Llwellyn Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Bear with me, because this forum is about to get abstract... We all know Paul's theory about why Jesus died on the cross, and how it relates to Paul's ideas of divine justice, love, and crime. By the constant repeating of it throughout our lives, from before we could even reason, this theory may appear to have some kind of logic and plausibility. It is also very difficult to remove from the brain. But when we consider a mirror image view of this theory, we can see how truly unhinged it is. Here is the mirror image: God is love, so God shall forgive all people for the crimes they commit. But God is also just, and his justice is offended when he sees the actions of people like Hitler and Stalin. He wants to punish them, but he is first obligated to forgive them. So he develops a plan of punishment. He shall come into the world as a man, Jesus, and live a completely evil life. Then, God the Father shall vicariously forgive Jesus for his sins, and Jesus shall rejoin the Father. God will forgive Jesus in the place of Hitler and Stalin. Having forgiven Hitler through the substitutionary forgiveness of Jesus, God the Father will have a credit store of punishment which he will unleash upon Hitler and Stalin. This way he is both loving to all, but also gives himself permission to hate Stalin and Hitler. By forgiving Jesus in the place of Hitler, he can say that Hitler was forgiven, and then can hate Hitler throughout eternity, operating curses upon him. God will be totally loving to all, but will also be just towards people who richly deserve vengeance. Wierd, isn't it? No more wierd than the standard line that you read in Paul's epistles. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
older Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Excellent. And a great idea: to look at any Biblical concept through a mirror. This could lead to lots of interesting thoughts — I just wish I was a good enough theologian to come up with some. Thanks Llwellyn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbauer Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 There are a lot of different views on the atonement, Heaven, Hell, and divine justice within Christianity. I don't think anyone is more or less absurd than the other. That's probably why Christians are discouraged from forming their own theory, they'd think for themselves and either come up with their own conclusions or realize how absurd these ideas are. In fact, the sacrifice of Jesus seems to serve 2 purposes (at least the way I saw it) -Appease God's anger and desire for Justice. -Make people "Born Again" and creating the means for salvation. It's kind of contradictory (unless you use apologetics, but then you could also use apologetics to justify other theories). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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