Did Jesus have to die on the cross in order to pay some kind of ransom to the devil? Or was the death of Jesus in some way restoring God’s honour that had been tarnished by human sin? Or was it that we humans are all hopeless sinners who deserve God’s wrath, and Jesus takes that wrath and suffering upon himself so that we don’t have to endure it? Or was the way of the cross simply a good moral example for us to follow?
All these “models of atonement” are theological ways of trying to think about something endlessly wonderful, complex and compelling - but they all ultimately fall short.
If the whole thing about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins doesn’t chime for you any longer, then you’re really not alone.
It doesn’t have to end there though, and if you’d like to think again, jump right into this fourth and final episode of “The bells that still can ring - Atonement vs Love”.
“In one of his many arresting statements, Jesus advised: “Truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Jesus knew what he was talking about; such integrity led him to the cross.
It can also lead us to liberation.
Many dogmas, confessions and articles of faith have stifled creativity, preventing us from owning and embracing our experiences of the Divine.
They need to ‘fall into the earth’.
So too, do the commands, decrees and regulations that have blighted countless lives through centuries.
The culture of Christendom that still pervades Christian thinking needs to be buried.
It is time to die. That we might rise... and bear new fruit.”