"WHAT CAN WE BELIEVE?"

“Sacrifice and Sin"

“Jesus Seminar” scholar, John Dominic Crossan, says in his book, Who is Jesus?, that “an atonement theology that says God sacrificed his own son in place of humans who needed to be punished for their sins might make some Christians love Jesus, but it is an obscene picture of God. It is almost heavenly child abuse….”

How do you feel about this statement? Is the idea of “God’s Son” dying for the forgiveness of our sins obscene? Was God “abusing” Jesus by causing him to die for the sins of the world? What do you think? How would you describe the meaning of Jesus’ death?

Christian theology often has spoken of human beings as sinners, sinners by nature, as persons in whom no good can be found. Some theology suggested humans were “totally depraved”, incapable of any good thought or action.

In the popular mind, are people thought of as basically evil or totally depraved? What about Church people? Do they think that of others? Of themselves? How would people today explain the origin of wrong or evil? How would you? How would they explain the origin of good? How would you?

Since the Enlightenment of the 18th century, many have thought human beings to be “basically good” rather than “basically bad”. People might be ignorant or mistaken, but not depraved sinners in whom there is no goodness at all.

What do you think? In the popular mind are people thought to be basically good? Is there a concept of sin in the popular mind? How about the mind of the Church? If people are basically good, how do we explain the wrong in the world? If people are basically good, is there any need for religion? For sacrifice?