Tony Jones has done us all a HUGE favor. His new book A Better Atonement has just been published.
It’s free today (only) so do what I did and download it now, read it, and thank Tony — and God but maybe not in that order – for the fact that it turns out that A), God isn’t as horrible as you thought he was, and B), Tony just saved God from the black eye Augustine gave him.
As Tony puts it:
“Augustine took Paul’s interpretation of Genesis 2-3 in Romans 5 and extended that to mean that Adam’s sin conferred not only death on the entire human race, but also guilt. This was a big step, to be sure, and it hinges on a particular reading of the second creation narrative in Genesis and on a particular biology of the transmission of moral standing via semen….
The problems with this concentration on God’s wrath are pluriform. First and foremost, it contradicts the experience that most of us have with God, and that a lot of us have with the Bible. Our experience of God is not of wrath, but of love. Indeed, that’s how most people experience God even before they accept the idea that Christ stands between us and God. “ (Jones, Tony (2012-03-18). A Better Atonement: Beyond the Depraved Doctrine of Original Sin (Kindle Locations 584-586). The JoPa Group. Kindle Edition.)
It’s about time! Read the book! And no, I’m not getting paid to duplicate the offer here on my blog.
I just hope you take advantage of it.
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