We must atone for our sins. I have heard this all of my life in the church. Christ was that atonement, that sacrifice for what I have done wrong. This makes God the supreme punisher who is out for blood. Someon have to pay. Blood is the only acceptable coin of the realm in this case.
It has taken awhile but I cannot fathom a god who is actually out for revenge. And, revenge for what? This is punitive justice and if this is really what Christ did for us and we are to behave as Christ did, then we should punish everyone until they make a “profession of faith in Christ”. Before you laugh, think this through: Christ was punished for our sins because a price had to be paid. We are to imitate Christ, so we should die for the sins of those around us or hold them to a strict justice until they repent. Please don’t scoff at this, look around our society today and you will discover exactly this behavior going on in churches everywhere.
This is the only way we can ignore the poor, the homeless, the children and all of those in need. You see, we have a system that says you have to earn our kindness, our handout, our tax dollars. And how to those with no money earn anything? Why that’s simple, they have to be “good people”, whatever that means. And, that means someone else gets to decide what goodness is. This is not the Christ or God I choose to follow.
Instead, to borrow a phrase from Richard Rohr and others, I believe in a restorative justice. Jesus walked this earth and did not demand anyone become good, or earn his love, or even be particularly nice. Instead, he just healed people because he loved them. If we are really becoming “christians” (little Christs) then shouldn’t our lives look like his?
For too long, we as Christians have bought into the societal view that people should be punished and people should be good enough to receive assistance. Thanks be to God that this is not how God does things. I would never be able to be good enough for God’s love. And yet, this is what we do to all who are different, who are poor, in prison, addicted, hurting, or disabled. It is somehow their fault and they must earn or at least deserve to be helped.
How long will we choose to be this way? How long will we let our society teach that this is the only way to think. Let’s start with ourselves. Let’s provide restorative justice to ourselves and others. As Rohr says, let’s call it at one ment. That we are one with God every moment, every day.
TMM