Help me make this simple Holy Spirit! What is the Christian concept of atonement? Simply stated it is reconciliation and or redemption: the work of Jesus and the accomplishment of the crucifixion and resurrection. You still with me here? When we add the word “substitution” before it, we have the spiritual food that I was fed early in life. Namely that Jesus died “in my place” because that was the only way that the taint of original sin could be eradicated. What if you (or anyone) don’t believe in original sin, which I don’t? How’s that come into play then?
I have come to better understand this whole concept of atonement through the eyes of LOVE -not GUILT!
I believe man is born as an ORIGINAL BLESSING. But no sooner have we arrived that we fall into the environment of man’s world, which is not all that perfect. We also discover that we have hereditary traits that we need to deal with; however, I am screwed up because of something that Adam did eons ago, especially in light of the fact that Adam is not an historical person!
Work with that one. 
The atonement is not an answer to God’s wrath or accusations against man, whom He created (in His image I might add), but an answer to man’s accusations against God. Say what?
I, you, we, are not wholly responsible for this world that we came into. We were all thrown into a cesspool of selfish desires and intentions gone amuck (societal not biological) and we want to know why this is! Why did God create me with bad hair, freckles, a propensity for acne, black skin color, red hair, short stature, poor parents, and a cast of thousands of “why God”?
In the atonement, God shows His total compassion, love, and self-emptying wherein by His example of death for our cause, we are (those who want to be) totally humbled by such a demonstration of love that we become reconciled. We’re reconciled not because of a guilt that needs to be substituted for, but we’re reconciled because of the example of LOVE- a love that cannot possibly be totally known to man this side of death.
If you believe in a “substitutionary punishment” don’t hear that I am saying that you are wrong. We all begin somewhere. The journey is a long one. The question is not where we begin, but where we end. I am thankful for so many things that I once believed that I no longer believe, but without them, I could not have made it to the next room. The hallway of spiritual liminal space is either short or long depending upon how much desire we have to truly KNOW God, not know facts, doctrine, or theology “about God“.
I pray that the atonement is at least somewhere on your radar screen regardless of how far close or away. There are many ways of looking at the atonement and I’ll deal with a couple of them on the next commentary, and then wrap this up with a final and third one.
I think that original sin is symbolic language for self awareness. This is what was intended by the story of Eden. Once people began to develop an individualized self-serving mode of thought they were cut off from true community.
The transformation we seek is achieved by ending our obsession with our “selves” and becoming “at one” or atoned with our community (i.e. God,society, universe, etc.). Self is an illusion which can be overcome. We can learn to stop defining everything based on the boundaries that create the illusion of “self”.
Couldn’t agree more!