"Hearts of Christianity Sunday School Class" for Sunday, 17 January 2016 The First United Methodist Church of San Diego, California, United States for Saturday, 16 January 2016

"Hearts of Christianity Sunday School Class" for Sunday, 17 January 2016 The First United Methodist Church of San Diego, California, United States for Saturday, 16 January 2016Dear Hearts,
Sorry for being so late getting this out. I've been in LA all week teaching.
Borg – Chapter 7 – Jesus’s Death Matters – But Not because He Paid for Our Sins
Room Change: The church conference must set up early, so Heart of Christianity will be meeting in Linder Lounge this Sunday, January 17,  from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.
Thanks for your understanding!!!
This chapter discusses a very, very central theme in Christianity – the death of Jesus on the cross.  How should that be understood.
Pg.132…   Borg talks about the most common understanding – the payment, or substitutionary, or satisfaction, understanding.  This is what I grew up with.  Jesus died in my place to pay for my sins. This was God’s will.  John 3:16.
Borg says this understanding has been a message of grace and acceptance to many, many people. But it has problems.
This understanding became problematic for me at some point – how about you?
Pg. 135…  Borg talks about the problems with the payment understanding.
1.      It was not around for the first 1000 years of Christianity!  HUH???  I was taught it was all over the New Testament.
2.      It was Anselm who first proposed this explanation sometime after 1054 when East and West split.
a.      Anselm used his own cultural context, of course, and made the death of Jesus about the feudal lord and the subjects.
b.      He applied this relationship to our relationship with God. Without payment for sin, we could infer that sin isn’t really so important to God.
c.      Do you think sin is important to God?
3.      Borg asks some questions that I think we might want to discuss –
a.      Was it God’s will that Jesus be killed?
b.      Is that what God is like?
c.      Do Jesus’s message and activity matter as much as his death?
4.      Borg says the payment understanding makes “vampire Christians”.  What do you think?
5.      What does this understanding say about the character of God?  See pg. 137.
6.      Pg 138….   Jesus didn’t just die – he was executed for defying imperial authority.
a.      He started his ministry by saying that the kingdom of God has come!  That was a direct challenge to the existing kingdom of Rome and Jerusalem.
b.      Jesus used the word kingdom deliberately!
c.      He engaged in provocative acts against the existing kingdom.
d.      Doesn’t this matter?
e.      Borg asks us to consider if Jesus had died differently.  Pg. 142.
f.       The authorities executed Jesus to reject his kingdom and his passion.
g.      God said yes to Jesus. Pg. 143
7.      Borg says the death of Jesus matters – that it has been central to Christianity from the very beginning, not just the last 1000 years. The gospels talk about the coming death of Jesus and emphasize that the authorities will kill him, nothing about paying for our sins.  Pg. 144.  Christianity was an anti-imperial movement.
8.      Borg also states that the crucifixion is about personal transformation.  He talks about death and resurrection as the archetype of personal transformation.  So Christianity is not just about the kingdom of God, but about how I am transformed by my life in Christ.
Boy what a chapter!!
See you tomorrow .
Lembi
Lembi Saarmann, RN, EdD
Professor Emerita
School of Nursing
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-4158
Cell:  619-987-1604
Email:  Lsaarman@mail.sdsu.edu
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