Wednesday 24 December 2014

CHRISTIAN SALVATION

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Jesus brought 'salvation'.

Christians have different theories about 'salvation'.

1. The moral transformation view.

According to this view, Jesus teaches people how best to think and behave, if they want to achieve bliss.

Thus salvation is achieved by being merciful, meek, pure in heart, feeding the hungry...

Some evangelical Christians, such as the crypto-Jew John Calvin, disagree with this view, claiming that God demanded a human sacrifice before anyone could be saved. 

This ties in with the ancient religions of Iraq and Iran whose priests  enjoyed human sacrifice.

And if nobody could be saved prior to Jesus's death, then Abraham was not saved.

2. The Christus Victor view.

According to this view, Jesus brought salvation by defeating Satan

The problem with this view is that wars, famine and evil continue to exist.

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According to this view, thought up by Anselm, God is a feudal lord.

Jesus brings salvation by appeasing the feudal lord. 


In the 16th century, the Calvinist Protestant Reformers declared that God was full of anger and demanded a sacrifice.

So Jesus was sacrificed to appease God.

This Calvinist theory conflicts with the idea that God is a loving and merciful God.

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Advocates of the New Perspective on Paul argue that many New Testament books by Paul the Apostle used to support the theory of penal substitution should be interpreted differently.

When Paul said you could not be saved by 'works', Paul meant 'works' such as having your penis circumcised, not eating pork, and not working on the Sabbath.

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Jesus taught people to be merciful, meek and pure in heart.

In 11th Century Christian Europe, "an entire class of warriors ... had little to do but fight among themselves.[9]"

In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade as a way of getting rid of these Christian thugs.

In the Holy Land, at that time, Christians and Moslems 'lived in peace'.

The Crusades changed all that.

Radulph of Caen wrote that the Christian Crusaders "impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled."

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Can homophobes and racists be saved?

Everyone can be saved if they 'tune in' to the 'Holy Spirit'.

When you are tuned in to compassion and not forcing your own selfish agenda you will find that life goes better.

Anonymous writes:

The modern emphasis on salvation is a radical departure from the essence of Jesus's message, which was to follow Him, which meant to "Go [act in the world?] and sin no more". 

Indeed, obsession with one's personal "salvation" is closely linked to pride, the ultimate deadly sin. 

When you "sin no more" - simply, like a child - you align with divine purpose and become attuned to the real world, not the coercive counterfeit foisted on us by the corrupt financial system. 

And you don't fret about your destiny, having faith that God, who is Love, will take care of it.

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17 Comments:

At 24 December 2014 at 09:39 , Blogger James R said...

Hello Aangirfan,
Merry Christmas and thanks for all the great work you have done this year. Also thanks for all the kindness you have shown. I hope that on some level at some point you are rewarded for what you have done. Thanks.

 
At 24 December 2014 at 09:46 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Christmas 1914-the soldiers wanted peace, friendship and an end to fighting, the Generals forced them to resume fighting and took steps to make sure there would be no repeat. http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1224/668806-christmas-truce-a-miracle-not-to-be-repeated/

 
At 24 December 2014 at 10:48 , Blogger Anon said...

Hi James,

Merry Christmas!

- Aangirfan

 
At 24 December 2014 at 11:45 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you Aangirfan and Merry Christmas.

 
At 24 December 2014 at 12:47 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/bbc-executive-ive-never-felt-uncomfortable-being-jew-075733061.html

 
At 24 December 2014 at 14:42 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Merry Xmas Aang!
Have an enjoyable day.

 
At 25 December 2014 at 00:12 , Anonymous Greg Bacon said...

BOTH sides, including the French, took steps to make sure the Christmas truce would never happen again. BOTH sides agreed to nonstop shelling to start on Xmas Eve and continue for 24 hours.

 
At 25 December 2014 at 00:40 , Blogger Anon said...

Merry Christmas to you!

- Aangirfan

 
At 25 December 2014 at 00:41 , Blogger Anon said...

Merry Christmas to you!

- Aangirfan

 
At 25 December 2014 at 01:05 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aang, hava bonnie, cracking - refreshment in the struggle - day. Tap got me most this year but you're a close second. I can't resist highlighting Info/AJ being provocatively affirmed on Drudgereport today. The only red links, aside from the headline - we all move forward through this.

And these occasional 'god' posts rightly aim to upset unfounded apple-carts and yet they're a searcher's signpost to explore. A quick respondo: If you follow theology named after 'Calvin', you've problems with evil 'open theists' like me can reasonably refute. The evangelical debate over 'penal substitution' is within the wider context (more often liberal position), questioning the emphasis on the atonement, suggesting it's misplaced. The 'new perspective' on Paul rightly challenges the reformed view (i.e. Calvinism, which actually begun with Augustine), asking, what is grace and what about 'works'? You ask, 'Can homophobes and racists be saved?' I'd say, do you look or sound saved being either? God says, this way and that; 'tune(d) in to compassion and not forcing your own selfish agenda'. Preach it Aang.

And to: Everyone can be saved if they 'tune in' to the 'Holy Spirit'.

Yeah... oh yeah x

Mark

 
At 25 December 2014 at 01:11 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to say Drudge changed the colours since I wrote this. What a shame. Would have taken some balls to do that. The new emphasis is almost the opposite... what's he done this for? Mark

 
At 25 December 2014 at 11:05 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

when the bible talks about defeating satan, this has to be looked at symbolically and not literally. Satan is another name for the ego, our anger, our jealousy, our hatred, fears etc not some character with horns. To find salvation we have to defeat these, this annilation transforms us and we start to christify ourselves...
In medieival times the ego was represented by the dragon with St George defeated, in the greek times it was the black charging bull or minatour, or medussa.

 
At 25 December 2014 at 11:52 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

The modern emphasis on salvation is a radical departure from the essence of Jesus's message, which was to follow Him, which meant to "Go [act in the world?] and sin no more". Indeed, obsession with one's personal "salvation" is closely linked to pride, the ultimate deadly sin. When you "sin no more"--simply, like a child--you align with divine purpose and become attuned to the real world, not the coercive counterfeit foisted on us by the corrupt financial system. And you don't fret about your destiny, having faith that God, who is Love, will take care of it.

 
At 25 December 2014 at 12:08 , Blogger Anon said...

Merry Christmas!

Your writing is very poetic.

- Aangirfan

 
At 25 December 2014 at 12:10 , Blogger Anon said...

Very well put!

I'll add this to the text.

- Aangirfan

 
At 25 December 2014 at 12:55 , Anonymous covenant woman said...

Greg Bacon. Japan? 1970's? You?

 
At 25 December 2014 at 15:30 , Anonymous Anonymous said...

so refreshing to see things regarding the Christ faith sensibly discussed, when everyone and his uncle constantly just seems to attack and mock...great stuff
I do wonder about the crusades though,what about the sword of islam and conversion, the slave taking and rapine, reaching southern england and even the west of Ireland, the white slavery the sub saharan slavery unfortunately I could go on and on.................
once again, thoughtful article,respect....and happy Christ mas

 

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