Penal Substitutionary Atonement?

Penal Substitutionary Atonement?

That’s what I used to think I believed!

Then, quite some time ago I was introduced to several OTHER atonement theories.  

Other “theories”?  What do you mean “theory”?  Isn’t it clear what the Bible teaches?

Well, maybe not so much!

I “grew up” in the Evangelical world, with the Campus Crusade bridge, Chick tracts and other similar evangelistic tools.  The message went something like this:

·      God is holy and can’t tolerate sin in his presence.

·      Man chose to sin, and has therefore separated himself from God.

·      God as a just judge is angry with sin / man and requires retribution.

·      Therefore, man faces eternal conscious torment estranged from God, forever aware of his short comings.

·      However, out of love for us, Jesus steps in an takes the punishment for us!

·      If we “accept” Jesus’ payment as a gift, all is good, and we live forever in heaven with God instead!

I was challenged to think this through more deeply when I heard someone else describe what they were hearing in this message:

·      God is an angry God that required vengeance when he was disobeyed!

·      God’s Son stepped between us and God and took the brunt of God’s anger.  God beat up his Son to get his anger satisfied! (God may still let us feel some of his anger from time to time anyway! Think about Annanias and Sapphira, the guy who died because he took the Lord’s supper in an unworthy manner in I Corinthians 11, etc.)

·      If you “accept Jesus as your personal savior”, you are OK with God; sort of.  But there still are some concerns (especially for some of us who don’t believe in eternal security or election) such as The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25), and the “I never knew you (Matthew 7)!” 

So, as it was pointed out by an “outsider”, to him, my God is a vengeful child abuser!  He is just like so many of those other fickle gods of mythology who need appeased! 

What about all that stuff about God is Love?  I Corinthians 13 talks about love being forgiving!  In the Lord’s prayer, we are told we need to forgive if we are to be forgiven!  Does that allow us to kick the dog first when we are angry before we forgive someone?

Something doesn’t mesh here!

Personally, I like some of the other atonement theories better, especially Christus Victor, for example!  I know there exist passages that seem like a court room, or are transactional, requiring punishment or payment for sin, but I tend to think we are missing something here either in what was meant, or maybe carrying the illustration too far.

So, for me, for right now, in my understanding of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, being one consistent God of love, I need to reject penal substitutionary atonement, at least in the form it was taught to me.

I can only begin to understand what all Jesus and his Father accomplished on the cross, but I choose to believe it was pure love, not anger!  I hear Jesus ask the Father to forgive his executioners!  

But didn’t Jesus cry out asking why his Father had forsaken him?  For those who didn’t know the Psalms, it indeed appeared that Jesus was rejected, forsaken by God!  But this was only code!  Read the rest of Psalm 22!  Jesus was invoking the beginning of the Psalm to encourage those who knew the rest of the Psalm that his death was not the end, but the path to victory, to triumph, to exaltation!  It was not defeat, as it appeared for the moment.

What appeared as an angry God lashing out at Jesus and then turning his back on him to let him die, was NOT what actually happened!  Jesus’ coronation on the cross, followed by his resurrection, was the inauguration of his new kingdom, to be governed by love, which includes forgiveness, and much more!

Indeed, Jesus is the Victor!  He is risen indeed!

Individual Responsibility!

Listening to a radio news show this past weekend, I heard a conservative / republican state that for him the difference between his core values and those of democrats / liberals was individual responsibility.

As he explained, it was up to him whether he succeeded or not.  If he achieved success, he took the credit; if he failed, he took the blame.  He wanted the government and society to be hands off, to get out of his way to compete and succeed.  (Sounds more like a libertarian maybe?). 

He stated that democrats / liberals wanted to credit / blame systems for success / failure, and therefore were interested in promoting and improving / complicating  the system, which would hinder personal achievement for some (him) in an attempt to help elevate those who would otherwise fail / lose.  He wanted no part of that!

Wow!  How honest!  

No wonder so many wealthy and privileged people lean right / republican!  They tend to be the “winners” in the game of life!  However, I suspect many are blind to a significant source of their success.  Not to say that they didn’t work for it, but they may fail to see their unearned advantage / privilege that gave them an edge (male, white, born in America, historical cultural setting, inherited wealth / status, education…).

But what really confuses and frustrates me is that those who claim to be followers of Christ seem to buy into the conservative mindset and fail to see what Jesus and the Bible in general taught!  (Oh, but didn’t Jesus say that God helps those who help themselves?)

I too was guilty of this thinking throughout the early years of my life!  My dad (white, male, born in 1937 in the U.S.) pulled himself up “by the bootstraps”.  He worked hard but he also had an advantage.  (To be certain, he had disadvantages too: his father died when he was a teenager, he lived in relative poverty as a child…) 

I too had social advantages (male, white, born in the U.S. in 1957), was gifted with health and intelligence from God, and was able to build on my father’s success, obtain education, and add more wealth and social status.

I was tempted to pray, like the Pharisee, “Thank you Lord that I am not like others!”  Rather I needed to be confronted with the truth that,  “To whom much is given, much will be required!”  

Why was I given much? 

To work toward making God’s Kingdom a reality on earth now!  To help the poor, the sick, those imprisoned by the system, those who mourn, the humble, the hungry, the widow, the orphan, the stranger…. To make the road straight and level for all to travel.  To abolish the artificial differences of status / worth based on gender, race, wealth….  To promote unity, and sufficiency for all.

I guess that makes me a liberal, since I want to change / improve the system to promote the common good, to level the playing field, to minimize, if not eliminate the winners and losers’ mentality.  It need not be a zero sum game!

With Christ, all can win!

 

I am a Pilgrim (9/25/2010)

 I am a pilgrim on the road following the path of Jesus.  I am a recovering Pharisee, who once in ignorance and arrogance felt I understood God and was qualified to teach and lead others into Truth.  The Fundamentalism of my youth was my schoolmaster to bring me to Christ, a framework to help me to begin to understand the love and grace of God. God had to remove me from the comforts of my environment, to transport me into another culture, to teach me how little I really understood.

 

While in Honduras as a missionary, I began to see my faith system for what it was: a simplistic approach to God that left me drinking milk as an adult; anemic, ill, and powerless in a world that was looking for something more than was being offered by my example and teaching.  

 

God graciously began to open my eyes, to teach me through things and people I once thought were outside of His system, things and people who I once viewed as foreign, as enemies, as objects to be converted or conquered.  In the process, it is I who am being converted and conquered, being brought into a truth more profound, overwhelmed into humility as was Job when questioned by God, no longer the expert, but now the child trying to digest new food.  The new diet at times does not settle well with me as my system adjusts and even rebels at the change, but slowly it is doing its work, as I become less anemic, less weak, and hopefully in the eyes of Jesus, growing into maturity and usefulness.

 

I am excited about the things I am learning!  I seek to share them with others, both to encourage them and to learn from them, as others help point out the errors of my thinking, asking questions that help me explore my faith, pushing me into deeper levels of understanding and inquiry.  I find that many have already walked this path and can advise me of the obstacles to avoid or encourage me in the direction to proceed.  Others are behind me, looking for illumination to their path.  And still others are right beside me, sharing a common point in the pilgrimage.  

 

So as I explore joining the community of Central Avenue Methodist, I am looking for traveling companions.  I am seeking the wisdom of those who have walked the path before me, the fellowship of those who are traveling beside me, and the company of new pilgrims who need someone to show them where to find the path.

 

Dave Drozek

9/25/10

At Twilight

(as I reflect on Gaza and other worn torn places)

 

As the evening descends, 

 

Some relax, 

peaceful and safe, 

contented with a good day well lived, 

a full belly, 

enjoying a favorite beverage 

in the company of loved ones, 

full of hope for the next day 

to bring 

more to accomplish, 

more to celebrate, 

feeling blessed.

 

Others fear, 

wondering how they will survive another night, 

seeking shelter among the rubble, 

stomachs empty, 

sounds of war in the distance, 

flashing lights on the horizon, 

searching the ruins for familiar faces, 

questioning heaven, 

“Why have we have been forsaken?”, 

despairing for another day of the same.

 

As dawn breaks, 

 

Some arise, 

rested, 

anticipating the day, 

welcoming life, 

ready to break the fast, 

to engage the world, 

to contribute, 

to produce, 

to earn, 

to build toward the future.

 

Others reluctantly continue the nightmare, 

exhausted, 

barely able to stand, 

but yet they must, 

or perish, 

to seek food, 

to seek family, 

to escape the violence, 

to try to hold on to the last shred of hope 

for a better day in some remote, 

unimaginable time 

beyond this present hell.

 

Why?

Am I an Evangelical? (7/31/2010)

As I progress through life on my spiritual pilgrimage, I struggle with identity.  As do we all, I want to belong to something bigger than myself.  I want to identify with others who share similarities of some sort.  We are created as social beings and can’t find fulfillment in isolation.

So, I struggle as I feel the need to separate myself from a group that I have so long been affiliated with.  I vacillate as to whether I still find identity with them or have moved beyond the point of identification.  Would I be considered an insider, a member by them?

 

I grew up a Fundamentalist, which is, on the continuum, to the right of Evangelical (big E).  In my Fundamentalist years we were warned against the social gospel, which placed temporary good above the eternal good brought through receiving the message of repentance and forgiveness through Christ!  Things like medical missions could too easily become caught up in the immediate need to such a degree that we might forget to invite people to receive Christ!  If anything, we needed to use social service as a means to attract “fish” so we could “set the hook” with the Four Spiritual Laws or the Romans Road.

 

As Fundamentalists, we also were taught “secondary separation”; not affiliating with those who affiliated with “sinners”.  We debated, and decided against supporting the “Evangelical” Billy Graham, because he did not confine himself to affiliating and working with Fundamentalist groups, but was too cozy with the “liberals.”  He would refer his new converts to any church that would cooperate with him, possible into a church that preached a “false gospel” where their new faith would flounder and fail, lost in liberalism.

 

As I moved through life, I found myself more comfortable with Evangelicals than with Fundamentalists, becoming a missionary that was concerned with both the social needs of the present, but still seeking to present the “Gospel Message” that would assure eternal life to those who would “receive” it and be “born again.”

 

But my time in Honduras “rocked my boat” a bit as I saw in caricature what we Evangelicals had brought to Latin America in the name of Christ.  The interpretation of the “Gospel Message” was so focused on a point in time decision that it seemed to neglect a transformed life, other than that the new convert was to taught to consume his time with recruiting others to make the “decision”, who then in turn would recruit others.  The actual teachings of Jesus; love, forgiveness, self sacrifice, peacemaking, seemed lost in the drive to make converts!  People felt so secure with eternity, having made the “decision for Christ” that they felt comfortable living like the world.  The churches were wracked with divisions, pride and superficiality, missing the point of Jesus’ “good news” which he taught in the Sermon on the Mount! 

 

So, I have become uncomfortable now with being identified as an Evangelical (big E).  But I am not ready to abandon my identification as an evangelical (little e).  For I truly believe that I am to spread the good news of Jesus throughout the world, but this takes a different form than it did in my Evangelical days.  I am involved in modeling (although with significant shortcomings and failures) the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.  And I invite others to join me in the journey, which is “evangelism” in my thinking.  

 

There is a Lord whose name is Jesus who teaches us to live a life that is different than what we are encouraged to live in the world by politicians and businessmen, by our neighbors and coworkers, and sadly even sometimes by our pastors; a life which certainly is different from our natural inclinations to promote self.  This life that we are invited to live is a change from what we would naturally choose, and requires a decision (or series of decisions), a transformation, that may not be so much a point in time response to a preacher’s or evangelist’s invitation, but a gradual restructuring of our world view (repentance, in my thinking) so that we promote the common good as originally intended by God, which someday will become the rule of the land when Jesus returns and puts everything to right again.

 

That for me is the “gospel message” with which as an evangelical (little e) I am engaged, and immersed in living and promoting.

 

So what am I?  If not an Evangelical or Fundamentalist, maybe I am “emergent” or maybe becoming (shudder) a “liberal”?  Some are concerned that I am flirting with “universalism”!  How about “a follower of Jesus”?  With that label, I am content. I find that the path of Christ does not necessarily coincide with the manmade paths that have manmade names.

 

Dave Drozek,

 

Thoughts from Athens

Intellectual Elitism (7/9/2010)

When I was at Cedarville 35 years ago, the hyper-Calvanists were the intellectually elite, or so they thought, looking down on the rest of us, whom they felt sure would eventually agree with them, once we matured in our thinking.  

 

Today, my faith has little resemblance to what I believed while at Cedarville, when I thought I had it all figured out, everything in its place, packaged in a nice box ready for presentation.  What I believe today doesn’t even resemble much of what I believed 15 years ago.  It is continually changing.  It is a journey.  Since I disagree now with what I would have told somebody 10-15 years ago, why should I feel now that I have it figured out, and consider someone else at a different point on the journey “ignorant”?  

 

My faith will likely continue to evolve, and some of what I “know” now, I will likely not agree with in another 15 years.  Does that make me “ignorant”?  Let’s not fall into the trap of intellectual elitism that the hyper-Calvinists did, but instead, in love and with “Christian” tolerance (I mean the type of tolerance Christ demonstrated for those who were sincerely seeking truth), let us ask others to join us on the journey, or with kindness and tolerance, allow them to rest a while where they are in the journey, even though it does not likely reflect their final resting place either.

 

My Facebook response to someone who was harshly criticizing “Christians” on Emerging from the Ville.

Inflexion Point? (8/30/2005)

Currently I am on a journey through the Gospel of Matthew, a book that was so very influential on my path toward deconstruction so many years ago in Honduras.  Back then, in our fledgling church, I taught the Sermon on the Mount to our small congregation.  At the time, I was troubled by how poorly our Evangelical churches were doing at living out the Sermon.  I saw outward concern for rules, but love, forgiveness, and peacemaking were often hard to find.

When I read through Matthew, especially then, I could only read it from my Fundamentalist Evangelical paradigm and mindset.  Reading about the two roads in Matthew 7 was obviously about receiving Christ as your personal savior or not.  The two houses, one on the rocks, and one on the sand, were similarly about the eternal state.

Still today, as then, the passage haunts me where Jesus says that not everyone who calls him “Lord” and does “spiritual” works will be counted among those known by Jesus.

However, as I considered these passages again this month, to my surprise, my first thought about these passages was not about eternal salvation, but about current life in the world, as we seek to work out the kingdom here and now.  I saw these passages as “Wisdom”, much as I now read Proverbs.  I don’t see hard and fast “promises” for life from God, but general guidelines, where exceptions can always be found, as they were in the days of the prophets who complained bitterly that the wicked were thriving while the just perished.  We could discuss that in much more detail.

The point of this reflection, however, is not what these passages actually mean, but that my default reference point has now changed.  The process of change has been gradual, over time.  But this may be the first time I can clearly recognize the new primary point of view I know sit in.  My Fundamentalist Evangelical baggage is still there, for sure, but it is not the first bag I open on my journey any longer!