Christian

erehwon,

I don’t understand. How is the gift of salvation “crucified?” Are you saying that it is sad the crucifixion story is told over and over again? The crucifixion was an act of love by Jesus, an act of fear by the Jews, and an act of punishment for everyone else’s sins.

The crucifixion story is all about love. No greater love exists than a man laying down His life for His friends. That is what Jesus went through for us. That is the message of Jesus.

Respectfully,

Christian

erehwon

It is crucified when people hang it up for all to see while using words of fear and suffering. Look at your words. Are they words that will invoke fear or love? Do your words glorify the fear of crucifixion for others. Or do they bring understanding of the act of love for mankind that it was.

Just wondering (respectfully)

erehwon

Was the act of crucifixion an act of punishment to the son of god, or was it an act of compassion.

Did the son of god suffer the crucifixion, or was the purpose of the crucifixion to end suffering.

just wondering (respectfully)

Christian

erehwon,

Love is much more than warm and fuzzy feelings. The example of the crucifixion is the greatest example of love ever. This is true love in action.

If the historical reality of the crucifixion makes anyone uncomfortable or even scared, then maybe that's a good thing. I leave such details up to the Spirit ... I'm just accurately reporting Christ's sufferings on our behalf.

Both. The reason it was an act of compassion is because Christ took the punishment for us.

The Son of God suffered the crucifixion to end the suffering of some. The offer of an end to suffering is open to all.

Respectfully,

Christian

lpetrich

If he had been God, then he could not have died -- he would only appeared to have died, with being speared and crucified and so forth having as much real effect on him as a spitball would have on a tank.

Also, an omniscient being would have complete knowledge of everybody's experiences, making it unnecessary to appear in human form just to have such experiences.

lpetrich

The philosophy of the kamikaze pilot.

Christian

lpetrich,

Physical death. Jesus had a physical body that stopped functioning and started decomposing.

Knowing is different than doing. Doing is personal.

Respectfully,

Christian

christ-on-a-stick

Christian,

I'll have to reply in-depth to the rest of your post addressed to me on Monday, but for the moment, the part that I characterized as being as a "strawman" was this: Rhea never said that Jesus "didn't even have it bad" or that he "had it good" . By putting those words in her mouth (so to speak!) you mischaracterize her position, making it easier to attack - hence the strawman. There is a BIG difference between saying "so-and-so's suffering wasn't the worse EVER" and "so-and-so didn't suffering wasn't even bad, he had it good."

See what I mean?

More Monday

erehwon

[QUOTE]Love is much more than warm and fuzzy feelings. The example of the crucifixion is the greatest example of love ever. This is true love in action. [/QUOTE

Absolutely

The crucifixion being the greatest example of love, how can it be a good thing if it s result is to make people uncomfortable or scared. Was this the son of gods purpose.

In our want to understand the crucifixion do we project our own fear onto it and in this projection miss the message of love. Then do we teach this message of fear as christianity. Does not fear cause separation. Do we forsake the message of Jesus by doing this.

Dargo

Suppose some man with two young children is brought before an earthly tyrant and given a choice. He can be tortured for three days or his children will be thrown into the dungeon to be tortured for the rest of their lives. He agrees to go in his kids place. They are too young to understand what is going on, so he doesn't ask them ahead of time.

He would certainly have a right to expect some gratitude from them later on, but this isn't enough. His children are forced to continually praise dad every day for his supreme sacrifice. His children are expected to live their lives according to dads wishes since it is only through his unconditional love for them that they live. Once they grow they would probably be so sick of dad that they would not want to have anything to with him. He gets angry, talks to the tyrant who still rules, and convinces him to imprison the children since they rejected dad's gift to them.

Anyone would consider this father a complete lunatic. This story is obviously fictional, but I fail to see how the story of your Jesus's sacrifice is any more believeable or how your god is any better than this dad.