Prominent atheists, Jews and even Christians often ask:

“Why can’t God just forgive people like the father of the prodigal son did? And why would a person have to give their life so that God could forgive?” it is all one compound question.

 

There is another question that seems to go with it so let’s get that on the table as well. The question is: “Why does God allow suffering? And how is that fair and reasonable?” Again it is all one compound question.

 

A final question that bothers a lot of people is: "Why did God make his son take the punishment?" That is not what a loving father would do.

 

Let’s start with the second question.

In one scenario God has placed us in a world of suffering at our request. We wanted to prove our worthiness under testing conditions. We wanted a mission in the face of hardship. We wanted to prove that our spirit could overcome the odds and excel in love and righteousness. Animals are twofold beings. They have body and soul. Humans are threefold beings. They have body, soul and spirit. Just to be clear, soul is a natural mental component. It includes mind, memory and emotions. Spirit is a supernatural component. It is the true self that exists before birth and survives death. It includes self-consciousness.

In this scenario your spirit volunteered to attach to you at conception, believing it could prove itself to be worthy in the face of the trials and suffering it was likely to endure in your life in this world. So it is with all human beings. In most cases God has given us many years to prove ourselves. It is not a question of whether God was fair. It is a question of whether we chose wisely and whether we succeeded in our mission to prove our worthiness.

 

In order to create a world where we could prove ourselves, God had to allow free will and consequently God had to allow sin and evil and of course God had to remain righteous because without that we would have no reason to expect fairness or justice.  So God had to separate himself from the pollution of evil. To make it work, God had to set up a system of testing and of justice. 

 

There are numerous scenarios that could have been implemented but the Old Testament is very specific about the true model. It goes like this.

 

The Israelites had to learn the meaning of a ransom. In one example the teaching was stark.

Every firstborn male (human or beast) belonged to God and had to be given back to God unless a ransom was paid. Some animals could be redeemed with a lamb (sacrificed in its place) but if not they had to sacrifice the animal.

 

Another example is Noah’s ark. It had to be waterproofed by a ransom payment. Animals had to pay the ransom price (give their lives for the seaworthiness of the ark) so their skins could be used to save the ark from sinking.

 

Now let’s look at why God could not just forgive without a ransom payment.

 

The model works like this. A school full of little children is close to a forest owned by goblins.  Children are told not to trespass on goblin land. The naughty children see the lollies growing on trees in the forest. They choose to disobey and venture into the forest. The goblins capture them and feed them on lollies to sweeten them up so they can eat them. The schoolmaster calls the judge who agrees the goblins have a right to do whatever they want on their own land so they have his legal permission to eat the children.

The children are in trouble because they broke the schoolmaster's rules. Why can’t the schoolmaster forgive them? Of course he can, but he can’t get them back without the judge ordering it. The judge says justice must be done and suggests a redemption payment to make amends for the trespass. The Goblins hate the schoolmaster and set the price for the return of the children as the life of the schoolmaster. The schoolmaster agrees to give his life, surrenders to the goblins and is killed. Some of the children confess, and get a pardon from the judge and go home. Some of the children refuse to confess, and want to keep on getting their lollies. They do not get a pardon from the judge and do not return. The children are like our spirits. They do not see the perils they are in. Any kind of sin is a trespass on Satan's territory and can only be redeemed by a ransom payment.

 

Another example

A thief and a victim come before a judge. The thief has stolen the victim’s car and smashed it.

The thief says he has no means to make compensation and asks the judge for a pardon.  The judge pardons the thief and sends them away leaving the victim in debt. Was the judge righteous in forgiving the man his debt? Of course not. In order for justice to be done the victim has to be compensated. The judge would not be righteous unless he arranged compensation even if he had to pay the debt himself.

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Now to the last question: Why did God make his son take the punishment?

It is pretty simple really. The Christian church has got its theology wrong. There is no triune God. The invention of a trinity has confused people for centuries. There is only one true God. Jesus is God almighty. Sure he is justifiably represented as the son of God, because in a human sense Mary was his mother, God was his father. However in a spiritual sense there was only one spirit. The supernatural component (the real self) of Jesus was God. It was not the father who forced the son to a sacrifice. It was the father in human form, putting his human form to the ultimate test and proving his worthiness, having his soul and motives examined by the heavenly justice system, saving the human race and being crowned with glory.

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