Violence in Christianity, part 2

Yesterday, I indicated that I would discuss one more troubling aspect of the article on violence in religion. The comment was that "Christianity...was 'born of an act of incredible cruelty,'" which implies, to my mind anyway, that the professor who spoke these words was thinking of the atonement of Christ upon the cross. If that is what the professor intended, I do indeed take umbrage, for at least a couple reasons.

First, the event of the crucifixion was not cruel, not in the least. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. It was the greatest possible expression of love: the Father loved the Son in that He gave Him a chosen people; the Son loved the Father in that He willingly laid down His life for that chosen people; the Father loved those chosen people so much that He gave His Son, His only Son, whom He loved, for them; and the Son loved those chosen people so much that He willingly endured the humiliation of the cross and gave up His life for them. No, my friends, the cross is anything BUT cruelty. It is the ultimate expression of love. And I for one take umbrage at anyone who suggests otherwise.

Second, the event of the crucifixion was not cruel, but it was violent. I will acknowledge that. There can be no escaping the fact that our atonement was violent. But the cause of this violence is not some defect in God but a defect in us...namely, our sin. Sin is the cause of ALL violence. Sin is the cause of violence between people. As we saw yesterday, the Christian sins when he acts violently. (See Jesus' example in the New Testament, if you question this.) Sin is also the cause of the violence of the cross. It is our sin that put Christ there. The cross is violent, simply because our sin merits violence from a God who is too perfect even to look upon sin. Hebrews 9:22 tells us that there is no forgiveness without violence (but this is a different kind of violence altogether than what the "experts" were discussing at the lecture). The cross is violent because it is the only way that God could be just and the justifier of those who believe in Christ. The cross is violent because God is just and because God is love!

Here again we must remember the context of love: Christ endured the violence that my sins and your sins rightly deserve, so that you and I would not have to endure that violence ourselves but might enjoy perfect peace and felicity forever! Amazing Love! How can it be? That thou my God shouldst die for me!

Christianity was not born of cruelty. And it was not born of violence. It was born of LOVE, and it ushers in grace, and mercy, and forgiveness. Amen!