Within Progressive Christianity, atonement theology is looked down upon. I remember at my church, my pastor did a presentation on the different versions of atonement theology there have been throughout the centuries. Nearly all of the retired pastors were well aware of all of them, and they disliked them all. Basically, it's the idea of Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. There's been a newer interpretation developing within Progressive Christianity. The idea of it is God responding to all of the injustices by being an example of self-giving love, and willingly sacrificing everything for others. Within other areas of Progressive Christianity, Jesus' death is seen as him dying for what he believed was right. Many say that the life and teachings are what should be emphasized.
I'll confess to having an extremely unpopular opinion, but I ask that you hear me out.
Atheist YouTube vlogger, Jaclyn Glenn, did a response to a debate between conservative fundamentalist Christian vloggers. Paul and Morgan debated Jesse Lee Peterson. In there, Paul and Morgan said that we're all sinners. Jaclyn Glenn commented that she and other Atheists wouldn't put it that way, but said that we all have flaws. The thing is, we're not perfect. We've all done things that have hurt others, whether directly or indirectly. We have to continuously work on bettering ourselves, and we sometimes need things to remind us.
In Religion For Atheists and multiple lectures and presentations that Atheist philosopher, Alain de Botton, has given, he has commented on how fascinated he is by the concept of original sin. When we're born, we aren't able to just magically know everything. We need help and guidance in being good people.
Now where does blood sacrifice come in? It's part of the human race's religious history, and there are places where it is still done. We're hopefully beyond sacrificing people, but there are religions where animal sacrifice is done. Richard Elliott Friedman, in Who Wrote The Bible? speculated that animal sacrifice was possibly a way for people to justify eating meat. That is a possibility. However, there are religions where they don't eat the animals they sacrifice.
It's a part of our history and who we are, and having a symbolic story is a way to embrace that aspect of ourselves. We also are all flawed, and we sometimes need to be reminded of that too. Whether or not you believe atonement theology is how God works or not, I think the meaning behind it is a way for us to acknowledge and embrace who we are while also ridding ourselves of the practice.
Shalom!
No comments:
Post a Comment