Penal Substitution - The Core of Christianity??

I have been posting on the Tentmaker message board from time to time since August. It is a busy place with lots of interesting, thought provoking threads. One could spend a lot of time there reading and responding. I usually restrict my posting to Emerging Universalist because of real time responsibilities (like work, and kids, and chores...if "unlimited"internet access only came with unlimited time to access it, I would be a happy girl indeed) So because of real life intruding, I usually only pipe up when one of the following topics are discussed--the atonement, the OT sacrificial system, free will/determinism, the OT atrocities.

A month or so ago, someone started a thread called Who Jesus Is/The Cross and its Effect. It is in the Member's Section so you will have to joint to access it. The thread was based on a writing by Stephen Jones on the God's Kingdom Ministries site called The Cross and its Effect. I have heard of Stephen Jones before. I think I may have watched bits and pieces of a DVD sermon by him at an Inclusion Conference. I don't know enough about him or his writings to make any kind of overall judgement but I do seriously and adamantly disagree with this article. He begins by saying:

In the beginning, the book of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve sinned, and as a consequence, were cast out of the garden. History, then, has been the story of man’s re-instatement into the position and calling that was his from the beginning.

But to do this required dealing with the offense against God. There was a lawful procedure by which this had to take place, and any other procedure was ineffective. It had to be God’s way to have merit before God. False religion, then, is “false” specifically because it attempts to restore a right relationship with God in an unlawful manner.

This sets the tone, it seems, for the whole writing. It assumes that God views us through the eyes of a judge...in a legal way...or as John Gavazzoni declares in his writing "My Dad, God" it takes God out of the family room and puts him into the courtroom. And God has never, and will never (in my very adamant opinion) view his children through a legal lens. Which the article goes on to proclaim:

Those who equate sin with ignorance are attempting to resolve the problem in a classroom, rather than in a courtroom. But teaching people not to sin does not resolve the root problem. Sin must be dealt with by the blood of sacrifice, not by passing a written or oral examination.

There are many scriptures that boldly declare God did not want sacrifice. God does not need a pound of flesh to forgive us...he does not need the blood of bulls or goats....or his innocent son to flow in order to be able to have a relationship with us. He does not have to get the requirements of the law out of the way before he can get on with the business of being our father. We are the bloodthirsty ones...not God. We are the ones steeped in a legal mind set...our bellies full of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have the tit for a tat, eye for an eye legal mind set...not God. It is that legal mind set that made up 613 or so intricate, tedious, impossible to keep laws...when Jesus summed it up simply with love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.

He goes on to say:

The core of Christianity—and the reason it is different from other religions—is that it views sin through the eyes of the law and resolves the problem by the law. All false religion tries to resolve this legal problem through teaching and education, either by teaching men correct behavior or teaching them correct (usually "positive") thinking.

and again:

When we come to the core of biblical Christianity, it comes down to the manner of one's defense before God's bar of justice.

The core of biblical Christianity is this. God is light and in him there is no darkness. The core of biblical Christianity is that God, in the person of Jesus, came and dwelt among us..the Word made flesh....to show us the heart of the Father. To tear down the walls of alienation (in OUR minds.) Jesus did not show us a harsh judge. Jesus did not show us a Father who must have his sense of justice appeased in order to forgive us. On the cross, among other things, I think Jesus showed us the depths, and breadth and width that God will go to in order to reconcile his lost children. It is an unfathomable love to me. It is the beginning of the release from the fear of coming to him, naked, defenseless, trusting.... knowing that he will do as he said in Genesis...he will make man in his image and likeness. That begins not in the courtroom...not with legal jargon and requirements of the Law...not with Jesus as our attorney...pleading his innocent blood to his father, God, the judge....but within our Father's heart. Before anything else, he is our Father....

John Gavazzoni (whom you may have noticed is a favorite kingdom minister of mine) says it this way:

One thing stands out clearly to me when I compare my father's relationship with his children to the way our Heavenly Father is presented in conventional orthodox theology. It is simply this: Lou Gavazzoni's relationship with me was paternal, not legal. Whatever factors came into play, all was built on a familial, not a forensic foundation. There may at times have been a friendship element, associate-in-business element, fellow-musician element, boss-employee element, even lord-servant element and yes, the element of judgment came up as well. But, I never stood before one who was essentially a judge, who might, after legal matters were settled, then allow himself to be fatherly.
I stood before my father who might, as necessary, act in a firm, unyielding and corrective judgment as part of his love for me. Yet, it seems clear to me, that most of Christianity assumes that a relationship with God is only possible after legal matters are settled. Our minds are so entangled with what we perceive to be legal, judicial and forensic necessities that we miss the Father-heart of God.

Praise God for his Father-heart....