I understand, of course. I am not sure, though, how advanced the sensibilities of the Romans were, what with gladiatorial contests and crucifixions and all that.....
One should recall, of course, that Christ was supposed to be not merely someone innocent, but the Son of God, as interpreted by the creeds, "true God and true man", two natures united in one personality. As such, in a manner of speaking, God was allowing Himself to be crucified for our sins. The Divine nature being what it is, He could only do so united to a human nature, but, just the same, one way of looking at it is that God subjected Himself to the experience of deepest misery out of love for us.
Modern people are often very bad in getting the idea of retributive justice. They think that punishment is a deterrent, or a way of getting people to rehabilitate. Actually, punishment is a way to restore the moral order, by finding an appropriate response to evil. It is, in its nature, a rebuke of the perpetrator. So, now, we have a fascinating idea: God takes upon Himself all sins, from the beginning of time to time's end, and acts as a proxy for the sinner, so that the demands of justice may be satisfied. Symbolically, how would one accomplish that? What would be awesome enough? How about putting God on the cross to suffer between two thieves? It may not work for you, but it has a certain poetic power, and anyone who has wished that all evil could be redressed, from the murder of Abel to the crematoria at Auschwitz to the latest school shooting, might find it appropriate that God should carry what is an almost impossible burden of guilt and sorrow....
On Original Sin: the idea of ancestral sin does sound kind of hokey, of course. And yet it is clear that we do have a moral weakness, that it is hard for people to control their impulses and passions, that we are sometimes at the mercy of our viscera and reptilian brain. Does that make us "inherently sinful"? It depends on one's standard. If we are supposed to be inherently noble ("made in the image of God"), then yes, we fall short, and are sinful pretty much from the start. If one takes a more relaxed attitude to human nature ("I'm only human"), then it is too harsh an indictment....... |
