A New Story for a New World: Post III; Atonement 2

Moving on with post three of this series, let me remind you of the genesis of this project. Frank Spencer of KedgeForward challenged, invited as many as would be willing, to blog a new story for a new world. His hope was that the collective story would begin to frame a new way of being and thinking in the twenty-first century.

I have been blogging about how personal mysticism and atonement fit into the new story…at least, my new story. I look at atonement as at-one-ment, i.e., being at one with the source of all that is, God the Father. I think it will be beneficial for me to look at the way the “old story” viewed atonement and contrast that with the way I see it today.

I grew up among fundamentalist Protestants and was introduced to the penal substitutionary theory of atonement for much of my life. Simply put, it posits that mankind fell through Adam and Eve, and that Jesus paid the penalty for the fall and all sin. As I advanced theologically, I began to adopt the Christus Victor theory of the atonement which, basically acknowledges the divine conflict between good and evil that holds humans captive, and looked to Christ as the victor or liberator. Now however, I do not accept either one and look at it a little differently.

The phenomenon that has been called sin by the church is really a condition that is the result of greed. The ego, the alone separate self…the self separated from awareness of the divine connection, is subject to death. Death through the survival instinct brings about the condition of greed. Further reasoning, the knowledge of good and evil, brings the ability to judge into existence and, humans can judge between right and wrong. The problem is that the survival instinct breeds greed. Individuals that are unaware of their eternalness or at the very least not sure about it, feel alone separated from the source of all that is, God the Father. In reality at a deep subconscious level, they judge themselves as inferior and try to avoid it by dwelling on the past or hoping for the future…but never really address the present moment, the place where eternity resides. Outwardly, they judge themselves right and others wrong. In this way, the knowledge of good and evil and mortality work together to create human suffering via separated egos.

So then, Jesus had perfect faith in the source of all that is, Father God. He was able to set aside his ego/self because he was connected by faith to the source. The bible states that he was the first born of many brothers and sisters. He was the first born, the first human that was certain of his eternal connectedness to the Father. He was so sure of this fact that he could completely lay his ego aside even to the point of willingness to die. His death and resurrection demonstrated his eternalness. He realized that he was at-one with God. He was the pattern that would allow us to set our egos aside and believe in our eternalness. Though faith in his story we can have that same faith in our connection to the source of all that is, God the Father. 

Don’t forget to check out the other blogs in this project and if you blog, take up the challenge yourself and share your new story for a new world.