Jesus Paid It All? I Don't Think So!

It is 5:30 a.m. here in central southern California, on Easter morning.  However it's 3:30 p.m. in Israel, so the traditional time for Jesus' resurrection is long past--making early Easter morning services quite inaccurate.  We should be celebrating Easter at 7:30 on Saturday evening!

The subject of resurrection and immortality makes a fascinating study.  It is so interesting to note how almost every religion and tradition of men down the ages from the beginning of recorded history shows an unceasing search for immortality, whether through scientific or religious means.  Unfortunately, traditional Christianity has strayed away from the simple, correct definition of immortality in the Scriptures and has mixed into their theology so many teachings from famous church fathers and philosophers such as Augustine, John Calvin, Luther and others, that often it's hard to distinguish what is really Scripture and what is actually superstition imposed on the Bible.

One of the reasons I am writing this blog is to preserve online my thoughts on true religion and Christianity, so that if something should happen to me and my husband before our children are grown, they should know what we believe is right and God willing come to their own conclusions of the truth in spite of the teachings of most churches.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is central and vital to Christianity.  There are four main subjects that my husband and I have studied and prayed over thoroughly and extensively over the past few years, and eventually I'd like to address them all in this poor little journal.  They are:

✡  Original Sin
✡ Hell and immortality
✡ Atonement
✡ God's Sovereignty

Wikipedia is remarkably accurate and concise when it comes to defining concepts and terms.  Quote, "Penal substitution derives from the idea that divine forgiveness must satisfy divine justice, that is, that God is not willing or able to simply forgive sin without first requiring a satisfaction for it. It states that God gave himself in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer the death, punishment and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty for our sin."

I don't want to go into too much detail here because I want to keep this blog short and interesting.  Suffice to say that we believe this is a false view of God and His mercy, and interestingly enough this view did not become prevalent in the church until the time of the Reformation, 1500 years after Christianity's birth.  Here, again, is what Wikipedia has to say on the subject, if you want to read further. 

According to the Bible and a correct understanding of God, the hymn Jesus Paid It All is inaccurate.  If Jesus actually paid the full price for sin, then there is no room at all for God's forgiveness.  How is it forgiveness if the debt is paid?  If I owe you $100, and someone else pays you $100 for me, you still got your freaking $100 and didn't forgive me at all.  

Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  This verse is heavy with meaning, and in one fell swoop debunks two of the fallacies taught by the church today.  That is, penal substitution and the traditional teaching of hell (which I will save for a later blog post).  Jesus died the death instead of us--substitutionary atonement--that we might live forever.  He didn't "pay the price" for our sins.  No one could ever do that!  God forgives  us our sins, and doesn't kill us because of Jesus.

This is a very simplistic explanation.  I hope to go into more detail later, but I must stop for now.

In the news on the home front, Bella did the sweetest thing yesterday evening.  She was extremely tired, and after her bath and goodnight kisses from TJ, I took her into her room to put her to bed.  She looks at me and says in her sweet little voice, "Baby?  Nigh-nigh?"  She wanted to say goodnight to her little sister!  I brought her back out to the living room where Elizabeth was cooing away in her bouncer.  Bella kissed her and said, "Nigh-nigh Baby!"  TJ and I melted into two puddles of rapture at our little girls' love for each other.  It's so precious and amazing!  TJ said to me, "I think we've done it right [as parents] so far!!"

Bella reading to her sister