Magic Blood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My mother had rocks in her head. She said so herself. She was referring to certain faith puzzles she couldn\u2019t seem to penetrate. Like a rock on a shelf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Magic Blood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My mother had rocks in her head. She said so herself. She was referring to certain faith puzzles she couldn\u2019t seem to penetrate. Like a rock on a shelf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christianityforthesbnr\/2010\/10\/magic-blood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christianity For the SBNR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-05T19:23:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christianityforthesbnr\/files\/2010\/10\/Trinity-Stained-Glass-flickr-Lawrence-OP-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Alexander\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Alexander\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christianityforthesbnr\/2010\/10\/magic-blood\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christianityforthesbnr\/2010\/10\/magic-blood\/\",\"name\":\"Magic Blood\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christianityforthesbnr\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-05T19:23:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-10-05T19:23:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christianityforthesbnr\/#\/schema\/person\/8aa6194cf38fa427d30d0107e21da80c\"},\"description\":\"My mother had rocks in her head. 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{"id":19,"date":"2010-10-05T19:23:54","date_gmt":"2010-10-05T19:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/experts.patheos.com\/expert\/samalexander\/?p=19"},"modified":"2010-10-05T19:23:54","modified_gmt":"2010-10-05T19:23:54","slug":"magic-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christianityforthesbnr\/2010\/10\/magic-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic Blood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>My mother had rocks in her head. She said so herself. She was referring to certain faith puzzles she couldn\u2019t seem to penetrate. Like a rock on a shelf she would occasionally take one down, look at it, then put it back. Turns out I have a couple of rocks in my head too. Take for instance the concept of \u201cmagic blood.\u201d<\/span> There was a time when people thought blood has magical properties. So when the authors of the New Testament were trying to describe the restorative experience which came when they trusted the spirit they found in Jesus, they took up the idea that his blood had the power to make them right with God. But we don\u2019t think blood has magical properties anymore, yet still those concepts remain in our traditional language. Preacher\u2019s Problem: How are we to make sense of their experience without pretending to believe that blood has magical properties?<\/span> Curiously it was when I took another rock off the shelf, (that is the doctrine of the Trinity of all things), that I began to make some sense of magic blood. (Scholars call it the doctrine of atonement.) When I think about atonement, I think of a \u201cfather\u201d who has his \u201cson\u201d tortured and killed to make up for the fact we do rotten stuff. Yuck; is that sick or what?<\/span> But in the tradition, are the \u201cfather\u201d and the \u201cson\u201d separate entities? This brings me to the Trinity. As the early church developed the language they would use to describe their experience of God, they agreed that they experienced God in 3 ways or \u201cpersons\u201d \u2013 \u201cfather,\u201d \u201cson,\u201d and \u201choly spirit.\u201d Here\u2019s the catch. They insisted each of those \u201cpersons\u201d was really a complete expression of the one God. (I know it doesn\u2019t make sense, but really, would you trust a description of God that made complete sense?)<\/span> In any case if the \u201cfather\u201d and the \u201cson\u201d are the same entity, we no longer have a metaphor wherein one \u201cperson\u201d seeks the torture and death of another. Instead it is something more like God giving God\u2019s own life to renew, restore, and from my point of view, evolve creation.<\/span> Granted this might seem ridiculous, but let\u2019s face it, the world isn\u2019t exactly a perfect place. It occurs to me that a model which points the way towards participation in the renewing work of creation, the unfolding of the very life of God, might be useful. For 13.7 billion years this creative act has unfolded through death to new life. This I suspect is what those ancient writers were getting at when they talked about magic blood. They knew that life is hard. But they also knew a still more glorious Dawn awaits each passing day.<\/span> I may decide tomorrow that I don\u2019t like this idea. But for now it seems those rocks aren\u2019t as impenetrable as they used to be. Thanks for listening<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"