{"id":15343,"date":"2014-04-18T12:21:17","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T16:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=15343"},"modified":"2026-07-19T13:41:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:41:53","slug":"they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\/","title":{"rendered":"They Say God Would Never Send His Son to a Violent Death For the Sins of Mankind"},"content":{"rendered":"

LTRP Note:<\/strong> As you read this article by Roger Oakland, remember that as millions of proclaiming Christians give remembrance this weekend to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, countless pastors, teachers, and leaders will be promoting contemplative spirituality, which is a driving force behind the view that is addressed in this article. Thus, we ask the question this time every year, do they not realize that by promoting contemplative spirituality, they are in essence, by proxy, denying the atonement? Next time your pastor or Sunday school teacher favorably quotes Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, or any number of contemplative mystics or encourages the practice of lectio divina or walking the labyrinth, consider sharing this article with that pastor or teacher.<\/p>\n

\n

To think that the central meaning of Easter [resurrection] depends upon something spectacular happening to Jesus\u2019 corpse misses the point of the Easter message and risks trivializing the story. To link Easter primarily to our hope for an afterlife, as if our post-death existence depends upon God having transformed the corpse of Jesus, is to reduce the story to a politically-domesticated yearning for our survival beyond death.\u2014Emergent author Marcus Borg<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"crossBy Roger Oakland<\/strong><\/p>\n

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Ephesians 1:7) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Corinthians 5:21)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The heart and core of the Christian faith is based upon Jesus Christ\u2019s shed blood at Calvary as the only acceptable substitutionary atonement for mankind\u2019s sins. The Gospel message requires this foundation. The Bible says the wages of sin is death\u2014thus every person alive should receive the penalty of spiritual death because none of us is without sin, since we are born with our sin nature intact. Satan hates the Gospel message. He understands what the Gospel means, and his agenda is to deceive mankind from understanding and believing so they can suffer eternally with him. While Scripture is very clear about the necessity of Christ\u2019s death in order for us to be saved, some believe this would make God a blood-thirsty barbarian. Embedded within the structure of the emerging church and the “new” spirituality is just such a belief.<\/p>\n

Precivilized Barbarity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many in the emerging church movement would vehemently object if someone told them that emerging church leaders don\u2019t like the Cross. They would jump up and say, \u201cYes, they do. I\u2019ve heard them talk about Jesus and His going to the Cross. They say they love the Cross.\u201d Some emerging church leaders do say they love the Cross, but an underlying theme is among them. It says Jesus\u2019 going to the Cross was an example of sacrifice and servanthood that we should follow; but the idea that God would send His Son to a violent death for the sins of mankind\u2014well, that is not who God is. A loving God would never do that! Such a violent act would make Christianity a \u201cslaughterhouse religion.\u201d1 Liberal theologian and pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City, Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969), believed that the doctrine of the atonement, where \u201cJesus suffered as a substitute for us\u201d because of our sins, is a \u201cprecivilized barbarity.\u201d2 In his book, The Modern Use of the Bible<\/em>, Fosdick says that Jesus\u2019 going to the Cross should be seen as an example of a life of service and sacrifice and not compared with \u201cold animal sacrifices\u201d and \u201cmade \u2018a pious fraud\u2019 played by God upon the devil.\u201d3 In Fosdick\u2019s book Dear Mr. Brown<\/em>, he states:<\/p>\n

Too many theories of the atonement assume that by one single high priestly act of self-sacrifice Christ saved the world.4 Fosdick ends that statement with a pronounced\u2014\u201cNo!\u201d He insists, \u201cThese legalistic theories of the atonement are in my judgment a theological disgrace.\u201d5<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fosdick considered the idea that God would actually send His Son to die on a Cross to take our place to be the basis for a violent and bloody religion. He rejected the biblical message of an atonement and substitutionary sacrifice. Fosdick was the pastor of Riverside Church of New York City from 1925 to 1946. While he has been long gone, his ideologies have remained intact and have drifted right into the emerging church. In October 2006, Riverside Church held the 5th Fosdick Convocation in honor of their former pastor. Two of the emerging church\u2019s most influential teachers were there as speakers in honor of Fosdick\u2014Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo.6 As I will show you, McLaren resonates with Fosdick\u2019s view of the Cross.<\/p>\n

False Advertising for God<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an interview, Brian McLaren questioned the idea of God sending His Son to a violent death, calling it \u201cfalse advertising for God\u201d:<\/p>\n

[O]ne of the huge problems is the traditional understanding of hell. Because if the cross is in line with Jesus\u2019 teaching then\u2014I won\u2019t say, the only, and I certainly won\u2019t say even the primary\u2014but a primary meaning of the cross is that the kingdom of God doesn\u2019t come like the kingdoms of this world, by inflicting violence and coercing people. But that the kingdom of God comes through suffering and willing, voluntary sacrifice. But in an ironic way, the doctrine of hell basically says, no, that\u2019s not really true. That in the end, God gets His way through coercion and violence and intimidation and domination, just like every other kingdom does. The cross isn\u2019t the center then. The cross is almost a distraction and false advertising for God. (emphasis added)7<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What an extraordinary example of faith under attack and the consequences of thinking outside of the box. If McLaren is right, all those who have ever lived and believed in Christ\u2019s atonement have been misled and wrong. McLaren has taken the freedom to reconstruct what faith means by distorting the Scriptures, or worse yet, saying the very opposite of what the inspired Word of God says. This is blasphemy! McLaren also states:<\/p>\n

And I heard one well-known Christian leader . . . say it like this: The traditional understanding says that God asks of us something that God is incapable of Himself. God asks us to forgive people. But God is incapable of forgiving. God can\u2019t forgive unless He punishes somebody in place of the person He was going to forgive. God doesn\u2019t say things to you\u2014Forgive your wife, and then go kick the dog to vent your anger. God asks you to actually forgive. And there\u2019s a certain sense that, a common understanding of the atonement presents a God who is incapable of forgiving. Unless He kicks somebody else.8<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That God Does Not Exist <\/strong><\/p>\n

This idea of rejecting God\u2019s judgment placed on Jesus Christ instead of us is not exclusive with Fosdick or McLaren. In fact, such rejection is integrated into the teachings of many others. In 1991, William Shannon (biographer of Catholic monk and mystic Thomas Merton) said:<\/p>\n

This is a typical patriarchal notion of God. He is the God of Noah who sees people deep in sin, repents that He made them and resolves to destroy them. He is the God of the desert who sends snakes to bite His people because they murmured against Him. He is the God of David who practically decimates a people \u2026 He is the God who exacts the last drop of blood from His Son, so that His just anger, evoked by sin, may be appeased. This God whose moods alternate between graciousness and fierce anger \u2026 This God does not exist.9<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So in other words, according to Fosdick, McLaren, and Shannon, Jesus should be seen as a model of sacrifice to follow in our own lives, but to view God the Father as a judge against sin is not a proper view of God. Those who reject the atonement realize the greatest threat to their heretical views is those who take the Scriptures literally and seriously. Fosdick explains:<\/p>\n

Were you to talk to that fundamentalist preacher, he doubtless would insist that you must believe in the \u201csubstitutionary\u201d theory of atonement\u2014namely, that Jesus suffered as a substitute for us the punishment due us for our sins. But can you imagine a modern courtroom in a civilized country where an innocent man would be deliberately punished for another man\u2019s crime? \u2026 [S]ubstitutionary atonement \u2026 came a long way down in history in many a penal system. But now it is a precivilized barbarity; no secular court would tolerate the idea for a moment; only in certain belated theologies is it retained as an explanation of our Lord\u2019s death \u2026 Christ\u2019s sacrificial life and death are too sacred to be so misrepresented.10<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is another perfect example of how the emerging church turns doctrine it doesn\u2019t understand into a mockery against Scripture and God\u2019s plan of salvation. God\u2019s ways are not our ways and to expect them to line up with our own human reasoning is ludicrous:<\/p>\n

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Former Catholic priest Brennan Manning has been a major influence in emerging spirituality. In his 2003 book Above All<\/em> (foreword by singer Michael W. Smith) <\/em>he quotes William Shannon almost word for word, regarding the atonement:<\/p>\n

[T]he god whose moods alternate between graciousness and fierce anger \u2026 the god who exacts the last drop of blood from his Son so that his just anger, evoked by sin, may be appeased, is not the God revealed by and in Jesus Christ. And if he is not the God of Jesus, he does not exist.11<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dying for the Sins of the World <\/strong><\/p>\n

Marcus Borg is a lecturer and the author of several books, some of which are Jesus and Buddha<\/em>, The God We Never Knew<\/em>, and Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously But not Literally<\/em>. His thinking has greatly influenced the emerging church movement and its leaders.<\/p>\n

Borg explains in his book The God We Never Knew<\/em> that his views on God, the Bible, and Christianity were transformed while he was in seminary:<\/p>\n

I let go of the notion that the Bible is a divine product. I learned that it is a human cultural product, the product of two ancient communities, biblical Israel and early Christianity. As such, it contained their understandings and affirmations, not statements coming directly or somewhat directly from God.\u2026 I realized that whatever \u201cdivine revelation\u201d and the \u201cinspiration of the Bible\u201d meant (if they meant anything), they did not mean that the Bible was a divine product with divine authority.12<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This attitude would certainly explain how Borg could say:<\/p>\n

Jesus almost certainly was not born of a virgin, did not think of himself as the Son of God, and did not see his purpose as dying for the sins of the world.13<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If what Borg is saying is true, then we would have to throw out John 3:16 which says God so loved the world He gave His only Son, and we would have to dismiss the theme of a blood offering that is prevalent throughout all of Scripture. In the Old Testament, it is clear:<\/p>\n

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Borg rejects this emphasis:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To think that the central meaning of Easter [resurrection] depends upon something spectacular happening to Jesus\u2019 corpse misses the point of the Easter message and risks trivializing the story. To link Easter primarily to our hope for an afterlife, as if our post-death existence depends upon God having transformed the corpse of Jesus, is to reduce the story to a politically-domesticated yearning for our survival beyond death.14<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is behind this mindset? Listen to one New Ager describe what underlies this line of thought:<\/p>\n

Jesus was an historical person, a human becoming Christ, the Christos, is an eternal transpersonal condition of being. Jesus did not say that this higher state of consciousness realized in him was his alone for all time. Nor did he call us to worship him. Rather, he called us to follow him, to follow in his steps, to learn from him, from his example.15<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fosdick would resonate with this. When he says, \u201cChrist\u2019s sacrificial life and death are too sacred to be so misrepresented,\u201d he means that Christ is an example to be followed, not an innocent sacrifice for our guilt and thus worthy of praise and worship. Satan wants desperately to be worshiped and adored as God. He hates all that Jesus\u2019 death stands for. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, purchased with His own blood the lives of those written in the Book of Life. The Bible says, \u201cwithout the shedding of blood is no remission\u201d (Hebrews 9:22), and also, \u201cHe appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself\u201d (Hebrews 9:26). Are we to reject these Scriptures and other ones as well that speak of the atonement because it doesn\u2019t sound logical? Scripture tells us that the carnal mind is at enmity with God. We need to recognize that the Bible is God\u2019s revelation of Himself to man. It is our final authority, and we must adhere to the truth of its teachings.<\/p>\n

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.\u2026 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (I John 4:10, 14)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

To read more about this issue by Roger Oakland, read his book, Faith Undone.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Endnotes:<\/strong>
\n1. Beka Horton, Church History and Things to Come<\/em> (Pensacola, FL:Pensacola Christian College, 1997 printing), p. 156.
\n2. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Dear Mr. Brown<\/em> (New York, NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961), p. 136.
\n3. Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Modern Use of the Bible<\/em> (New York NY: The Macmillan Company, 1924), p. 230.
\n4. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Dear Mr. Brown<\/em>, op. cit., p. 135.
\n5. Ibid., p. 134-135.
\n6. Riverside City Church, New York City, http:\/\/www.the riversidechurchny.org\/getinvolved\/?fosdick-speakers.
\n7. Interview by Leif Hansen (The Bleeding Purple Podcast) with Brian McLaren, January 8th, 2006); Part 1: http:\/\/bleeding purple podcast .blog
\nspot.com\/2006\/01\/brian-mclaren-interview-part-i.html; Part II: http:\/\/bleeding purple pod cast. blog spot.com\/2006\/01\/interviewwith-brianmclaren-part-ii.html).
\n8. Ibid., part II.
\n9. William Shannon, Silence on Fire<\/em> (New York, NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1995 edition), pp. 109-110.
\n10. Harry Emerson Fosdick, Dear Mr. Brown, op. cit., p. 136.
\n11. Brennan Manning, Above All<\/em> (Brentwood, TN: Integrity Publishers, 2003), pp. 58-59.
\n12. Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew (New York, NY: HarperCollins, First HarperCollins Paperback Edition, 1998), p. 25.
\n13. Ibid.
\n14. Marcus Borg, \u201cEaster About Life, Not Death\u201d (Washington Post\/Newsweek<\/em> \u201cOn Faith\u201d column, April 7, 2004, http:\/\/newsweek.wash ington
\npost.com\/onfaith).
\n15. John White, (Science of Mind<\/em>, September 1981), p. 15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LTRP Note: As you read…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2329,272,29,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-gospel-on-christian-faith","category-the-preaching-of-the-cross","category-contemplative-spirituality","category-progressive-emerging-church","wpcat-2329-id","wpcat-272-id","wpcat-29-id","wpcat-25-id"],"yoast_head":"\nThey Say God Would Never Send His Son to a Violent Death For the Sins of Mankind - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"They Say God Would Never Send His Son to a Violent Death For the Sins of Mankind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LTRP Note: As you read...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-18T16:21:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-19T20:41:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/bigstock-Cross-On-Wall-Background-41392180-399x600.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roger Oakland\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roger Oakland\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Roger Oakland\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30980de19ee37515b4a51f2c69630085\"},\"headline\":\"They Say God Would Never Send His Son to a Violent Death For the Sins of Mankind\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-18T16:21:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-19T20:41:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2538,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/bigstock-Cross-On-Wall-Background-41392180-399x600.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"The Gospel\",\"\u2014The Preaching of the Cross\",\"CONTEMPLATIVE\\\/SPIRITUAL FORMATION\",\"EMERGENT \\\"PROGRESSIVE\\\" CHURCH\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/they-say-god-would-never-send-his-son-to-a-violent-death-for-the-sins-of-mankind\\\/\",\"name\":\"They Say God Would Never Send His Son to a Violent Death For the Sins of Mankind - 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