It’s time for the conclusion of this series on Why Christianity Fails. Part 1 dealt with epistemological issues and Part 2 with creation and the flood. The first two mostly addressed conservative Christianity, but this one applies to anyone who believes that Jesus is their savior.

It’s been a while since I’ve had reason to pull Christian Theology by Millard J. Erickson from my shelf, but it’s the main resource I’m using for describing the models of atonement. That’s right, I’m making a foray back into theology. We’ve already addressed the problem with the problem that Christianity allegedly solves (original sin and a fallen human nature). Atonement is the solution they offer, obviously it would be moot if the problem is nullified, but it didn’t quite work that way for me.

In my own loss of faith, losing faith in salvation was the final straw. Well, not entirely. As for the academic and theological issues, it was the final one, but I was still able to hold on for a few months since I didn’t want to accept that my sense of calling was a delusion. This is an important point since you can completely convince someone that everything they believe is wrong, but the believer will most likely hold on to something completely irrational and abstract because to lose that last shred of faith can be shattering.

Since this is a long post (more than 1000 words), we’ll continue after the jump.

Erickson refers to “theories of atonement,” but since they are completely unscientific and far from meeting the standard of a theory, I will call them “models.”

• Atonement as an Example – Jesus offered forgiveness freely, his death was merely an example of the devotion he expects. He gave everything, even his life, and expects his followers to do the same for him.
• The Moral-Influence Model – Christ’s death demonstrated God’s love. This didn’t actually do anything to forgive sins, it just showed us how much he cares.
• The Governmental Model – Sin is a serious problem that threatens the peace and tranquility of the entire universe. God wanted to be able to forgive humanity, but needed some way to still show his justice. Christ’s death allowed for a demonstration of his seriousness and was so abhorrent to the unfallen beings that it guarantees that sin will never come up again.
• The Ransom Model – Satan owned humanity, so God gave Christ to him to ransom humanity. Once Satan relinquished his claim, Christ escaped hell.
• The Satisfaction Model – Atonement was to pay a price for sin demanded by God. This is the traditional sacrificial atonement model. Sin requires death, so Christ’s death pays the penalty allowing humanity to be forgiven.

The example, moral influence, and governmental models even admit that Christ’s death didn’t really do anything, it was all for show. Lets say the neighbor kid breaks your window and takes a shit in your yard. In response you beat and kill your own kid to show the neighbor kid how much you love him. That would be completely insane.

The governmental model would be more like a king having one province rebel. In response to the rebellion he kills his son so he can bring the province back in the fold and make sure that nobody else ever rebells. That might actually work, but only because everybody would be thinking the king is so insane that he just might do anything.

Ransom and satisfaction, on the other hand, present salvation as satisfying a clear legal requirement. Namely that the death and damnation of humanity was rightfully demanded by Satan’s claim of ownership or God’s sense of justice. What both have in common is that human sin requires death. For the death of one man to be sufficient to pay the penalty for all would require that the one death was something pretty special.

Even if Jesus Christ was a historical character, he didn’t do anything that isn’t common. Every human being dies and many people die horrible, painful, and untimely deaths. There was nothing all that special about it. Sure, people will claim that he was God, and that makes it special, but that’s just moving the goal post.

If dualistic Christians are right then death is just the start of a non-corporal existence. Jesus died and went to heaven, something that every good person supposedly does. In the alternative view Jesus died and went to hell, the same thing that all wicked people do. Since he was sinless he couldn’t be kept there so he left. Dualists claim that all people die and go to either heaven or hell, so what’s different in the case of this one person?

Adventists are monists. They believe that there is no immaterial soul, so when somebody dies they cease to exist until resurrected. The popular view was that Christ died the “second death.” This refers to the final annihilation that the damned will face after their resurrection and judgement at the end of the millennium. The problem with this is that there is no coming back from that annihilation. By definition the first death is one where you die awaiting resurrection and judgment, the second death is the final punishment from which there is no coming back. If Christ was resurrected then it was by definition the first death that all humanity faces. Again, nothing special.

If Christ’s death was some actual payment, then how does that work if the payment was rescinded. If you cancel your rent check on the third day after giving it to your landlord you will still have to pay it or face eviction. If Christ’s death was meant to be a payment on our behalf for your sin, then how does a rescinded payment still count?

In Christian theology it is obvious that our natural deaths are not sufficient to atone for sin and since Jesus didn’t do any more than that, then all that is left is torture. If the wages of sin are really just torture, then maybe the Catholics had it right during the inquisition, believing that by torturing and burning people that they will be saved.

In my ministerial training I was taught how to do evangelism. It’s a sales pitch. You convince people of the problem, that they are sinful people destined for the fires of hell. Then offer them the solution, Christ’s atoning death and salvation. As it turns out there is no problem and the solution doesn’t do what it claims, even playing their own games.

A life of wrong doing can do some damage, I should know. I still occasionally feel guilt for some of my past deeds. If you want to talk about atonement, this is my attempt to atone for my past wrongs of trying to sell people a lie.