My God, My God 1

How are we to understand the atonement? We usually understand that Jesus was punished by God to pay for our sins and that Jesus cried out to Him, "My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?" showing that God turned His back on Jesus. I'm convinced that is not so. I cannot understand how the Father could do some evil to bring about good. In the law God explicitly says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him." (NIV) And, "But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, 'Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.'" If God said these things, how could He punish Jesus for our sins?

I'm writing this just to get you thinking about what you have believed and to examine it. We may believe something, and it may be true, but we always need to examine and reexamine so that we know where we stand and why.

More on this later...