Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - If Jesus was "God", why would it matter that he died?

chavos · 01-02-2004, 08:46 AM

i'll step outside of my personal theology for a moment.

assuming Jesus is as doctrine portrays: both God and man, both at once, 100% each. requires a bit of double think, but bear with me.

becoming Jesus, God empties God's self to inhabit a mortal form. that which is totally alien and other to our weakness, need and pain is brought in to not just awareness of the human condition, but experience of it.

sin, defined as that which is against, away or separated from God, is of course a reality of our world. Jesus, on the most basic level, experiences sin-he feels the pain and longing of separation from God. But, this does not mean the end of faith. through that pain, we are shown a new life in God, reconciled and redeemed. the work of Jesus is not to wipe out sin, but to offer us the alternative. long before, the deuteronomic author writes: "Behold today i set before you a blessing and a curse." Deut 11:26 kjv

We are always given the choice between living in communion with God, and away from God. Jesus worked to open the path to communion: showing God in our immediate lives, unbrokered, for all, and with out limit.

Now, there are other theologies to what the passion/ressurection means, but that's more or less the one i've come to put stock in as a student of the texts, and as a person of faith. I might quibble on what the divinity of Jesus is, and means, but that's tangent to the main arguement.

01-02-2004, 08:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
chavos Banned Location: St. Paul, MN	i'll step outside of my personal theology for a moment. assuming Jesus is as doctrine portrays: both God and man, both at once, 100% each. requires a bit of double think, but bear with me. becoming Jesus, God empties God's self to inhabit a mortal form. that which is totally alien and other to our weakness, need and pain is brought in to not just awareness of the human condition, but experience of it. sin, defined as that which is against, away or separated from God, is of course a reality of our world. Jesus, on the most basic level, experiences sin-he feels the pain and longing of separation from God. But, this does not mean the end of faith. through that pain, we are shown a new life in God, reconciled and redeemed. the work of Jesus is not to wipe out sin, but to offer us the alternative. long before, the deuteronomic author writes: "Behold today i set before you a blessing and a curse." Deut 11:26 kjv We are always given the choice between living in communion with God, and away from God. Jesus worked to open the path to communion: showing God in our immediate lives, unbrokered, for all, and with out limit. Now, there are other theologies to what the passion/ressurection means, but that's more or less the one i've come to put stock in as a student of the texts, and as a person of faith. I might quibble on what the divinity of Jesus is, and means, but that's tangent to the main arguement.