Why I Won’t Be Viewing Kevin Ware’s Injury

April 3, 2013 By 15 Comments

Yesterday, I was sitting in the steam room at the gym, minding my own business, enjoying some silence, when the naked guy next to me says, “So, did you see that basketball player’s broken leg? It was gruesome.”

“No,” I replied, “I’ve been avoiding it.”

“Well, all the talk on the radio today is about the sound. Supposedly a lot of people in the arena could hear the snap, and they can’t get the sound out of their heads.”

Then he got up and left the steam room, leaving me alone to ponder the sound of breaking bone.

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He Died for You

March 29, 2013 By 4 Comments

Many Christians struggle to understand this day, Good Friday. We’re told, “Jesus died for you,” and “Jesus died for your sins.” And that makes perfect sense for many years.

And then, at some point, most of us ask, But how does that work? By what cosmic calculus does the death of one man mean that I am not accountable for my sins any longer?

I’ve written extensively about this question, including an ebook: A Better Atonement: Beyond the Depraved Doctrine of Original Sin. And now it seems that my next major, hardcover book with a publisher will also be on this topic (more on this soon).

We also collected some wonderful posts at this season’s #progGOD Challenge, “Why A Crucifixion?” For example,

Kimberly Knight: Washed in His Blood, My Ass:

We are not saved by the crucifixion, we are damned by it – or we could have been. Let us face that shameful dark day and accept our culpability – knowing that if Jesus returned today to preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed His blood would likely run in rivulets once again.  And let us move through that desolate Saturday knowing what we have done.

Scott Paeth: The Cross and the Crucified:

Jesus dies, abandoned and alone, forsaken by all, even God, to die the death of a social outcast and a political pariah. But in his death, Jesus reveals that the Good News of the Gospel is precisely that God stands on the side of all of those who are abandoned, alone, and forsaken, that God is with them in their forsakenness, has shared their suffering in the person of Jesus Christ, and in the resurrection of Christ, has overcome and redeemed it.

Denika Anderson: Beautiful Terrible Reckless Love:

Tony asked why a crucifixion is necessary. Ontologically speaking, it isn’t. Even considering the pervasiveness of sin, it still isn’t necessary. But, presented with the choice between being crucified and saving himself, Jesus shows us why choosing the crucifixion is the only choice, and why the resurrection is the only possible outcome.

Greg Garrett: Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Jesus staked his life on the belief that God’s power is supreme — and his resurrection proves it. The power of the Empire to torture and kill, to impose its will, is nothing compared to the power of God, which will not let sin and death have the last word.

There are many more, and you should add your own. I recommend you spend part of your Good Friday perusing these wonderful meditations on the crucifixion.

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The Cross Is Not Necessary [Questions That Haunt]

February 27, 2013 By 147 Comments

Questions That Haunt Christianity

Last week’s question came from Elise, and it’s puts an even finer point on our Lenten #progGOD Challenge (there are already some great responses). Here it is, in a nutshell (read the original post to get the whole context):

I have had an ongoing relationship with Christianity in which I alternately really get it or really don’t. I really dug into this the last time I fell away, and the biggest issue I have is with the Cross…

That’s not to say I have a problem with Jesus sacrificing Himself on the Cross; I understand the mercy, the sacrifice, the love that is inherent in that gesture, and that part I think is awesome. The issue that I have is that it was required in the first place. How could a loving God heap death and/or eternal damnation on his children for their sins and call it justice? Why did Jesus have to step up in the first place?…

How is the Cross’s necessity combined with the fact that only about 1/3 of the world’s population identifies as Christian/Believer a demonstration of the justice of a Loving God?

Well, Elise, it’s a great question, and it’s one that’s on my mind a lot lately. I am thinking about writing a book on the death of Jesus on the Cross — its meaning and significance — even as I’m also writing a book on prayer. It’ll be kind of a book sandwich.

You’re not exactly asking Why Jesus died on the Cross. In fact, your question is less about Jesus, and more about the very nature of God. You’re asking if God required Jesus’ death.

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Filed Under: Questions That Haunt, theology Tagged With: , 147 Comments

Why a Crucifixion? A #progGOD Challenge (with Prizes!!!)

February 13, 2013 By 36 Comments

I conceived of the #progGOD challenges at Patheos because 1) I think that progressives have a better version of the gospel than conservatives, and 2) I think progressives often struggle to speak forthrightly about God. We get caught up in prolegomena and methodology and qualifying every statement about God or Jesus or the Bible ten ways before we say anything. And by the time we say something, no one’s listening anymore.

Thus far, there have been two #progGOD Challenges:

Who Is God?

Why an Incarnation?

Those two generated dozens of thoughtful responses. And now it’s time for a third:

Why a Crucifixion?

This is a question that, literally, lies at the very center of Christianity. I’ve even written a short ebook about it (which is free today only), and I’m planning to blow that up into a full-length book. It’s a crucial question, and one that becomes more difficult when we move away from the penal substitutionary understanding of the atonement.

So, throughout Lent we’re going to be collecting responses to the question Why a Crucifixion? Share your answer by linking in the comment section below, tweet with the hashtag #progGOD, and email the link to progressivechristian@patheos.com.

As a bonus this time, I’m going to send a collection of 10 books to the post that gets the most shares and likes. So have at it, and be sure and share your post far and wide. I’ll be giving weekly updates with some of the best posts I read.

Filed Under: christianity in america Tagged With: , , 36 Comments

A Question about Penal Substitution

April 13, 2011 By 39 Comments

from Wikicommons

So, in the wake of all the Love Wins kerfuffle, I received an email from someone who listened to the radio interview I did with Michael Horton.  And the question he asked was this: Are penal substitution and universalism mutually exclusive?

Here’s how we got there.  On the interview, I asked Mike if understanding the atonement via the penal substitutionary theory was essential for a person to be considered a Christian.  He answered that yes, it is.  Other metaphors that explain the atonement are important, and even biblical, he said, but the penal substitutionary understanding is the most widely attested in scripture.  It is necessary and primary.  All other metaphors explaining the atonement take a back seat.

OK, let’s say, hypotehtically, that Mike is right about this.  Let’s say that Jesus did die as a sacrifice, to mitigate God’s wrath against every human being, wrath that was kindled because our sins of disobedience against God.

Couldn’t a penal substitutionary understanding of the atonement also be championed by univeralists?  Couldn’t a universalist affirm that Jesus did, indeed, die to take the stain of Original Sin from us, to appease God’s divine sense of judgment, and to open the gates of heaven to all people?

The obvious counter to this is that Paul said that one must believe in her heart and affirm with her lips, “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9-10).  But universalists have to answer for this verse regardless of how they understand the atonement.

So, I put it to you, are penal substitution and universalism mutually exclusive?

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Did Jesus Die on a Chocolate Cross?

March 18, 2011 By 23 Comments

I’m no pietist, as many readers will know.  In fact, my local newspaper once ran a story about me being installed as a pastor at Colonial Church titled, “The Irreverent Reverend.”  However, some things cross the line even for me.

I’ve been avoiding shopping at Target to stand in solidarity with Lady Gaga.  No, actually, I was avoiding Target before Gaga, but for the same reasons.  Well, now I have another reason to avoid Target, because last night, in a moment of weakness, I stopped by for some various and sundries.  My second mistake was walking through the Easter section (my Beloved was jonesing for a Cadbury Egg).  And there I saw this:

I get kitchy Jesus.  I get the Buddy Christ.  That’s because I get irony.  But I’m pretty sure that neither Russell Stover nor Target get irony.  I’m pretty sure that they’re selling a chocolate cross without any sense of irony.

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From the Archive: Why Jesus Died

April 2, 2010 By 1 Comment

Originally posted April 9, 2009:

One key to my understanding of the crucifixion is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. At about the age of 30, Jesus arrives at the Jordan River and is baptized by his cousin, John. He then retreats into the wilderness where, after a 40-day fast, he’s tempted. Really tempted. That is, the result of Jesus’ interaction with “the tempter” was not foreordained. Nor did Jesus know that he was divine in such a way that he wouldn’t cave in to the temptations before him. Had Jesus been cognizant of his divinity, he would not have been truly tempted.

Another key to my understanding of the end of Jesus’ life is what he did with the three previous years of his life. It seems to me that he did just a few things: 1) He taught about the Kingdom of God; 2) He performed miracles; 3) He developed a following that included 12 close followers and, by the end, hundreds of others.

The importance of 1) and 3) are pretty obvious to Jesus’ mission. The significance of the miracles, however, is sometimes misunderstood. They were not significations of Jesus’ divinity (as evidenced by the other magicians and sorcerers on the scene in Jesus’ day). Instead, they were little in-breakings of the new age that Jesus, as the Messiah, was inaugurating.

via Why Jesus Died | Tony Jones.

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