Yeah, I’ve often struggled with these things too, Kate, trying to make sense of them, which is one of the reasons I am unsure of what to make of Jesus in general (though like I’ve said in some of our emails, I get hints here and there, and feel that Jesus is important)… I mean, if we’re all honest about it, on the surface a lot of Christians make it sound like Jesus has magic blood or something, ‘there’s power in the blood’ and all of that… I mean, think about it…
An innocent Jewish man who lived two thousand years ago gets hammered to a two by four by the Romans and somehow his death is supposed to heal our souls, put us on the right path, clean us up, and make us whole… it’s hard to swallow on the surface to begin with…
I know that probably sounds sacrilegious and all, but I’m able to look at this as an outsider, having not grown up in the church and having still spent more years as an agnostic or an atheist than as someone who believes in God or who identifies with Jesus in some way.
Having said all of that though, I do have some thoughts about it, or inclinations anyway… thinking along the lines of a poet, I take the story of Jesus’ death, and the cross, in more of a symbolic way (though I do believe he was a real person, and actually died by crucifixion, and even still believe that he actually rose from the dead, because miracles don’t bother me… I mean, the world is wild enough, so why not? 
), and I tend to think of Jesus’ passion as being a story, a series of images, that can passed on from generation to generation, that reveal what is already true, and always has been true, like how God loves us enough to enter into our darkness and our death with us, and how God shares in our struggle and our pain, and in that there is hope, and new life, just around the corner.
I think each of the theories of the atonement may have some truth to it, some more and some less, or point to certain aspects of what God is doing in the world or in our lives. I think it has layers, like a poem, that’s just waiting to be read.
For example, traditionally Jesus was crucified between two men, one of them who believed in him, and another who didn’t, and though Jesus promised paradise to the one who believed in him, he didn’t turn to the other man and condemn him, and he was in between them, in the middle of where they were, with them both, sharing in their darkness and their death, their struggle and their pain, and whether they believed in him, or God, or not, and I find that beautiful…
Others may see other things… maybe the cross is meant to be a kind of Rorschach test, where God shows people different things… writers in scripture saw some things, you and I see some things, etc.
I don’t know, maybe Jesus did have magic blood or something (after all, blood is symbolic of life) that heals our souls, or maybe there was some mystical transaction that took place then, dark forces were vanquished, doors were opened, bridges were built, some things changed… but I struggle with this, with things like penal substitution, because to me it says that before Jesus died God was just mad at us, and needed His pound of flesh to be satisfied, and then throwing in the Trinity, it sounds like God is killing Himself to satisfy Himself, which sounds weird to me…
Jesus said he came to testify to the truth, and came to bring light to the world, and did so both in his life and even in his death, so I tend to think of the cross as a powerful revelation, rather than as a second big bang of sorts, where everything that was messed up between God and man before somehow got fixed… I think the problem between God and man is more one-sided, where God already loves us and is already committed to us, without needing a debt paid or anything like that, and we’re the ones who have the problem, of not seeing the truth about God and what life is all about and about our relationship with God and in turn with one another, and our eyes just need to be opened, and we need to find healing and restoration and home… I think of God as the father waiting for his son to come home… He always loved him, was always committed to him, and never needed a sacrifice to be appeased or anything to get Him to change His mind so He’d then be open to having a relationship with his son… it’s just his son needed help coming to his senses, and maybe that’s where Jesus comes in…
But I know I could be wrong about some stuff, or even most stuff, and this is just where I’m at right now. Like I was telling Kate in a recent e-mail, though I can’t really put my finger on it, I know Jesus matters, and like I was telling Grant, I would like to see Jesus as someone I can trust.
I also think of Jesus as being a great symbol of hope.
When I think of Jesus dying, sharing in the struggle and the pain of regular people like you and me, think of him forgiving those who mocked him and beat him and killed him, and think of him coming back to life, even after going through so much, it gives me hope, hope that maybe I’m not alone in my struggle and my pain, that maybe I can be forgiven and can forgive others as well, even my enemies, that maybe I can get back up too, and no matter what I may go through… and I guess that’s something, something to hold onto.
Well, that’s my two cents anyway, and hopefully you guys don’t mind me being kind of an oddball here
Blessings to all and peace 
Matt
I guess what I believe is closest to the “moral influence” theory combined with the “Christus Victor” theory and “Scapegoat” theory. It’s definitely something I need to study more deeply and I’m looking forward to what people say on this thread. I’ll link to the wiki page on atonement. All the major theories are covered pretty well there and in links to the individual theories themselves.
, but obviously, it is. The importantest part is easy to miss, Kate – IMO it’s verse 17, where God, in the guise of the torch and the oven (or fire pot) passes between the halves of the animals. In an ancient middle eastern covenant of this sort, the stronger man (who is probably coercing the weaker into the covenant and into acknowledging the stronger as an overlord) makes the weaker pass between the animals, and may also pass through himself if he’s feeling particularly charitable. This binds those passing through the halves to keep the covenant, and if anyone fails to keep covenant, he’s saying in essence, “Let it be done to me and mine as it’s been done to these animals.”