Comments on: Girard, Christians, and Violence http://growmercy.org/2006/11/07/girard-christians-and-violence/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:50:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Len http://growmercy.org/2006/11/07/girard-christians-and-violence/#comment-478 Len Thu, 09 Nov 2006 05:01:36 +0000 http://growmercy.org/2006/11/07/girard-christians-and-violence/#comment-478 Hi Steve: I have been thinking about a nonsacrificial way of understanding the cross and I have something that I would like your opinion on. I have a feeling that you are not fan of the movie The Passion of the Christ. Am I correct? You did see it though, didn't you? One thing that I learned or an insight that I seemed to have been given in the endless scourging and the bloody pulping of Cavezil's body was that the crucifixion was not only a reconciliation of God to man (forgiveness for our sins) but of man to God (people need to forgive God for creating or at least allowing suffering of this sort to happen to people, even relatively good people). I have long been wrestling with the connundrum of 'why is there suffering at all'. No one has a very good answer as far as I can see. The Satan angel is deeper and truer than I had thought but it still requires God to allow the free reign of evil in the world and so does not exonerate him from the awful things that happen down here. I had the sense that Jesus' extreme suffering was a little like what happens on the schoolyard sometimes (at least it did when I was a boy). Did you ever hurt a friend in a game or in a moment of carelessness and then offer to let the hurt party punch you in the arm as hard as they can to sort of make up for it? I know this smacks of retributive violence and will be an easy thing to be repulsed by but somehow it seemed to me that the reconciliation is two sided and God (because He decreed that we must suffer to fulfill some mysterious necessity) has allowed us to punch Him as hard as we can on his right arm to restore some sort of balance that allows our relationship to survive the suffering. The creation of the Sons of God appears to require suffering and choosing in the face of unmerited suffering to love and serve God and each other. If this is the case God may have been redeeming His own sins (that is not the right word but I don't have a better one to use at the moment. Perhaps I will continue to call it 'His mysterious neccessity')by taking as much suffering as His plan apparently requires some of His creation to endure. Any thoughts? Or is this just too twisted to even try to respond too? Hi Steve:
I have been thinking about a nonsacrificial way of understanding the cross and I have something that I would like your opinion on.

I have a feeling that you are not fan of the movie The Passion of the Christ. Am I correct?

You did see it though, didn’t you?

One thing that I learned or an insight that I seemed to have been given in the endless scourging and the bloody pulping of Cavezil’s body was that the crucifixion was not only a reconciliation of God to man (forgiveness for our sins) but of man to God (people need to forgive God for creating or at least allowing suffering of this sort to happen to people, even relatively good people).

I have long been wrestling with the connundrum of ‘why is there suffering at all’. No one has a very good answer as far as I can see.
The Satan angel is deeper and truer than I had thought but it still requires God to allow the free reign of evil in the world and so does not exonerate him from the awful things that happen down here.
I had the sense that Jesus’ extreme suffering was a little like what happens on the schoolyard sometimes (at least it did when I was a boy).
Did you ever hurt a friend in a game or in a moment of carelessness and then offer to let the hurt party punch you in the arm as hard as they can to sort of make up for it? I know this smacks of retributive violence and will be an easy thing to be repulsed by but somehow it seemed to me that the reconciliation is two sided and God (because He decreed that we must suffer to fulfill some mysterious necessity) has allowed us to punch Him as hard as we can on his right arm to restore some sort of balance that allows our relationship to survive the suffering.

The creation of the Sons of God appears to require suffering and choosing in the face of unmerited suffering to love and serve God and each other.
If this is the case God may have been redeeming His own sins (that is not the right word but I don’t have a better one to use at the moment. Perhaps I will continue to call it ‘His mysterious neccessity’)by taking as much suffering as His plan apparently requires some of His creation to endure.

Any thoughts?

Or is this just too twisted to even try to respond too?

]]> By: Len http://growmercy.org/2006/11/07/girard-christians-and-violence/#comment-470 Len Wed, 08 Nov 2006 04:32:27 +0000 http://growmercy.org/2006/11/07/girard-christians-and-violence/#comment-470 Hey Steve If someone wanted to read up on this nonsacrifical way that informs your faith what book would you suggest we start with and what others would be essential reading? And while you are thinking about that, can you tell me who said "Rather than seeing God's Plan as Creation, Fall, Redemption we should think of it more like Creation, Incarnation, Recreation." ? Blessings to you. Hey Steve
If someone wanted to read up on this nonsacrifical way that informs your faith what book would you suggest we start with and what others would be essential reading?

And while you are thinking about that, can you tell me who said
“Rather than seeing God’s Plan as
Creation, Fall, Redemption
we should think of it more like
Creation, Incarnation, Recreation.”
?

Blessings to you.

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