Atonement Theology (again) A friend gave me a book by Andy Stanley called "How Good Is Good Enough?" This small book actually does a great job of explaining Atonement Theology, but fails to make his case on two points. First, atonement theology still hasn't extracted itself form reading the Bible literally, especially the opening chapters of Genesis, where Adam and Eve decided to choose, and chose badly (as Stanley put it). I don't believe that there once was a state of perfection that we lost and therefore there is no need for the salvation atonement theology perscribes.

The book's basic premis that that each of us, and individuals, need to accept Jesus Christ as our "Personal Lord and Savior." The book does not describe what this really means in theological, spiritual, or even practical terms.

Finally, atonement theology still doesn't work for me because it ignores something that I consider vital to the message of the Christ: Love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus talked about being in a right relation to God. Stanley rejects the notion that the writers of the Bible put things in the story that probably weren't factual, but that they felt were True and necessary for their audience. This leads him to conclude that the passage in the Gospel of John "Only through me shall you get to heaven" means that we have to "accept Jesus as our personal lord and savior." I have dealt with the 'Lord and Savior' portion of that phrase, but I still don't know what they mean by 'personal'.

Yes, sin is a part of our lives, and redemption is important, but learning from that redemption is harder and more important.  ¶ 9:53 AM