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Building Bridges - 05Old time religion? - An alternative!
The last message ("Give me that old time religion") made the point that the Biblical message is one of salvation that was predicated on the sacrifice of a perfect human being having been made. It was posited that the only way to salvation was through a sincere belief in the statement that the substitutionary atonement by Jesus on the cross was the only sufficient payment for humanity's collective sins, past, present and future. This is the traditional message that is broadcast to the world at large. Since I, among many others, can no longer buy into that concept, the challenge has been to find an alternative message in the Bible. Here is an alternative way of looking at the Bible and the message it proclaims. Although it is said that one can prove anything from the
Bible, the overall impression I get from it is one of continuous growth and an
expansion of the human psyche in God's incredibly spacious, generous and fertile
garden. Apart from everything else we find in the Bible, the message is loud and
clear that at present we may be seeing through a glass darkly, but there will
come a time that we will understand what it is we are looking at. (1 Cor 13:11.
It reads: 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For
now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known). Turn to the book of Exodus and read chapters 20 through 23. We are introduced there to the 10 commandments as well as a lengthy set of instructions on how to treat one's neighbour fairly under different circumstances. The main lesson driven home to the Israelites is that retribution is never limitless and that compassion is better. This example is indicative of Life itself being educational. What needs to be taken in consideration as well in this instant is that a similar lesson was recorded by King Hamurabi some 400 years previously. i.e. God's spirit apparently doesn't have any favourites and teaches anybody who can grasp the message.
Another example of OT people learning a lesson is encapsulated in the
story of Abraham who is ordered to sacrifice his only son on Mt Moriah
only to be stopped at the last moment by an angel. The lesson? God does
not want human sacrifices. This lesson is further hammered home by the
prophets who write (among others) in Micah 6: 7 And the answer is: NO! These examples are underscored by Jesus himself who stated in Matt, chapter 5 starting at verse 21 that things were different from the way they used to be in the olden days. If then blood sacrifices were not wanted by God and were not needed for the restoration of the broken relationship God-Humanity, then what was required to heal the rift? The Bible again gives the answer, short and sweet: repent (turn around) and see if I will not forgive, says the Lord. That's all we have to do, repent? That's it folks, and I have it on the authority of the Bible itself. Isa 55:6,7 6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Jer 31:34 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Ezek 33:14 14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. Is this something new? Not at all. According to Prof. Paul W. Newman in "Sprit Christology" this model is known among the Jews as "forgiveness by return". Never heard of it, you say? I suggest that every Christian is familiar with it since every Christian has heard Jesus (the Jew) tell the parable of the prodigal son. That is 'forgiveness by return" or Tshuvah (p 16) as there was nothing the "Father" wanted from the son but his return. What we have here then is a conflict between two paradigms of forgiveness. It started out as "forgiveness by return", it changed to "forgiveness by substitutionary atonement". The question is whether we ought to accept the switch and defend it because it is now "tradition", or whether we should insist on a re-examination of those paradigms and consider re-turning to a more humane model of forgiveness. It is easy to show that those who support the "forgiveness by substitutionary atonement", or "punishment of Jesus on the cross" model have to insist that only those who are "washed in the blood" are truly saved. Given the fact that at present almost 50 % of the United Church membership no longer believes that one can only be saved through Jesus, it sounds reasonable to suggest that a church-wide study on this topic be started to clarify the situation.
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