A continuum is defined as something that changes in character gradually or in very slight stages without any clear dividing points.
This word best describes the trajectory of the church. Hence the feeling of unease whenever I hear people making reference to a ‘golden era of Christianity’. As such Christians pray earnestly for a ‘revival’, romanticising over how the church use to be.
However, this view only highlights minor aspects of Christian history. In fact once the faith became institutionalised through pressure from the Roman authorities it took a completely different trajectory. By and large church history in Europe and the New World was plagued by wars, oppression, racism, patriarchy, greed, exploitation, dictatorship, control, corruption, nepotism, imperialism, elitism and manipulation. All the stuff Jesus stood firmly against.
Although church attendance was very high, Christians were deeply involved in slavery and much later colonialism and its derivatives.
To this end I will be treating the doctrine of Atonement. During the course of my talk I will examine the mainstream idea, ‘the Wrath of God’, which leads to the need for a sacrifice to appease God, against the Moral Theory which highlights that Jesus’ life, ministry and self-emptying even unto death reveals God to us, thereby, Atoning for the gulf of understanding between God and humanity.
In other words, did Jesus die to appease an angry God, or did he die as a moral example of selfless love, and through that revealing the Father?
Join us for the series: God was in Christ.
3pm – 4:30pm
The Parish Hall
St John’s Sidcup,
Church Road,
Sidcup,
Kent DA14 6BX
Reachout | Revive | Recover
Healingsprings fellowship 