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Re: Cornerstone dismay

> > . . . then I would disagree with that, both because I do not think
> > everyone deserves equal punishment . . .
>
> Really?  Paul (the apostle) wrote that even though he observed all of
> the ancient Law, he was still flawed and imperfect in the eyes of God.
> He admitted that he also needed the blood of Christ to make him
> blameless in His sight.  Our equal punishment is death. . . we're all
> gonna go. . . Death where is thy sting?  Our payment for being inherent
> sinners is death, not how we die or how we suffer while we're here.

Yes, that is how many Christians have distilled Paul's writings.  I'm not
convinced the punishment paradigm is the best or most accurate way of
interpreting them, though.

But even if we *do* deserve punishment, we obviously do not all deserve
the exact same punishment, because some of us break the law worse than
others do.  True, no one is "blameless".  But some are arguably more
blameful than others -- remember the bit about the sheep and the goats?

And I don't cite the sheep-and-goats passage out of any smug presumption
that I will obviously have to be one of the sheep.  Quite frankly, I
tremble when I read that passage, and I pray that God will have mercy on
me despite all the bad that I do and all the good that I *don't* do.

> > . . . and because the fact remains that many, many other people have
> > been crucified throughout history, before and after Jesus.  
>
> Well, the point of Jesus perishing on a cross was that, 1) He was
> innocent (a perfect lamb) & 2) It was the most gruesome way to be
> killed, the death of murderers, robbers, etc. (criminals).

You're saying God demands a specifically *gruesome* death?  So if Jesus
had merely been hanged or beheaded, that wouldn't have satisfied God?

> 3) And He did so in our place

Depends what you mean by that.  At a minimum, I don't get the impression
that God was determined to torture all us sinners to death, and then
changed his mind when Jesus stepped up and took the nails.

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
 "I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
      Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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