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dramatic post-Pentecostal sermon. In this, Peter announced to the world the true identity of Jesus as the Messiah, his resurrection from the grave, and the meaning of his life and death (Acts 2, 14-42). Peter's call to turn away from sin and be baptized is virtually identical to the call for repentance and baptism for the remission of sins by John the Baptist, except that it includes the receipt of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The atonement concept is also absent from Peter's next speech in Soloman's porch (Acts 3, 11-26). Repentance is the only requirement for the receipt of God's forgiveness. Still later, when he addressed the High Priest and the Jewish leaders. (Acts 4, 8-12), Peter says that salvation is to be found through Jesus, but makes no mention of atonement for original sin. So when did this doctrine attain prominence?
Although it is mentioned in the gospels and epistles of the New Testament, it is dubious whether the atonement doctrine was of great importance to many of the early Christian communities. During the latter stages of the second century, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, had considerable influence on the formulation of church doctrine.
Irenaeus held that Adam and Eve were well intentioned children of God in the Garden of Eden, that their sin was not a damnable revolt but an error of judgement calling forth God's compassion because of their weakness and vulnerability. Irenaeus pictured man as being created as an imperfect and immature creature who has to undergo moral development and finally be brought to the perfection intended for him by God. He taught that the suffering endured by Jesus on the cross was not, as such, willed by God but was the result of human wickedness, self-centeredness, and moral failure. In enduring this appalling event, Jesus was not placating a wrathful God but was his agent in overcoming evil with good.
The Irenaen concepts of the meaning of the life and the teachings of Jesus, held widely in the early church, were remarkably similar to the teachings in The Urantia Book. However they did not prevail against the theological brilliance of Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430), who saddled the Catholic Church with the doctrine that the sin of Adam and Eve is automatically visited upon all of their descendants. Augustine's doctrine also asserts that all people are born in a state of guilt and condemnation that would merit their consignment to the eternal damnation of hell. The basic teachings of Augustine were carried on by Thomas Aquinas, then later transferred to Protestanism by reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. In recent years there has been a revival of interest in the Irenaen teachings.
According to The Urantia Book, when Jesus made the decision to enter Jerusalem for the last time, he was aware that he might undergo sacrificial death. He said:
"From olden times the prophets have perished in Jerusalem, and it is only befitting that the Son of Man should go up to the city of the Father's house to be offered up as the price of human bigotry and as the result of religious prejudice and spiritual blindness." (1872) Shortly after he had spoken these words he turned to his disciples and said: "Nevertheless, let us go up to Jerusalem to attend the Passover and do that which becomes us in fulfilling the will of the Father in heaven." (1872)
The Urantia Book provides us with a dramatic and soul-wrenching account of Jesus alone in Gethsemane. It tells us he endured great anguish and suffered untold sorrow, that perspiration rolled off his face in great drops. Then, when at last he was convinced that the Father intended to allow natural events to take their course, Jesus determined not to employ his sovereign power in order to save himself. The book says that the Father in heaven desired the bestowal Son to finish his earth career naturally, just as all mortals must finish their lives, unaided or made easy by some special dispensation. (1972)
Why was the cross necessary? What were the alternatives? Let's go to the book for answers:
"On millions of inhabited worlds, tens of trillions of evolving creatures who may have been tempted to give up the moral struggle and abandon the good fight of faith, have taken one more look at Jesus on the cross and then have forged on ahead, inspired by the sight of God's laying down his incarnate life in devotion to the unselfish service of man" (2018)
"We know that the death on the cross was not to effect man's reconciliation to God but to stimulate man's realization of the Father's eternal love and his Son's unending mercy, and to broadcast these universal truths to a whole universe." (2019)
"The cross makes a supreme appeal to the best in man because it discloses one who was willing to lay down his life in the service of his fellow men. Greater love no man can have than this: that he would be willing to lay down his life for his friends - and Jesus had such a love that he was willing to lay down his life for his enemies, a love greater than any which had hitherto been known on earth." (2018)
Those reasons are enough for me. There was no possible alternative course of action. I pray that I could have the courage to do likewise if ever called upon. But I thank God that is highly unlikely.
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