion, on the holographic picture that hung in our home that when gazed
at straight ahead depicted the crucifixion but by changing the angle of your
attention depicted the resurrection, on the painting of the crucifixion in my
little Gideon's New Testament. And always it was the blood that caught my
attention. Jesus' bloody forehead from the crown of thorns. His bleeding palms
and feet from the nails which held him to the cross. The spear wound on his
side. The blood, the blood, the blood! We sang hymn after hymn that celebrated
the bloodshed of Jesus.
Exactly how this affected my psyche, my subconscious mind, I'm not sure I
can answer. That it was less than a positive force, I'm certain. How this idea
of God might have impact the millions of others who are so indoctrinated is
something only God can know.
And as concept of love, I find the orthodox doctrine of atonement nothing
short of abhorrent.
10 comments:
Unlike you, I was spare such images as a child -- you make it ironically clear that I was blessed. My religion up-bringing consisted of Lutheran sacraments, dressing for church and not much else. I have no memory of that bizarreness.
When I converted to Evangelicalism, I still didn't embrace the bloody sacrifice notion as being part of my faith -- I guess I had sloppy theology. But as Christians started telling me how I was suppose to believe and feel in order to be a good Christian, I saw through the lies.
But until I started blogging, I did not really know about all the variety of atonement theologies contrived to wiggle out of the absurdity of Christianty's central claim. So I organized a page to help me understand the options (here).
I still, like you say, can't imagine how it really gets away from blood sacrifice. It seems such notions are deep in the human psychy however. We find it in most cultures in some form. Damn.
Hi, Doug,
It was only recently (comparatively) that I discovered that substitutionary atonement was not the ONLY interpretation of the story of Jesus. I'm still not sure how to piece it all together, to be honest. However I do believe that the whole "Jesus story" reaches waaayyyy outside conservative theology. I don't see it so much as God's answer to "blood sacrifice" (although it is that) but as God demonstrating himself inhabiting our reality - even to the point of death. And transforming it. Whatever our reality - whatever our shortcomings, failures, inabilities - as well as our abilites and shining moments - He is prepared to meet us there - and bring life and transformation. That's how I see it, anyway.
xx
Kerry
I think Jesus' crucifixion was used by the writers of the Bible to make him into a martyr and the atonement was the best way to present the idea. He was preaching something akin to heresy as far as the Jews were concerned and the Romans saw him as a threat. The Salem witch trials come to mind.
" Had there been no long tradition of appeasement of deities with the blood of humans and animals, the shocking doctrine of Jesus being sacrificed as a payment for our sin debt would never have been put forth."
I think you are absolutely correct here. Even with 59 years of institutional church teaching, I never knew there were alternate atonement theories until about 10 years ago. Who knew?!?!
My great grandmother had a 'portrait' of Christ hung up on the wall. No matter where you were in the room, the eyes appeared to be looking right at you. Big mojo!
Scary also, my grandmother's dying words: "Isn't Jesus beautiful?".
It is tremendously hard for reason to batter through against such.
The dogma may be bloody and ugly, but hey, who wants to really die when they die? Or really grapple with God sending so many to Hell, as long as I (me, me, me - sounds like a diva warming up) get saved?
@ Sabio,
"Damn" is right. Those notions do indeed seem to be there, and I'm seeing it more and more as I delve into the religious traditions of others.
@ Kerry,
Thanks, I enjoyed reading your view about this.
@ Georgia Mountain Man,
Certainly I think Jesus' death posed some problems for his followers, especially if they did consider him the Messiah. Certainly the Messiah wasn't supposed to get killed.
@ Don,
As I began reevaluating my beliefs I began to form something of an "example theory" of the atonement before I even knew others had developed one earlier. The human mind can be quite creative, but how often do we come up with truly new ideas?
@ Exrelayman,
Agreed. But now when I find myself longing for immortality I think of Plato more than Jesus.
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