Atonement?

Hey, I like the idea of being reconciled to God, but is the devil in the details? Does God require a bloody victim -- innocent or guilty -- to pay for human sin? What does that say about God?

It seems fitting to start with a discussion of the doctrine of Atonement because Abelard was an early critic. His running disagreement with his contemporary, Anselm, is legendary. Thus, "in honor of Abelard," our introductory blog will be a discussion of atonement.

Cur deus homo? Why did God become man? That was the question raised by Anselm. Of course, he assumed the human/divine formula of earlier centuries, and we will defer that discussion for now. He also assumed that the crucifixion had a purpose, part of the divine plan, and was not merely a happenstance of fate or chaos or the result of evil forces.

We know that Atonement was an early doctrine of the church because the Pauline writings dated a couple of decades after the crucifixion are rife with atonement imagery. "The wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23 and "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2nd Cor 5:21

When the first followers of Jesus attempted to make sense of his death, they borrowed the Hebrew concepts of sacrifice and atonement, especially the sacrificial goat and the scapegoat of the Day of Atonements (Yom Kippur). The deaths of the animals accomplished a reconciliation between God and his sinful people. Yet, Christian atonement doctrine went well beyond animal sacrifice and became the incarnational, sacrificial, substitutionary death of the Son of God.

This brief overview is insufficient to detail the nuances of the doctrine, but perhaps sufficient to raise the following questions:

* Was God persuaded to alter God's verdict against humanity (the wages of sin is death) when the Son of God offered to endure humanity's just punishment.
*Did the death of the Son function as a payoff, a satisfaction, the purchase of salvation on humankind's behalf by the blood of the Christ?
* Who was paid off or satisfied?
* If this strikes one as arbitrary, illogical, and inconsistent with a merciful God, then what was the meaning of the death of Jesus?

Please share your thoughts.