Page 11 (1/1)

THE PERFECT PENITENT

We are faced, then, with a frightening alternative Thisabout either was (and is) just what He said or else a lunatic, or so worse Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem I have to accept the view that He was and is God God has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form

And noas the purpose of it all? What did He come to do? Well, to teach, of course; but as soon as you look into the New Testa you will find they are constantly talking about soain It is obvious that Christians think the chief point of the story lies there They think theHe came to earth to do�Cwas to suffer and be killed

Now before I beca Christians had to believe was one particular theory as to what the point of this dying was According to that theory God wanted to punishdeserted and joined the Great Rebel, but Christ volunteered to be punished instead, and so God let us off Now I admit that even this theory does not seem to me quite so immoral and so silly as it used to; but that is not the point I want to make What I came to see later on was that neither this theory nor any other is Christianity The central Christian belief is that Christ&039;s death has soiven us a fresh start Theories as to how it did this are another ood many different theories have been held as to hoorks; what all Christians are agreed on is that it does work I will tell you what I think it is like All sensible people know that if you are tired and hungry a ood But the modern theory of nourishment�Call about the vita People ate their dinners and felt better long before the theory of vitamins was ever heard of : and if the theory of vita their dinners just the same Theories about Christ&039;s death are not Christianity: they are explanations about hoorks Christians would not all agree as to how iland�Cdoes not lay down any one of theoes a bit further But I think they will all agree that the thing itself is infinitely ians have produced I think they would probably admit that no explanation will ever be quite adequate to the reality But as I said in the preface to this book, I a into deep water I can only tell you, for what it is worth, how I, personally, look at theyou are asked to accept Many of you no doubt have read Jeans or Eddington What they do when they want to explain the atoive you a description out of which you can make a mental picture But then they warn you that this picture is not what the scientists actually believe What the scientists believe is a mathematical formula The pictures are there only to help you to understand the formula They are not really true in the way the for but only so more or less like it They are only meant to help, and if they do not help you can drop the itself cannot be pictured, it can only be expressed mathematically We are in the same boat here We believe that the death of Christ is just that point in history at which soh into our oorld And if we cannot picture even the ato to be able to picture this Indeed, if we found that we could fully understand it, that very fact would shoas not what it professes to be�Cthe inconceivable, the uncreated, the thing fro You ood it will be to us if we do not understand it But that is easily answered Aexactly how food nourishes hi hoorks: indeed, he certainly would not knoorks until he has accepted it

We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself That is the formula That is Christianity That is what has to be believed Any theories we build up as to how Christ&039;s death did all this are, in rams to be left alone if they do not help us, and, even if they do help us, not to be confused with the thing itself All the sa at

The one most people have heard is the one Ilet off because Christ had volunteered to bear a punishment instead of us Now on the face of it that is a very silly theory If God was prepared to let us off, why on earth did He not do so? And what possible point could there be in punishing an innocent person instead? None at all that I can see, if you are thinking of punishment in the police-court sense On the other hand, if you think of a debt, there is plenty of point in a person who has so it on behalf of so the penalty,&039; not in the sense of being punished, but in thethe racket&039; or &039;footing the bill,&039; then, of course, it is a ot hi him out usually falls on a kind friend

Noas the sort of &039;hole&039; ot himself into? He had tried to set up on his own, to behave as if he belonged to himself In other words, fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs i down your ar that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again froround floor�Cthat is the only way out of our &039;hole&039; This process of surrender-this movement full speed astern�Cis what Christians call repentance Now repentance is no fun at all It is so hu all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years Ita kind of death In fact, it needs a good man to repent And here coood person can repent perfectly The worse you are the more you need it and the less you can do it The only person who could do it perfectly would be a perfect person�Cand he would not need it

Re sub God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose: it is si back to Him is like If you ask God to take you back without it, you are really asking Hi back It cannot happen Very well, then, we h with it But the same badness which makes us need it, makes us unable to do it Can we do it if God helps us? Yes, but what do weinto us a bit of Hi powers and that is hoe think: He puts a little of His love into us and that is hoe love one another When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it for them We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it Noe had not fallen, that would be all plain sailing But unfortunatelyneed God&039;s help in order to do so which God, in His own nature, never does at all�Cto surrender, to suffer, to sub in God&039;s nature corresponds to this process at all So that the one road for whichneed God&039;s leadership most of all is a road God, in His own nature, has never walked God can share only what He has; this thing, in His own nature, He has not

But supposing God became a man�Csuppose our huamated with God&039;s nature in one person�Cthen that person could help us He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can do it only if He beco will succeed only if wecan succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we cannot share God&039;s dying unless God dies; and He cannot die except by being a man That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself need not suffer at all

I have heard some people complain that if Jesus was God as well as s and death lose all value in their eyes, &039;because it htly) rebuke the ingratitude and ungraciousness of this objection; what staggersit betrays In one sense, of course, those who ht They have even understated their own case The perfect sub, the perfect death were not only easier to Jesus because He was God, but were possible only because He was God But surely that is a very odd reason for not accepting them? The teacher is able to forrown-up and knorite That, of course, makes it easier for the teacher; and only because it is easier for him can he help the child If it rejected hirown-ups&039; and waited to learn writing from another child who could not write itself (and so had no &039;unfair&039; advantage), it would not get on very quickly If I a in a rapid river, a ive ht I to shout back (between e! You&039;re keeping one foot on the bank&039;? That advantage-call it &039;unfair&039; if you like�Cis the only reason why he can be of any use to me To ill you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself ?

Such isat what Christians call the Atonement But remember this is only oneitself : and if it does not help you, drop it