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Their idea of "justice" is basically that it doesn't matter who gets punished for the crime, as long as someone gets punished for the crime. (Only an innocent person can be punished for someone else's crimes) It's kind of an interesting concept, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If our modern courts used that, we'd just grab any person off the street and sentence them for the crimes that were unsolved -- then consider them solved from that point on.
Obviously, we don't do that. Apparently our form of "justice" is a little bit different than God's.
But the whole idea behind Christian "justice" doesn't really sit well with me.
The idea is that God's plan has been his for the entire time. That was his plan from the beginning when Adam and Eve came down, and as soon as they sinned his plan was to condemn himself in the form of an innocent man in order to justify all the wicked people.
I don't know, it just doesn't sit well with me.
If you have a Bible, I want you to open it up. One of my favorite books when I was a Christian was Proverbs. There's a lot of good stuff in Proverbs. In my good ol' study Bible, I've got a lot of different things highlighted in here.
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.Here is a good one for people who start typing their comments in before they're finished watching my video.
Proverbs 15:1
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.In other words, listen to the question before you start giving an answer.
Proverbs 18:13
There is one particular verse here in Proverbs that I wanted to call some attention to. It kinda gets rid of the entire Christian concept in one line. It's Proverbs 17:15, here it is in the King James Version:
He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.In other words, a person who lets a guilty man go free, while punishing an innocent person, both cases are abominations.
Proverbs 17:15
But... supposedly that's God's whole plan. The only way he can justify the wicked (let sinners into Heaven), is by condemning the just (punishing Jesus). But such a plan is an abomination.
How can the Christian concept of God sentencing an innocent person to pay for the crimes of the wicked people in order to forgive the wicked people be resolved with the verse right here that says doing that exact thing is an abomination?
Tough Question for Christians # 33:
HOW CAN PUNISHING AN INNOCENT PERSON (JESUS), SO GUILTY CHRISTIANS CAN GO UNPUNISHED, BE "JUST" WHEN PROVERBS 17:15 SAYS THAT WOULD BE AN ABOMINATION TO GOD?
Just in case you think the verse was mistranslated, here is the same verse in four other English translations:
Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent— the LORD detests them both. (NIV)
He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. (NAS)
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Easy Answer for Christians #33: Because Proverbs 17:15 is talking about justifying and condemning other people, not yourself.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not even about "justifying" and "condemning," really. If a neighbor kid breaks my window and I forgive him, I take on the "punishment" that he earned (paying to have my window replaced). I'm not calling myself the guilty party, but I am footing the bill as if I were.
Proverbs 17:15 is about lawyers?
ReplyDelete"He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
ReplyDeleteProverbs 17:15"
You misapprehend the text here. Who justifies the wicked and condemns the just? Well, for one example, Pilot, who releases Barabas and sentences Jesus to death.
Again you return to your favourite dish, served cold, that God's wrath requires the sacrifice of a good man for the payment of sins. How many different tough questions can you make out of one misunderstanding? Maybe like a stopped clock you will get this right eventually.
Justifiying the wicked and condemning the just is our issue, not God's. Look around at the world.God showed us our folly by letting us condemn the ultimate just person, Himself.
If you are attentive to the drama that is Jesus' life, you see that He is showing us US. He came knowing that He would be killed, not because it was decided by God but because He knew our nature.
Now your point that Jesus is sacrificed by an angry God for our sins does not mention that this sacrifice is actually self sacrifice. I don't understand why you fail to acknowledge this. Now self sacrifice is not the same as self ccondemnation, but you would have us believe that they are the same. self sacrifice is me letting my childeren have my piece of pie. Self condemnation is hating myself for doing it. They are very different things and the true understanding of Christianity is that God sacrificed Himself for you and I. He did not condemn Himself but was condemned by people. The fact that He knew exactly what would happen to Him does not change the fact that the moral responsibility for His death lies with humanity, not God Himself.