(This post was re-posted as requested to be in an debate forum, although I would hope this to be informative rather than to try to convert or dissuade others. I want to inform anyone that may not understand Christ Atonement to gain some understanding. Questions in this post are used as teaching tools and not for rhetoric sarcasm)
I have been thinking of doing this post for awhile now and just finally had the courage and time to help many better understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Truly this topic is controversial, (probably the most controversial) still, at least in part, understood by many religious sects so I write not to prove something happened or didn't happen, instead I write to provide a clear understanding of what and why is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As the atonement could be understood with a different point a view from others, I invite those to write down how they understand such a diverse topic.
As I said before, It is my belief that Atonement is one of the major differences in all of our religions, yet it is something that is ritualized in one way or another by each of us. The Jewish Yom Kippur, The Muslim Ramadan, the Christian Sacrament and Fast are all rituals that we use to better ourselves and rid of our sins. All of these rituals, similarly, require some sort of sacrifice. Usually the sacrifice of food and drink, the sacrifice of worldly pleasures, and more traditionally the sacrifice of flesh (symbolic and non-symbolic). The idea of sacrifice is to sanctify ourselves wholly on the merit that God will accept our offerings and cleanse our souls of sin.
I use these traditions as they are the major religious beliefs in the world, but I am sure there are many more in different religions that practice similar sacrifices, such as the Buddhist monks who have to devote their entire lives away from the world to obtain enlightenment.
Now that we can understand that Atonement or 'At'-'one'-'ment' as I like to call it is not a copyrighted idea rather a universal one, I would like to talk about the Christian God, Jesus Christ and His atonement for mankind.
In
Isaiah 53:3-5 written, among other prophecies, several centuries before Christ coming to the world we read
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Believed to be coupled with this scripture In
Isaiah 7: 4
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (With us is God)
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Christians believe that this is a direct prophecy of Christ's coming and his purpose was to bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows.
How can someone do that? What did is mean that with his stripes, we are healed? Stripes meaning whipped and flogged to a point where flesh is torn from the body. How can we be healed by this?
It is also odd that a prophet of Israel would be talking about Atonement in a sense of human suffering. From an age-old tradition where animal sacrifices were practiced to reconcile transgressions, and that these animals were supposed to be without bruise or blemish, yet this man would be bruised for our iniquities. This is a very unusual scripture to address healing and atonement.
Now from purely a religious perspective, God, only, has the power to absolve sin. No mortal was given this power (as it would be mostly be used for evil anyway) He can forgive who he wills to forgive.
Exodus 34:7 Romans 9: 18 He is the ultimate judge of whom will be admitted to his presence and whom receives damnation forever and ever. So who is this person Isaiah speaks about?
For the Christians, we are speaking of Christ. He was the prophecy that came to us from the prophets of Old who would redeem mankind from sin, so they would be capable to return to God's presence and feel his Joy.
But why? Many of my Muslim and Jewish friends ask. Why must God inflict so much torture to this supposed Son of God? What kind of God would want to kill His own Son, instead of just waving his magic finger and saying, Don't worry 'bout it! Your sins are forgiven? Surely God has the power to do so, right?
The answer to this can go as deep or as shallow you want. I prefer deep, but for the betterment of common understanding I will only hit the surface.
The answer is within our rituals of Atonement. There are two key points to address, Justice and Mercy. Most claim that God is all Just and all Merciful. This can cause conflict in our minds, because if He was all merciful, than everyone, no matter how evil or good would enter heaven because of his mercy. If he was all Just than according to the law God made, no one would be able to enter heaven, as each of us have broken his law since Adam and Eve at some point of our lives.
So what must be done then? How can Justice and Mercy live in harmony? The answer is a Mediator. Some one who fulfills the demands of Justice and Mercy. In order for God to be all Just, a payment needs to be made that would counteract any fault of the perpetrator of the law. Sort of like bail for those who are imprisoned. In order for God to be all Merciful, a plan needed to be created for
all to enter heaven and receive His blessings.
Christ was this perfect Mediator. As Christians call him the Lamb of God, the Only Begotten of the Father. He paid the price of His Flesh and Blood, which were innocent and contained the DNA of divinity. He offered it up like Isaac of the Old Testament freely to his Father to sacrifice. This sacrifice met the demands of Justice as all grief and pain and sin were absorbed into this perfect vessel. A man who committed no sin, a God who loved all sinners. This perfect balance preserved God's Justice and Allowed Mercy to live perfectly together in a perfect being.
To conclude this reasoning of a perfect godly sacrifice, that unites a Christian understanding, I would like to pose a question? If Christ, in reality, did give up himself, to be slain for the sins of the world, was this sacrifice accepted by God? As Christians, we believe that it was. God accepted Christs sacrifice as payment for all sins. It was the only price that could be accepted by Him. Not of beast, not of man's offerings or sacrifices, but of His Son's blood and Flesh.
I hope that my Non-Christian friends found this informative. Again, I am not considering this a persuasive essay to demote or distract others beliefs. I just wanted to give some light into why Christians hold firmly to the idea of Christ's sacrifice and divinity and where it comes from.
For Christians, please use the Bible as a tool and not a weapon, if I left out something about the atonement, and you would like to add something, I would ask to do so in a way that is not attacking a certain religion or faith. Thank you for your time.
