Where I’m At With The Atonement
In my most heretical move to date, I’ve let go of the Atonement.
I know, I know.
“Glenn is on a slippery slope!”
Truth be told, though, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, but am only recently OK with admitting that I don’t really see the importance of it and also admitting that I really don’t have all of the answers of how I could dare say such a thing. I’ve been at the bottom of the slope for a while.
Deep Breath.
SO.
The Atonement is a piece of theology defined as the idea that there was some sort of reconciliation of God and mankind due to the death of Jesus on the cross.
Humanity is separate from God.
Humanity and God are on opposite ends of the spectrum.
BUT.
Because of Jesus and his death on the cross, that gaping chasm was bridged and you and I are now able to have a relationship with our Creator.
There are many nuances involved, of course, and many different “theories of atonement”; and I realize that I literally just dumbed down books and volumes of theology into a few broken up sentences (so don’t tell me there’s more to it than that, I know there is), but at the heart of it that’s what the Atonement is - the idea that through the death of Jesus mankind now has the hope of being reconciled with God.
I’ve given up on this idea because I don’t think there was ever a time in human history where mankind was separated from God. I don’t think people are born sinful and I don’t think people are born separated from God. I don’t think the point of the story of Adam and Eve is that people inherit some kind of sin and I don’t think that blood needs to be shed in order to appease God or make it possible for me to be connected with God again.
There was never a time when we were disconnected from God; God is the air we breath and, I think, I am the air that God breathes. We are never farther away from God than our next breath and even when we stop breathing, Spirit is still there to welcome us deeper into himself (herself?).
And so I don’t see a need for the Atonement, really. I don’t see a need for blood to be shed on my behalf so that I can believe a doctrine and be re-connected with a Divine Being that I was never disconnected from in the first place.
“So what about the Bible then?” Right? I can hear people asking that already.
What about 1 John 2:2 where it says that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins?
Or Romans 5:8 where Paul says that while we were still sinners Christ died for us?
Or John 15:13 where it says that Jesus laid down his life for his friends?
Or Mark 10:45 where we’re told that Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many?
I’m aware of all of those verses (and more). But I think, for me, I’ve come to a place where I read the Bible entirely different than I used to and so I feel a sense of freedom to see those verses in a much different light.
For starters, I think that much of the early writings that we see from Paul and others were steeped in language about “sin” and “bloodshed” and “sacrifice” because that’s all they knew.
Right?
Every culture around them believed in some sort of “blood sacrifice” whereby blood had to be shed in order to appease the deities. We also see hints of this sprinkled into Judaism where sacrifices were made on behalf of others so that people could be placed back into good standing with Yahweh.
Again, I’m dumbing things down to a short paragraph, but I think a lot of the early writings of Paul and others were influenced by their own history and the language of the various cultures and religions that surrounded them.
Simply put, they knew that something meaningful happened with the death and resurrection of Jesus and so they framed it with the only language and context they had.
Sacrifice.
Bloodshed.
Ransom.
Payment.
Fast forward 2000 years later, though, and I’m not sure the idea of “blood sacrifice” is quite as meaningful or important in the context of a world that is on the verge of war every other day and things school shootings, violence against LGBTQ, world hunger, the President’s Tweets, etc. are at the top of the headlines on an hourly basis.
And so what I’m saying is that I think we need to rethink the meaning and importance of the death and resurrection of Christ for 2020 just as Paul and everyone else had to do in 33. I realize this isn’t a popular idea and I realize that some people might throw insults and stones.
Get in line, I guess.
I just don’t think the idea of a blood sacrifice to reconcile us with God is an idea that holds much value.
BUT.
That doesn’t mean I don’t think the death and resurrection of Christ doesn’t hold any value either.
Quite the contrary, actually.
I think that in Jesus we see a God who came to earth to show you and me and everyone else how to live the life he created us to live.
A life of love.
A life of grace.
A life of inclusion.
A life of forgiveness.
A life that gives to others in the same way that God has given to us.
The world at Jesus’ time, though, had no room for such a revolutionary teaching. The temple and the empire both thrived on a top down power structure where a few held the power over the many and the few profited most by excluding and pushing away those that they deemed unfit for their kingdoms.
The poor.
The sick.
The sinners.
Jesus came, though, and showed a different way - he invited IN those who were pushed away and welcomed IN those who were cast out.
The empire and temple had no room for this and so they colluded to rid the world of this revolutionary.
They cooked up a scheme.
They captured him.
They mocked him.
And they crucified him.
His response? Rather than shout threats from the cross or curse them out with his last breath, he (instead) shouted forgiveness ...
“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”
... And with that he breathed his last breath as his body went cold and he was placed into a tomb.
3 days later, though, he pushed the stone away and paid his disciples a visit showing us that new life and resurrection comes not from hate and violence and exercising power over others, but through love and grace and forgiveness.
LOVE pushed the stone away, not hate.
FORGIVENESS breathed new life into Jesus’ cold body, not revenge.
And when he went to meet his disciples, he extended to them the invitation to keep following him and to make disciples of all nations so that we could all come together and all follow his example and all have a hand in making this beautiful earth more like heaven.
The goal today, I think, is to carry that call to love into the world of gun violence, hunger, LGBTQ hatred, Presidential tweets, etc, etc, etc. The change we all hope to see isn’t going to come through screaming louder, punching harder, insulting better ... but through loving our neighbor as ourselves and practicing a life of radical inclusion.
So, yes - Jesus and his death and resurrection are vitally, vitally important to me.
The atonement, though? Not so much.
I’ve also recently discovered that the atonement theory didn’t really become a thing until the 4th century and in the 1st century of Christianity such language really wasn’t a thing. The above verses weren’t seen through a lens of “God is ticked, humanity is separated from God, and someone needs to pay a steep, bloody price in order for reconciliation to be a possibility”. Such an idea would have been rejected by those early Christians as early Christianity was an intentional departure from much of Hebrew tradition and the traditions of surrounding cultures in the 1st century.
(** Check out “Heart and Mind” by Alexander John Shaia for more insights around that.)
It truly was a revolution in the most revolutionary of ways.
Truth be told, I find myself becoming increasingly tired of extensive theological discussion where we say things like, “yeah, but what about this verse?” Or “nice idea, but this verse says _______ and proves you wrong.” When I get 30 seconds into those conversations, I’m already bored and thinking of ways to make my exit. Orthodoxy is important to some extent (beliefs), but orthopraxy (the practice of those beliefs) is at the heart of the Christian movement and what ultimately got Jesus nailed to a cross.
That said, this season of Lent is shaping up to be interesting for me as I’m re-thinking everything ... again ... at a deeper and more profound level than ever before.
You were never separated from God, my friends. No blood needed to be shed in order to reconcile you back to your Creator.
You are loved.
You always have been loved.
You always will be loved.
You are never alone.
Never abandoned.
May that be the thing that drives us forward today to be a force of change in the world ... a force of change this world desperately, desperately needs.
Much love,