Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: wagner@karazm.math.uh.edu (David Wagner) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The Ransom Sacrifice of Jesus Christ Message-ID: Date: 20 Nov 90 04:37:35 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Houston -- Department of Mathematics Lines: 68 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Steve Peterson wrote a lengthy article on redemptiion, its meaning, and how Christ redeemed us from our sins. I write this to clarify a few things regarding what is false in the Jehhovah's Witness teachings on this subject. I cannot comment in detail on his article because of it's length. As I understand it, you believe that Jesus ransomed us from sin, or at least from Adam's sin, by performing a 'perfect human sacrifice'. (I get this more from the JW literature than from your article, I might add.) However Scripture says in Psalm 49:7 "No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him -- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough-- that he should live on forever and not see decay." So if Christ's sacrifice is *only* a human sacrifice, as the WatchTower teaches, then I fear that you are still in your sins, and must be thrown into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, at the day of judgement. (Matt. 26:41). But thanks be to God, "In Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form," and as God and man he died on the cross for all of your sins, and all the sins of every sinner that was or is or will be -- including Adam. On the cross he cried, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me," showing that he suffered separation from his Father in punishment for all the sins of the world. So he lived and died as one of us, as our substitute, fulfilling the Law's demands for perfect holiness and obedience, and he also died as God, giving his sacrifice infinite value. God showed his acceptance of this sacrifice when he raised Jesus from the dead, declaring all men 'not guilty' of their sins. "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" Romans 4:25. It is interesting to note that Romans 10:9 says that God raised Jesus, but in John 2:19 Jesus said: "Destroy this temple [his body], and I will raise it again in three days." So if Jesus is not God, how could he raise himself from the dead? David H. Wagner a confessional Lutheran. "Upon the cross extended, See, world, thy Lord suspended, Thy Savior yields his breath. The Prince of Life from heaven Himself hath freely given To shame and blows and bitter death. "'Tis I who should be smitten, My doom should here be written: Bound hand and foot in hell. The fetters and the scourging, The floods around Thee surging, 'Tis I who have deserved them well. "The load Thou takest on Thee, That pressed so sorely on me, It crushed me to the ground. The cross for me enduring, The crown for me securing, My healing in Thy wounds is found." --O Welt, sieh hier dein Leben, selected verses. --Paul Gerhardt, 1648 My opinions and beliefs on this matter are disclaimed by The University of Houston.