Author: Nancy Backlund

Dear Friends:
It’s not quite Easter yet. We are still in Holy Week. As a person of faith, who doesn’t believe in original sin or that everyone goes to hell, or, at least, are sinners, what is the meaning of Good Friday to a progressive theology? Our conservative/evangelical theology is that Jesus had to die to take away our sin so we could stand in heaven before God. To trace that line of thinking, the early Christians incorporated the Greek/Roman theology that humans went to Hades/Hell. In their theology, people went to Hell because they weren’t gods. Since early Christians believed in one true God, we must go to Hell because God is up in heaven and the world is controlled by Satan/Hades/Devil (called by many names). So, Jesus died to pay for our sins, a ransom, but the ransom went to Satan/Hades/Devil because he ruled the world and the underworld. St. Augustine, in the 4th century, really nailed down the original sin as why we were under Satan’s power and control rather than God’s. St. Anselm, in the 11th century, realized that God was God and we didn’t need to pay off anyone to call God’s own. So, taking original sin and combining it with Middle Ages honor, we had to be pure and couldn’t pay the price. St. Anselm felt that Jesus had to die as a perfect sacrifice so we may enter into heaven. The Roman Catholic church dominated from the 4th century to the 15th century determined it wasn’t by faith but by works one earned their way into heaven. Reformers, such as Martin Luther, said it was by faith alone that one got to heaven, not works, and the rest, as they say, is history. If Jesus wasn’t required to die for our sins, did he have to? I imagine that Jesus didn’t come into the world to die, but instead focused on the goal of sharing, showing, and teaching about the love of God and the kingdom. However, as we have seen throughout history, those who have come to bring a message of peace and compassion for all people have often met a violent end, so Jesus knew that there was a better than even chance he would be killed. He chose not to use power or violence to save himself, but to stay true to love and God’s kingdom, which is the way of peace and justice. The resurrection, whether you believe it was a physical or metaphorical one, shows us that death and worldly powers do not win over love, over God’s creation, and against God. May we follow and believe that death cannot and will not stop the love of God.
Peace
Pastor Enno