Did God Kill Jesus?

So God had to kill Jesus so you could go to heaven? Is that right? 

You really believe that divinely sanctioned violence is what stands behind your salvation?

I know, there are countless thousands, maybe even millions of Christians who believe this about God. I did—once!

 I once believed it with all my heart. I peached it. I taught it. I defended it.

Yes, God used violence as a means for my salvation. This was the basis for the Good News. It was and still is the central component of much of Evangelical theology. It is a dominant theme of much of Evangelical preaching.

Are we that gullible that we would swallow such a narrative of divine violence from television preachers, celebrity Evangelicals, and Fundamentalist authors?

The late Dallas Willard once described this view of the cross as “Vampire theology?” Is this who God really is: A blood thirsty deity who needs violence to carry out his agenda for humanity?

It is no wonder that so many pastors (and there are quite a few) who are experiencing cognitive dissonance over such a horrible doctrine. Many are either leaving the pastorate or at least leaving their tradition in search of another. This  blood thirsty view of the cross no longer resonates with so many—including myself.

God did not kill Jesus!

If we truly believe that God used this kind of brutal violence in order to save us then we are just a hair’s breath away from justifying our own use of violence for what we may perceive as justifiable causes.

Much of popular Christianity in America has been faithful supporters of America’s wars. It is not surprising giving their own understanding of why Jesus had to die (God needed him to die to satisfy his own justice).

Unfortunately an understanding of an Atonement (the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ.) whose central feature is violence helps validate our own addiction to violence.
Humans are by nature violent creatures. I possess violent tendencies just like anyone else and I need a non-violent God and a non-violent Jesus and a non-violent Spirituality in order to correct these natural tendencies of mine.

It is here that we begin to see the real value of the cross. The crucifixion of Jesus was not an act of Divine violence but rather an act of Divine love for all of humanity. Jesus was demonstrating the appropriate response to all violence. He was showing us that the only way to break the cycle of violence is to respond to it with self-giving love. The special Biblical word for this kind of love is agape.

But many Christians still have a hard time accepting this understanding of the cross. It seems they are inclined to see it as an act of divine violence (punishment) intended to enable God to love us. I have heard Christians explain the cross as God’s way of punishing Jesus because of human sin so he wouldn’t have to punish us.

How sick is this?

So I have since recalibrate my understanding of the cross.

I can no longer believe in a God who would willfully punish his own Son so he can offer me salvation. Instead the cross has become for me the ultimate expression of Divine self-giving love for the sake of us all.

The Good News is just that, good news of God’s extravagant and wasteful love. It is good news about how God used unconditional love rather than brutal violence to save us. The death of Jesus was not meant to change God’s mind about us but rather to help change our minds about God.

To put it more bluntly: God did not not kill Jesus, the Romans did. Jesus died because he was perceived to be a threat to the religious and political establishments of his day. More importantly, his death models for us how we are to react to the violence in this world—by responding to violence in kind.

The early Christians understood this understanding of the cross and perhaps this explains why they were non-violent themselves.

This is the Good News!