I recently listened to a blog that was talking about the atonement. It's one of the issues that comes up frequently in this whole "emergent conversation".
(btw, if you don't know some of the words I use just email me at logenbyrne@gmail.com or FB me at logen byrne & I'd be happy to explain .... It took me years to figure them all out)
Make sure you join the Sacred Emergence FB group too.
Anyway this commentator mentioned that we all know the atonement is a solution. It's just a question on what the solution is for. He has a PHD so I consider him a pretty knowledgeable theologian. He said the 1st 1000 years after Christ the church saw the atonement was a solution to Satan being the ruler of this world. We sold the world, God bought it back. He then suggested that the 2nd 1000 years it became about substitutional atonement. This is like CS Lewis writes in the Chronicles of Narnia when Edmond sold out, Aslan (the God/Jesus figure) makes a deal with the Queen (Satan) according to the ancient magic that if someone sins someone else can choose to take their place.
Both seem good & plausible. I actually think I've probably thought the first one was true more even though I often heard the words Substitutionary Atonement.
What some in the Emergent Conversation are saying is that this substitutional atonement idea does is it individualizes everything. Whole households did seem to get saved in the bible like Lydia's in Acts 16. Of course we don't know for sure if they all made decisions or if it was Lydia. We pretty much think we all are the center of things. In the OT God was about community all the time. Not sure he would change that much with the New Covenant.
So then the person being interviewed suggested that perhaps in the next 1000 years we might begin to see it another way. The problem being systemic and the atonement is a redemption of the all things. Colossians 1:20 and Romans 5:18
I really don't know what happens after we die. I don't know for sure what the atonement solves. But I do trust that Jesus is the answer. Whatever may be I've accepted him & proclaim him as the only Savior. So even if others who weren't "christians" get to heaven then I would still say its through Jesus even if they don't know it.
Billy Graham actually suggested this on his last interview with Larry King. Larry asked him what about that person that has never heard the name of Jesus. Billy said well if they have responded to whatever light God has given them he believes that Jesus will save them. Quite a statement for Billy Graham to make.
With all the evil in the world, an atonement that solves a systemic problem would be huge. I just want as many to be with God as possible. Romans is a real awesome book. I'm sure that was what Peter was referring to when he said that some things Paul taught were even hard for him to understand. But just like with other issues, there are verses like Romans 5:18 that make you wonder.
Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to the justification and life for all. ROMANS 5:18
So please comment & let me know what you think of the atonement!!! There really is no way to avoid verses that contradict one another. Whether we like to admit it or not we all pick and choose. Author, Rachel Held Evans, addresses this in her first book "Evolving in Monkey Town" and I think might be really addressing how we look at the bible even more with her new book coming out in September "A year of Biblical Womanhood". She is the best Evangelical to really shine light into how we hold our beliefs & how we read the bible. I highly recommend her. She isn't saying we shouldn't have beliefs & opinions BUT rather we should hold them with an open hand. I'm sure those living in the days where they figured out the earth wasn't the center of the universe & didn't move (all backed up with Bible Verses which in their context could easily be understood the way they did) that were holding their beliefs with an open hand had allot less egg on their faces than those who held them tightly & arrogantly!
I think the atonement is just one of those great mysteries...there will always be people on both sides (or all three or four sides!) of the fence on this. This is definitely an issue I have never been able to fully reconcile. I was taught Substitutionary Atonement growing up, but it was always verses like Romans 5:18 that made me question that line of teaching. I don't have an answer, I don't think I ever will...
ReplyDeleteOh if you haven't read Rachel Held Evans book "Evolving in Monkey Town" you should. She & you may have allot in common!
DeleteWe're on the same page then. I think its mysteries like this that are helpful to acknowledge and take joy in the fact that Jesus said he is going to prepare a place for us!!
DeleteI guess the SAFE bet would be to just trust Jesus. That is a big comfort to me. But I want to be hopeful that God is up to something bigger & greater than we can possibly imagine.
Seems like allot of people are like the Prodigal son's older brother. Mad at the undeserved grace. Or like the people who worked ALL day getting mad at those who started work late in the day & got paid the same.
Sometimes I feel like people are rejoicing that if you don't say the sinners prayer just like we say (that has only been around a few hundred years) you're going to eternal conscious torment. I believe there is a hell. What I have a hard time wrapping my head around is the idea of eternal conscious torment. That doesn't make sense to me. And even though there are verses that you can see might suggest this there are also those that feel in Revelation hell & death are destroyed. In Revelation there are the 144,000 but then there is the great multitude that no one can count.
That makes you wonder if the narrow & wide path verse is a bit taken out of context.
All that to say I think Jesus is the way the truth and the life BUT the width and the depth of the atonement & redemption is very tough to actually nail down. So why not be HOPEFUL. If God desires that NONE should perish ...... why shouldn't we desire the same thing???