On Sunday we'll be meeting at 3:00 at Global Gallery 188 E Whittier St in German Village.
I'd like to talk about the topic of atonement that I brought up a few weeks ago in this post.
I talked with Jesse a bit last night as he was going to help prepare some discussion points, but he has been really busy with school this week.
He gave me the book Fifty Reasons Jesus Came to Die which I found is available online. This goes over a lot of the traditional views of atonement which we had talked about trying to go into a bit deeper to try to understand better. I'll print out a chapter or two from this that should be a good starting point for discussion.
For me this is a very large idea to grasp about God, and largely shapes my relationship to Him. Depending on the position of this it makes me feel either angry, indebted, inlove, or indifferent to God.
It seems to me the Emergent stand on this has usually been: It's none of our business who goes to heaven and who doesn't. The Kingdom of God is now and we should be more concerned with furthering God's Kingdom on earth now and less concerned with life after death and the end of the world. Is this what we really believe? How did we get to this point?
I also agree with Kristen that it would be good to continue to look at our vision for this group and how we are living that out.
Christian Identity and the Hegemony of Mammon
2 years ago
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I am really looking forward to Zach's study on Atonement this Sunday. A recent article called, "Atonement Wars? Let's Hope Not" reviews the book by Scot McKnight: A Community Called Atonement. I liked this challenge..."God calls us to reconcile with God, ourselves, one another and all creation. That means the way we treat one another when we disagree about atonement..." Additionally, McKnight says "various theories of atonement serve various functions in various settings to be used appropriately to the situation."
That's an interesting thought to consider.
Jesus' death and resurrection have greater depth and meaning for me personally than thinking of it solely as God's need for reconciliation through His Son's sacrificial offering. And yet I remain open to understanding the history of atonement and its truths today.
That is a perceptive quote Nancy - It would certainly be wrong to try to determine the ONE BEST way to understand and conceive of the atonement. Far more productive would be exploring new and meaningful ways to apply the truths of the atonement to our culture - as always, trying to answer the question: "How do we more appropriately live what we believe to be true?"
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