In some ways, very little has changed since humanhood was established on terra firma. Nothing is our fault and everything bad is because of someone who did us wrong song. Blame shifting can be seen everyday. Our most recent classic example was hurricane Katrina where Bush blamed Governor Blanco, Blanco blamed mayor Nagin, all liberals blamed Bush, whites blamed blacks, blacks blamed the corps of engineers, and another one hundred people blamed another thousand people. Someone has to pay!
Maybe we should go back to the simple Hebraic paradigm found in Leviticus 16.
Moses and Aaron would select two goats every year for an offering. One was to be used as a sin
offering to atone for the sins and transgressions of the people. Once killed, it’s blood was to be sprinkled on God’s mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant. There God would view the blood of the sin offering and have Mercy on the people and forgive their sins.
Doesn’t make any sense to me, but let’s plod on!
The high priest would then lay hands on the second goat which was allowed to live, and he would
confess the sins of the people putting them on the head of the goat. The goat would then bear the blame for all the transgressions of the people and would be set free into the wilderness, where God would remember their sins no more. Ta-da!
Fast forward to 2008, leaving superstition and metaphor behind.
The church still spends way too much of it’s time looking for the contaminated elements within the world (or at least the local church) so that they can punish or expel the unworthy members. Give me a break! We’re ALL contaminated to some degree and God loves sinners. I know, I know that’s so hard to deal with as we want JUSTICE until it involves us and then we want MERCY!
The Greco-Roman new church leaders carried forth the Hebrew scapegoat paradigm and now Jesus is the cosmic scapegoat.
1-Jesus is the WAY, but the metaphor doesn’t work for me.
>2-Jesus is the LIFE (the model to immulate), but God didn’t send Him to be killed as that would violate all we know about a “loving God”, who even told the Hebrew to quit sacrificing animals or beings.
3-Jeus is the TRUTH who gave us a real picture of God, Abba Father that until He came, few if anyone understood.
But an expanded version of the Old Testament scapegoat- a cosmic scapegot? Me thinks not! 
I have to disagree that God didn’t require Jesus’ death. Isaiah 53:10 states that the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief, if He would render Himself as a guilt offering. Hebrews 13:12 says Jesus sanctified the people through His own blood which confirms Hebrews 9:22, “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Jesus Himself realized it was the Father’s will for Him to die when He strugged with this issue in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:42 shows us the Jesus accepted the Father’s will when He agrees “yet not My will, but Thine be done.”
That’s what’s great, mysterious, and exciting about the spiritual journey- especially for Christians. That the Bible can be interpreted numerous times from one point of view and then just as many the opposite way. A VIEWPOINT is a view from a person’s point (of reference). My view (point) is from a loving Father who banned sacrifices, even for animals, and so to demand a human one makes no sense to me 2-3,000 years later, but if I were living back then, I would imagine I’d have come to the same VIEW POINTS as they did.
Excellent Post
This was sent to me by Don Rogers who for some reason could not get his post to stay so he emailed it to me and here it is….. (He’s from Ft. Worth so take that into consideration)
Well said Ernie.
Linda, may I give you a link to an article with another point of view about “penal substitution”?
http://geocities.com/shsnj_2000/theology/crucifixion.html
Ernie, I have read this post. I consider it to be a very dangerous position to believe the reasonings of men rather than the Word of God. My final answer has to agree with Ephesians 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” and Revelation 1:5 which states Jesus loves us and released us from our sins by His blood.
Thanks for your convictions Linda. Let’s agree to disagee vs. looking at each of the Scriptures you gave and my refutation (what I see the verses mean) of them. As an example, whoever wrote Heb.9:22 did so misinterpreting what Lev. 17:11 was saying, if you look at the context.
The Bible ‘IS” the reasonings of men. Mutltiple “opinions and views” fought it out over the first 300 years after the death of Jesus (and we still ARE) to decide ‘who’s reasonings” would win out. The multiplicity of early church creeds were the “current reasonings of men“. Though we don’t agree on every doctrine, we do agree that we’re both following Jesus from our “acquired worldview(s)”.
Linda- Thank you for expressing your ideas. I would incourage you you research the history of the canon and the history of the early Christian church from about the 2nd century thru the 7th century. You might be very surprised what you find. Do not be afraid to question. “Christ IN us the hope of glory”.