GOD, A BRUTAL DEITY?

Did Jesus really need to die so that God could forgive our sins? Doesn’t this suggest that God was somehow restricted by sin? Was he limited to only one choice? Did he find it more reasonable to punish sins rather than forgive them?

Did we really owe God a debt that we couldn’t pay or was the debt owed to someone or something else? In paying that debt did God really have to punish another member of the Trinity with such violence?

If he did, then what kind of God is he? Is he safe? Can we trust him? Is it safe to say that Jesus was really saving us from that God? Is God ultimately a vindictive, vengeful God who is seeking retribution? Did Jesus save us from that retribution … is that how the story goes?

Did Jesus then, in his death, earn God’s forgiveness on our behalf? If that’s the case, then why have we been told that forgiveness is a free gift from God? And why, before Jesus died, did he tell people that their sins were forgiven? And if God the Father is the one who forgives sins then why did Jesus say that he had authority to forgive sins?

Is this the gospel, the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus preached? Is this what the story of the cross is all about? Our sin getting removed so we can access God? Is the story really just about some cosmic-legal transaction?

These are just a few of the questions that we asked this Sunday as we considered the cross. We spent our time exploring what can happen when we choose to look at the crucifixion of Jesus in only one way.

Conversely, we discovered that we should always be finding new ways to express the universe-reshaping story that is the cross. Just like the parent of a newborn child knows, there are not enough ways to describe the wonder of childbirth.

How much more the cross?

You can listen to the teaching from Denver Community Church on Sunday, June 17 here. Then ask yourself the question – how would I describe the cross?