Yesterday we looked at the idea of God as a divine scapegoat. We pick up with this idea today, showing how Jesus also was a divine scapegoat. He not only revealed to us what God had been doing all along, but also unmasked the scapegoat mechanism for all to see. Through Jesus, we see the truth of violence, that it comes from us, and not from God.
The way many Christians have come to understand and explain the crucifixion of Jesus, it almost seems as if God Himself was to blame for this violent act as well.
Did God Need an Innocent Victim To Suffer for the Sins of the World?
A large swath of Christian theology teaches that God sent Jesus to die on the cross, that it was God Himself who wanted an innocent victim to die for the sins of the whole world. Many forms of traditional Christianity even state that the only reason the death of Jesus could atone for the sins of the whole world is because He was an innocent victim.
In other words, one prominent and popular explanation for the crucifixion of Jesus was that God needed an innocent victim to pay for the sins of the world, and since the innocent victims of bulls and goats could not perfectly accomplish what God desired, God instead had to send the ultimate innocent victim, His only Son Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of the whole world.
This interpretation of the cross makes God once again the violent perpetrator of this most violent of crimes. According to this view, God ordained the death of His Son because God demands the blood sacrifice of an innocent victim to appease His anger toward sin.
The Scriptures, however, paint a quite different picture.
We Killed Jesus as a Scapegoat for our own Sin and Shame
Jesus came to occupy an all-too-humanly constituted place of shame, violence, and death, and not hold it against us. There is an angry deity in this equation, and it is us, in whose midst God, quite without violence, manifests the depth of his forgiving love by plumbing the depths of, and thus defanging, our violence (Alison, We didn’t invent sacrifice).
Instead of God demanding a blood sacrifice to satisfy His wrath toward sinful humanity, Scripture indicates that it was mankind who put Jesus to death on the cross.
It was we who continued our age-old crime of scapegoating an innocent victim to appease our own guilty conscience.
We were the violent ones, and Jesus submitted Himself to our violence to both expose it and neutralize it once and for all.
Jesus went willingly to the cross, not because a blood sacrifice was necessary to pay the penalty for sin, but because going to the cross unmasked the scapegoat mechanism, revealed the violence inherent within the heart of men, exposed the myth of redemptive violence, and brought an end to the war that men had waged on God for centuries.
Unveiling the Power of Sin
On the cross, Jesus removed the veil from the power of sin.
On the cross, Jesus laid bare for all to see the lie that violence toward an innocent victim helps alleviate the curse of sin and constant spiral of violence.
On the cross, Jesus showed us once and for all that God is not violent, but, quite to the contrary, has been taking upon Himself the violence of the whole world.
In Jesus, “God is revealed as the ‘arch-scapegoat,’ the completely innocent one who dies in order to give life. And his way of giving life is to overthrow the religion of scapegoating and sacrifice” (McDonald, Violence & The Lamb Slain).
How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?
These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!
Am I missing something, Jeremy, are you saying Jesus death on the cross was NOT in God’s plan ? I do agree that man; the Romans, Jews and even in reality; ourselves, are guilty of crucifying Christ, but is that not what God planned from ‘the foundation of the world ‘?
Good question. I probably need to clarify what I have written on this. I think the difference is between God knowing that the crucifixion would occur, and actually organizing the events so that they did occur.
Yes, one of the proverbial diamonds in the sand of which we’ve spoken. When you pick it up and consider its various facets, you should find the answers to your questions from your current field of study. You might also note that this is that of which our friend-in-common has been writing. I wonder, however, if you are holding it right-side-up or upside-down.
Wow!Your insight is great sir.Praise God
You are a blessing to me. Thanks!
Hi,
Forget the myths and concentrate on the facts!
Jesus of Nazareth was a Prophet of Israel, just like Prophet Jeremiah and repeated what the Prophets had said before him. He was a TORAH believer and condemned TALMUDIC Judaism (The Oral Traditions).
Matthew 23
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.
35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.
38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Matthew 15
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b]
5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Footnotes:
Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16
Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9
Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
Jesus demanded the death penalty.
“…one prominent and popular explanation for the crucifixion of Jesus was that God needed an innocent victim to pay for the sins of the world, and since the innocent victims of bulls and goats could not perfectly accomplish what God desired, God instead had to send the ultimate innocent victim, His only Son Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of the whole world.
This interpretation of the cross makes God once again the violent perpetrator of this most violent of crimes. According to this view, God ordained the death of His Son because God demands the blood sacrifice of an innocent victim to appease His anger toward sin.
The Scriptures, however, paint a quite different picture.”
You’re right, God is not the violent perpetrator. Far from it. God it totally right, righteous, and good. No evil can be found in Him.
But I must mention one very important detail. God didn’t demand the death of Jesus, without Jesus’s consent. In John chapter 10, we see the following important details.
“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his live for the sheep.” (John 10:11) He gave his life, willingly, for fallen human beings.
Later in the 10th chapter of John, He says “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself…” vs.17 and 18
He laid it down, as a perfect Sacrifice, totally willingly. He wasn’t an innocent victim, in the light of having no ability to stop his execution. He wasn’t a scapegoat, cruelly put to death, without his consent, with no divine plan being in place that the whole Trinity didn’t willingly agree on. No, I’m not saying that they would disagree, they are perfect. But, the point is, all 3 Persons of the Trinity, The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit, all agreed that the Sacrifice of Jesus’s blood was the only way for sin to be forgiven, and for the debt to be paid for, so we didn’t have to face the judgment that our sins deserve, an eternity in a lake of fire.
“… I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I of my Father. (John 10:18)
The article also says “…Jesus went willingly to the cross, not because a blood sacrifice was necessary to pay the penalty for sin, but because going to the cross unmasked the scapegoat mechanism, revealed the violence inherent within the heart…”
I have to say that the scapegoat mechanism was in the human heart because OF the sin nature. Since God is the Judge (Psalms 50:6), and “…hath prepared his throne for judgment. And he shall judge the world in righteousness…” (Psalms 9:7-8), sin must be dealt with, and in righteousness. If God didn’t judge the evils of the sin nature, then He wouldn’t be true and righteous in his judgment. He couldn’t be trusted as God. He would have been lying, if scripture says He will judge in righteousness, and if He ended up in not administering righteous judgment.
So, we conclude that the way He, and thus, the whole Trinity chose to handle sin, is righteous.
After those statements, I make the comment that it was God’s Predetermined plan for the Son to die for the sin of the human race.
Scripture says, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” (Acts 2:23)
“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world…” (1st. Peter 1:20)
In these verses, Peter was in reference to Jesus. In the context of the quote in 1st Peter, he is saying that we are redeemed “…with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:19)
Thus, we see that, in conjunction with Acts 2:23, and the rest of the context of Scripture, that God, in HIS mercy, created the blood sacrifice system. Yes, it was for our sin. Because we had rebelled.
He knew that we, human beings, would sin, even before the foundation of the world. An omniscient (all knowing) GOD knew that we, the human race, would choose sin. So He, in HIS infinite foreknowledge, choose to use himself as the substitute (in the 2nd Person of the Trinity, Jesus), taking our sin, so we didn’t have to bear the weight and full punishment that we deserve.
Jesus wasn’t the innocent victim. No, far from it.
One last point. In Exodus 12, the LORD commanded the children of Israel to kill a lamb on Passover night, eat the meat, and sprinkle the blood on the doorposts of their houses. (Exodus 12:7) “…and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you…” (vs.13). Jesus is the fulfillment of what this scripture prophesies and foreshadows, that which was to come in the future.
The Bible says “… and he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.” Mark 14:23-24.
God instituted the Passover, which included the shedding of blood. Jesus came and fulfilled the Spiritual role of what the Passover ceremony was showing to the Israelites. He is our Passover Lamb, the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (See John 1:41)
This was by God’s design, as Acts 2:23, 1st Peter 1:20, and John 10:18 show.
Hebrews saying that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission for sin. “…and without shedding of blood, there is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:22).
Can you show us the Scripture verses that leads you to your conclusion?
Quaid,
I am not exactly sure what you are asking. Could you summarize your point and restate your question?
It seems to me that I agree with your comment, and yet your question at the end seems to imply that you think I disagree. So somewhere along the way there is some misunderstanding.
I am curious about which scriptures you use to draw the conclusion that it isn’t the wrath of God that requires the propriation for sin. Or am I misunderstanding?
Good question. You are not misunderstanding.
I will write a lot more about propitiation and the wrath of God in the future. Also, this post is part of a LONG series of posts in which I write some about these other issues. Bottom line: it is too huge of an issue to try to discuss here in the comments, but keep posted, more will be coming…
There was a long comment that Iattempted to submit earlier today, but I’d forgot to add my name and e-mail address in the fields that require it.
So, to restate it’s ideas.
I had wrote my earlier reply before seeing your reply to Tony Vance’s question, so that clarified your positison on the issue of God’s planned will vs. His permissive will, which is something I had wondered about.
There are 2 major, but erroneous, viewpoints concerning the Nature of God. One says that God is a cruel, heartless, judge, and in His anger, He punishes the guilty without a chance for mercy. Another paints the picture that God is a “doting Father”, who lavishes love on His children. One who beleives this way could view God, using another way of describing it, as a grandparent who spoils his grandchildren rotten, minimizing the child’s responibility, not properly diciplining them, or not diciplining them at all, and giving the child everything he asks for and thinks of.
The problem with the first view is that God “…shall judge the world in righteousness…” (Psalms 9:8), that “…we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth…” (Romans 2:2), that He “…will render to every man according to his deeds:” ( vs. 6). “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17)
The problem with the second view is that, again, God judges the world in righteousness. Going back to Romans 2, those who rebell agains the goodness of God (which leads to repentence: Ch.2:4), will receive a fate that goes agains the “doting father” view. “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto theyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;” (2:5) Note… it’s mans’ fault that they are judged for their evil, not God’s cruelty that unto them. Also, the day of revelation reveals the righteous judgment of God… that’s the same topic we see dicussed in Psalms 9:8.
“But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil…”
(Romans 2:8-9)
And for the saved, he “…whom the Lord loveth he chaseneth…” (Hebrews 12:6).
With all that in view, a proper view of the Nature of God balances the Justice and Mercy, the Wrath, and the Love of God.
“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God:…” (Romans 11:22)
“That he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)
Bringing these3 views of the Nature of God back to the subject of this blogpost, it appears that those of us who replied could catagorize your statements about plan of God, the statments about the blood sacrifice, and thus, your theological view, as being not “straight up and down” & balanced, but leaning towards the “doting father” catagory.
But, if you agree with my previous post, then that reveals that you believe in the “balanced” view, which is Scriptually supported.
“And his way of giving life is to overthrow the religion of scapegoating and sacrifice.” could raise some feathers in a way that makes it look like you’re demeaning the importance of the sacrifice, since God ordained the sacrificial system, (that dealt with lambs, rams, and bullocks). I realize that if the events of the Fall, as recorded in Genesis 3, never happened, then everything would literally be perfect. There would be no need for any sacrificial system.
If you meant with that statment, the man made sacrifical system of blaming others for our own sin, then yes, that makes sense. I alone am to blame for my own choices, thoughts and actions, that were in God’s view, sin. The way of blaming others for my own sin has no merit in God’s eyes. If I’ve sinned, I’m guilty.
In summary, I found that your views aren’t quite what I’d thought they were at first. If you agree that God is both Good and Just, then things aren’t quite what I’d interpeted them.
Quaid,
Hmmm. Well, it is extremely difficult to say everything that needs to be said about God and His love and justice in one post. It cannot even be adequately explained in 10,000 posts. Hopefully, the book I am writing will provide a fuller explanation.
Although I predict that many people will accuse me of falling more into the “doting father” category. I don’t believe this, of course, but the theme of my book is showing how God looks like Jesus in the Gospels, and especially Jesus on the cross.
So we do agree, which is good, because God is both Just, and the Justifier.
Right. I do not want to downplay or ignore the justice of God.
Didn’t God institute the scapegoat? How can this be an “age old crime” if it was instituted by the Mosaic law? Also, if Christ is typified by the goat for Azazel, then he should not have been killed, but rather banished to the wilderness, as the Azazel goat was. It was the goat for YHWH that was sacrificed.
Your thoughts?
Yes, I would say that the scapegoat instituted by God was intended to reveal the human practice (crime) of scapegoating humans. It is sort of confusing because the practice of “scapegoating” humans predates the scapegoat sacrifice, but we call it scapegoating because of the sacrifice.
Anyway, when I write about scapegoating, I am not really talking about that goat (Azazel), but about the practice of blaming others for the problems in our life and in our society so that we harm or kill them.
Hi,
Which part of this don’t you understand?
22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways which I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
There were 2 religions in Israel; a Prophetic Teaching Religion and a Bloody Sacrificial Religion.
The Prophets condemned the Temple system, as did Jesus and that is why he was assassinated by crucifixion by the Jewish clergy who were in the control of the Romans.
The temple was supposed to have been a house of prayer for all nations, nut the Jews created a bloody sacrificial system.
(i) Jeremiah stood at the gate of the temple court where he delivered the sermon where he addressed all the worshipers going to the Temple.
(ii) He accused the people of Judah for breaking God’s Covenant by:
(a) Practicing idolatry and social injustice.
(b) Exploiting and oppressing the orphans, widows, the poor and the strangers in the land.
(c) Stealing, telling lies and committing adultery.
(iii) He condemned the worshipers for misusing the Temple by turning it into a “den of robbers”.
(iv) He warned that God would destroy the Temple the way He had destroyed the shrine at Shiloh if the people persisted in breaking the social and ritual demands of the Covenant.
(v) The Temple would remain a holy place and house of God only if the worshippers remained morally good and observed the Covenant Law.
(vi) He warned the people against their hypocritical religion where they stressed external observances like offering sacrifices at the expense of the inner piety.
(vii) God was going to use a foreign power to attack and destroy Judah as punishment for their wickedness.
(viii) All the people of Judah would be taken into exile and none would escape.
(ix) Jeremiah was warned by God not to intercede for the people for God’s patience had run out.
False belief about the temple -the people trusted that the temple was secure from any harm, but God warned that it would be destroyed.
Hypocrisy – Jeremiah condemned the hypocrisy of the temple worshipers for the sins they committed.
Defilement of the temple, they had placed idols in the temple and violated the sacredness of it.
Idolatry – they both worshiped Yahweh and other gods. They also offered sacrifices to the idols.
Human sacrifices – they sacrificed their children to Baal, therefore disregarded the gift of life.
Soul injustice, such as murder, exploitation of the poor, orphans, widows and foreigners.
Dishonesty – Jeremiah rebuked the people in the temple for they misled others with their lies.
He condemned oppression of the foreigners/widows/orphans which against the covenant way of life.
He condemned the stubbornness/rebellion of the Israelites against God’s warnings.
In Genesis 3:21 it says that “the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” God Himself must have shed innocent animal blood to make them their tunics. Leviticus 17:11 says that “it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”
I don’t know why God set it up this way, but apparently He did. Innocent blood of animals covered our sin. The innocent blood of Jesus removes our sin, perfecting us forever. Hebrews 10:14
Help me. The sacrifices are made by someone for something. Once an year, Yom Kippur, they practiced several sacrifices. ‘They’ were the God followers of Israel, trying to mirror the Leviticus command, to seek atonement, or claim atonement for another year – then they had to do it all over again. But here we have a people, the current generation of Israelite, becoming the slayer (not the ‘sacrificer’)of a Son of God, incarnate on earth, and God Most High making the sacrifice of His future (to be proclaimed) High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. The people are not sacrificing, nor following the Leviticus command. God Most High is doing something.
For the ancients, (not Leviticus), a similar following seems to require someone of high rank, (which they did not follow), who would be offered as the scapegoat for plague or famine etc.
It was the bull that was sacrificed for unknown sin first. The scapegoat was the part onto or into which were poured the known sin of the people, after the High Priest of the day had declared and confessed it. That goat was not slain. It was cast out to Azazel. The goat slain and blood sprinkled in the Holy of Holies was to or for YHWH. The reason for the latter?
It is a nice fit that Jesus is the highest rank on earth. It is a nice fit that all the most heinous sin types are taken or received by him directly, after which he was sacrificed. It is a nice fit that He is a blood sacrifice to YHWH – but then He is not a Scapegoat sacrifice, because that goat is not killed and it does not go to YHWH; the scapegoat goes to Azazel. It is an awkard fit that the sacrifice is made by God Most High, not the people, who are ignorant of the enactment taking place – a mystery of what God Most High is performing in this extremely orchestrated (by God Most High) event. God Most High has taken over and seems to have put a seal on the finish of all sacrifice process? We now have to appropriate the sacrifice made by God Most High? Communion? Faith?
Yeh many think the cross is folly, but from a Yom Kippur perspective, from its explanation in Leviticus – sin requires a sacrifice of innocence for forgiveness, plus the burden of lawlessness and death placed on the innocent (scapegoat). So if you’re having violent ideas ‘hate your brother or sister, anyone’, at that moment you’re siding with sin/evil/lawlessness, it’s what the Cross reveals and makes grace available believing in JCs work, simply repent your violence/thoughts with all your heart. God is always about 2nd chances, even Cain was offered to reconsider. It’s the same as Yom Kippur, better, Jesus “the high priest, sin sacrifice and guilt offering”. Though not an external ceremony but an internal works written directly to one’s heart. It’s eternal life, where God purses you. It don’t get better!!
Gods Plan or JC’s plan I can not say
If JC was not God, he was certainly revolutionary
Perhaps the most revolutionary performance artist of all time
(no disrespect)
to think
12 disciples to represent the 12 tribes of Israel
plus 1, the Messiah, to represent God
and for one to betray him
as JC stated the Pharisees were betraying the Jewish people
So. JC gave himself to replace the corrupt Jewish Law System
by giving himself as the ransom sacrifice
the lamb with out blemish
and at the last supper
he asked his disciples to drink the wine and the unleverned bread
the normal ritual sacrifices on the Sabbath
which were used to pay for any sin that had not been accounted for by normal sacrifices
but also as a reference in memory of the Jewish people’s flight from Egypt
At the last supper
JC made the statement offering himself as the replacement for the Jewish sacrifice system
as he felt the system had become corrupted by the Pharisees
From that point onwards
JC wiped away the authority of the Jewish Priest Class and their corrupted sacrifice system
and people could instead have their sins paid for via JC
by preying for forgiveness directly
Sadly
this was not the end of the corruption
and people instead
decided to create a new church and many many more deriviates
heralding themselves as the new leaders
who then became the replacement for the past corrupt class of priests
JC proclaimed his way was the replacement for that which had come before.
Wiping away the past system, to create a simple direct system that was divine in nature and not
enslaved to the corrupt and corruptible middle men who were but flesh and blood…
He proclaimed….
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”
Need he say more. but how easy is it for man to use his words for their own means…
May you all now be free of the tyranny and corruption of man, so as to keep Gods Laws and communicate directly with God (and possibly his divine consort).
Thank you for this informative article. It motivated me to re-examine the famous scripture in JOHN 3:16, which refers to God Almighty sending his only begotten son Yeshua to die for the world’s sin. The word that is often overlooked in that scripture is the word the ‘world’. Yeshua was scapegoated for the world of mankind and yet his death offers the opportunity for the world of mankind to be redeemed and to gain everlasting salvation.
Yeshua was NOT scapegoated on behalf of the ‘sons of men’ which the scriptures show are the angels and Adam who were all created directly by God.
The significance of the dysfunctional defence mechanism, known in Pyschology as scapegoating can be seen in evidence as early in mankind’s history with Sarah’s treatment of Abraham’s concubine Hagar, late on Joseph was also scapegoated and then the nation of Israel led by Moses, made use of a physical scapegoat – the goat of Azazael – Leviticus chapter 16.
As Christians we must be wise spiritually and never allow ourselves to scapegoat individuals and or groups of people.
Thank you.
Yeh, I agree the cross symbolises the only answer to overcome the ‘spirit of lawlessness’ in our world. That evil is envious of good, and is persistent in its condemnation. Try standing up in all righteous intention with Christ and you will suffer being scapegoated! Even from within the church, mostly it’s Ananias and Saphiras. Oh, How we need to trust God, for his love and goodness. He is not to be blamed for Christs death. Only lawlessness, which is of the spirit of evil in the world.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
What’s the point of living like Jesus in this world if the result is being brutally murdered by sinners?
What’s the point of Jesus’ crucifixion anyway?
Nothing good has happened in this world since then. Rather, on the contrary, the last hundreds of years have been more warlike and violent than most human history.
The world of sin is here now. So Jesus died for nothing, only perpetuating violence and scapegoating towards innocent victims. The whole story of crucifixion makes no sense. It would have been better for God to kill the Antichrist than Christ.
But I guess God just couldn’t do it, which makes this Christian version of God helpless. If God can’t do anything, it’s useless. What kind of God demands payment or ransom anyway? Whores ask for payment, and kidnappers demand ransom. True God gives freely.
I just don’t understand this Christian God, who not only suffers but dies at the hands of the Devil.
But Christian God, being man, a male person, can’t be True God.
True God isn’t a man. True God was never born, never dies, and doesn’t suffer.
If the Father of Jesus was helpless while the Son was tortured to death, it can’t be True God. True God is all-powerful and good, not helpless and only able to allow evil.
If Jesus was killed by evil, why did his Father allow it?
Allowing evil to happen, allowing sinners to kill the innocent, is definitely not good. For some reason, the Christian God seems to have made its followers lack in logic.
I mean, if the story of Jesus’ crucifixion had some good meaning, someone would have been able to explain it. This far, no Christian has been able to make sense of any of it.