The Solution for Humanity

1. Introduction:

· Why is it that everyone considers themselves to be a good person, yet if you ask them if humanity is inherently flawed, selfish, or evil and they’ll say yes of course!

· What if you don’t think humanity is corrupt? Maybe we all start out inherently good and society corrupts us. Philosophy and science do not support this. Even evolution insists we are wired selfishly/for our own survival. What do you think the world would look like if infants were more powerful than their parents? All it takes is for a child to not be properly socialized before 5 years old for enough permanent damage to occur.

· What is your answer/solution? Do you believe utopia will be possible? How?

2. Education?

· There was a time when people thought if everyone was just educated, then we could achieve peace, all that did was ramp up technology for greater atrocities!

3. Government?

· If we legislate ethical behavior, then people aren’t being moral they’re just avoiding the consequences of being bad. And will find a way to break the laws anyway. Wouldn’t it be better for people to want to do the right thing?

· But laws are only meant to deter crime. Don’t we want people to be full of joy, love and kindness to each other? You can’t enforce that. How can you radically change human nature like this voluntarily?

· Historians will point out that the Bible-its shared meaning, purpose and ethics-are the foundation of the west (Tom Holland, Bart Erhman, John Dickson). What if we are living off the fumes of a once Christian culture? Many will notice the increased social and political tensions, it’s a lot easier to divide and conquer when we’re giving up what unified us.

· When society loses God, it trusts in government as its earthly father. We always want someone to rule over us. Is it going to be a perfect standard we can only strive for like God or is it going to be humans which are prone to corruption? Atheism is a strong commonality in history’s (and today’s) most violent and totalitarian regimes. Socialism has led to the deaths of far more people than every single religion combined and then tripled. The highest death count comes not from those zealous for God but those who think there is no God to answer to.

4. Christianity’s enforcement mechanism:

· Every other religion and government offers the carrot and stick, reward and punishment, heaven and hell. But the Bible offers what nothing else does…gratitude. A radical act of love. A brutal death on the cross. THAT changes a heart voluntarily, transforming a person inside out. So even when we inevitably mess up, we genuinely feel bad and strive to do better.

· Think of every other god that is worshiped, its either worshiped because it demands it without cause or because the human wants something from it, or because the human is scared of it. The biblical God stirs people to worship by what he has done for them, he uses gratitude, even before Jesus came, he always reminded the Israelites of what he had done for them.

· We really need to meditate on the fact that this love is generous and undeserved. This is what generates love and worship in a Christian. Not fear.

· People think the Old Testament paints a cruel and harsh God, but in reality, he is a wounded husband who is continually rejected by his people who kept turning their back on him no matter how much he did for them.

· God has never and will never ask us to do something he wouldn’t or couldn’t or hasn’t done

· Adam Lane Smith in Exhausted Wives, Bewildered Husbands argues that trying to earn someone’s love is toxic.

5. Prime examples of the effectiveness:

· The reason there are millions of astounding testimonies where Jesus has saved and transformed murderers, rapists, junkies, prostitutes, the worst of the worst-is because these people realized how much God loved them through his death for their mistakes and it changed them from the inside out.

· Political commentator and broadcaster Matthew Parris wrote in The Times “Missionaries, not aid money are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem, the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset. Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa, sharply distinct from the work of secular NGO’s, govt projects and international aid efforts. This alone will not do, education and training alone will not do, in Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation the rebirth is real the change is good, those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st century global competition must not kid themselves… removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.”

· William Lecky, one of Great Britain’s most noted historians, political theorists and opponent of Christianity “it was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character which through all the changes of 18 centuries has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love, has shown itself capable of acting on all ages, nations, temperaments, and conditions: has been not only the highest pattern of virtue but the strongest incentive to its practice. The simple record of these 3 short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers and all the exhortations of moralists.”

6. Other religions?

· Without Jesus’ death, no other religion can say the universe has perfect justice. You can’t get this on any belief that is works based, meaning if you do x, then you can receive y either now or in the next life. Can doing a few good deeds sweep your past actions under the rug? Would we let Hitler off if he promised to build a few hospitals and shelters and donate his time, money and blood? No, because everything needs to be accounted for.

· Also, on this system, people’s hearts aren’t changed, their actions are but they’re still motivated by self. Which means it’s easy to look down on others because you have accomplished more. This even occurs in Christianity when people forget to look to Jesus and not themselves. They trust in their own actions rather than God’s. If we don’t need God, why haven’t we achieved world peace? Why do we always revert back to war and greed?

· This works-based system is clearly intuitive since every other religion teaches it. Which is an indication that every other religion is man-made. If there is a God teaching a true religion, of course it’s going to be counter-intuitive and go against the norm.

· Only the biblical God is justified in judging the world because he came into it to suffer the same temptations and trials as us.

· If justice was people changing their way all by themselves because they hit rock bottom, and they never got any undeserved forgiveness, then what reason would they ever have to be a forgiving person? At least with Christianity we should forgive generously because we have been forgiven generously, but if that’s not the case, then we can be self-righteous and judgmental and hold grudges until people pay their debt!

7. Do humans really deserve Hell?

· It is those who open their eyes to their sinful nature and admit their failings that receive salvation. Hell is filled with people who think they deserve heaven; heaven is filled with people who know they deserve hell.

· Yet even if they were judged by their own words and standards, they would be declared hypocritical and guilty. The Gospel says you’re not only a failure by God’s standards but your own as well. If you pay close attention, we will often utter a “you should/shouldn’t do that…” statement, and we will often break our own homemade rules, and when we do, we always have a cozy little excuse for why only WE are allowed to do it.

· So you see one of the biggest stumbling blocks for a non-believer to the gospel is the significance of their sin. “I’m not that bad!” “I don’t deserve that!” “I’m a good person!” This is why Ray Comfort goes through the 10 commandments, it hits people that maybe they’re not so good after all. Which was God’s purpose with the OT laws anyway, it was meant to be a mirror held up to Israel/humanity.

8. Grounding our identity:

· We think of our self-worth equal to our performance+how others view us. This can so easily fail though. What if circumstances cause our performance to malfunction or a rumor is spread about us. We get angry, hurt, vulnerable.

· There is only one thing we can ground our value in that can’t let us down. God. We need Transcendent Value. The reason you have value is not because of anything you own or anything you’ve ever done, it’s because God died for you. This is how we need to ground our worth and identity.

· You don’t have to put on a façade and feel like you have to impress anyone. You can become your true self when you realize God loves you for exactly who you already are-keeping in mind sin is an action you commit, not part of who you are. The same God that decided the universe needed all the planets and stars, mountains, and seas, also decided the universe needed one of you in it.

· If we don’t do this, we compare ourselves to others, either feeling bad about ourselves or feeling self-righteous and looking down on others. If we find our value in hard work, how are we going to view lazy people? Value in honesty? How much will you despise the liar? Finding value in God means understanding we are all equal. We are all sinners yes, but we are all made in the image of God and bought by the blood of Jesus. He made us all. And He was willing to die for us all.

· Unforgiveness and bitterness comes from feeling better than that person. The Gospel makes us realize that God has freely offered love, compassion and forgiveness and we therefore should be imitating this in our life.

· All humans worship something, we may not like the word but we do. Even evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins admits this. Are we going to devote ourselves to something that could always let us down?

· Without God, how exactly can you say every human is equal and valuable? You absolutely cannot! All you can do is pick an arbitrary standard (like maybe being genetically human) and then ignore that standard when it doesn’t suit (abortion).

9. Questions and objections:

· “Just because it’s a good story doesn’t make it true” If God’s not real, then the authors of the gospel are worth worshiping because they knew what the solution to the human condition was. And the authors who prophesied Jesus and crucifixion centuries before they happened are also pretty spectacular. Christianity also stands out from other religions by actually having solid historical evidence for its truth claims.

· “Why did God create us if he knew we would sin?” This doesn’t completely address the question but God created us out of his love. He created us so he could love us, so we could love him. It’s pretty simple when you think of how us humans have kids for the same reason. He loves and cares about you that much and wanted a relationship with you so badly he knew what it would cost him but made you anyway. It’s not that he created the world knowing that we would disobey and end up in Hell but really that he knew we would choose to disobey him, reject him, defy him, spit on him repeatedly and constantly by the way we live and still decided to create us and choose to give up his glory and die a shameful and excruciating death. It’s one thing to die for a friend but an enemy?

· Why can’t God just forgive everyone without having to kill Jesus? If God just blinked at sin and magically forgave anyone without doing anything, he would not be perfectly holy and just. And no one would change. Think about what heaven would look like without the gospel. How would it be any different to earth right now? No one’s hearts would be any different, everyone would still have the same corruption but they would have still made it to heaven because they just happen to do good things. Which can still be entirely motivated by self.

· “But our punishment would have been eternal, Jesus only died for a couple days.” God is perfect and eternal and therefore him voluntarily taking the punishment satisfies the payment of all humanity. Jesus was made legally guilty; he didn’t get infused with our sin. He is infinitely valuable therefore his punishment is equal to our eternal punishment. It is comparing quality of the sacrifice and then considering the quantity of punishment. His blood is worth more than ours to put it crudely. Think about sentencing a criminal, depending on the crime they may have to spend their whole life in jail and still not pay the full penalty, but if one were to pay the penalty then they are released! We suffer eternally because we just can’t possibly fulfill the penalty, but Jesus can so he does get released.

· “Why are we punished for what Adam and Eve did? This is arrogant and assumes that if they were in Adam/Eve’s shoes then they never would have disobeyed. Christians fall into this as well but our own lives are prime examples that we quite easily disobey God. No one is going to be judged for Adam and Eve’s sin, they will be judged on the long list of their own. Paul makes a parallel between Christ and Adam for all those who think it’s unfair to suffer for what Adam did. Paul points out that Jesus suffered for all of humanity when he didn’t do anything. Do you think that’s fair?

· “Yeah but we still get away with it under Jesus.” Yes, but only if we develop a hatred for our crimes and wish we never did it, distancing ourselves from our old life and clinging desperately to the second chance Jesus gives. It’s not a magic little prayer that sends us to heaven it’s the complete transformation of our hearts and behavior. So if you think you’ll just switch sides at the end of your life or when you’ve had enough “fun”, it probably won’t work.

· With Hell, you may be picturing an eternal fiery furnace. This may or may not be the case. Taking literal approaches of hell ends up with contradictions like outer darkness and lake of fire. It’s a growing theological discussion for Christians, don’t waste time with it unless it’s the only thing preventing you from trusting God. Whatever hell is, Jesus said you don’t want to be there so don’t risk it.

· “I can forgive without a blood sacrifice does that make me better than God?” You’re also a sinful human and not the judge of the world, you can forgive people with no concern for justice, and you’re a sinner so you’d just be a hypocrite to not forgive.

· “The Gospel doesn’t make sense” If sin is real then it is disobedience to God, which means we ultimately need his forgiveness. He offers forgiveness to everyone, but they have to choose it. Say you are willing to forgive someone but they don’t want it, the relationship simply cannot be fully restored. Why must there be a penalty? If someone you love crashes into your house, a debt has been created, you can choose to either make them pay or ruin the relationship if they won’t, or absorb the cost on to yourself for the sake of the relationship, either way, it’s going to cost someone to fix the situation. The brutally violent and culturally shameful event of Jesus’ crucifixion is meant to graphically show humans what sin is, how much damage it does and what it costs God. It shows God’s hatred of sin and love of humanity. His justice and mercy kiss at the cross, death meets life, shame meets glory, God is reconciled to man. If you desperately wanted to bring someone you love back to you voluntarily after they have treated you terribly and rejected you, what would you do? Archetypically, it is the greatest story that can be told. It’s not a man dying, its God. It’s not a guilty person dying but an innocent one. It’s not a meaningless, accidental death but a sacrificial one, not for 1 person but the entire world. Its not a death for a friend or a good person, but every single enemy, they weren’t pushed into a corner, they saw the whole thing play out and still chose it.

· “How can Jesus take our punishment” Francis Turton, one of the reformers, lists 5 qualifications for an innocent person to take the punishment:

1. The substitute must be of the same nature.

2. They must volunteer.

3. Must have power over their own life, so not just the will but the power to control the situation but refusing to exercise it.

4. Must have the power to pay the penalty lest the punishment have no effect.

5. Must be sinless so they don’t need to be punished for their own sins.

Vicarious liability is where you are liable for someone else’s actions, this shows up in civil and criminal law. Like an employer being responsible for the transgressions of the employee.

10. Relevant Discussions

· Moral argument and other transcendent aspects

· Prophecy

· Faith/blind

· Problem of evil

· Divine hiddenness

· Is God a moral monster

· General objections

11. Other Sources

· Lee Strobel ‘The Case for Grace’

· William Lane Craig ‘Atonement and the Death of Christ’

· Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution

· YouTube channel ‘Mike Winger’ Playlist on Penal Substitutionary Atonement.

• story that could use shortening-The late Paul Leonard told a story about paying his way through Ohio State University It was a struggle. His father died during his senior year in high school, and his mother had become blind. With her encouragement, however, he enrolled at Ohio on the eve of the Great Depression. By night he was a taxi driver, and during the day he waited tables in a campus dining hall. "At lunch one day I was serving a table where faculty members were seated. As I returned to the table with my tray held high, the unthinkable happened! I slipped on a spot of gravy on the floor and watched helplessly as the plates slid off the tray, spilling onto an especially well-dressed man, one of my professors. My heart sank. What could I do to atone? I grabbed a towel to clean him up, but I only spread the mess over more of my professor’s suit. "Don’t worry about it young man. These things happen." Was what I wanted to hear. Instead he locked his eyes on me and asked, "Mr. Leonard, what are you going to do about this?" "I’m so sorry sir. I’ll pay to have your suit cleaned," I responded. "I don’t believe this suit can be dry cleaned” my professor countered "Mr. Leonard, I believe it is only fair that you buy me a new suit." "Yes, sir," I managed to say. With a knot in my stomach, I agreed to meet him at a downtown Columbus men’s store the following day. I recognized the name of the store, and exclusive men’s clothier specializing in custom-tailored suits. I also knew that I could cover the expenses only if I were able to make payments over several months of work and scrimping. As I walked in the front door of the finely furnished store, I grew even more apprehensive. "Oh there you are," the ever-proper professor remarked. He had arrived early. He already chosen the fabric and the tailor had already taken measurements. My professor, a regular customer, had apparently vouched for my trustworthiness because the clerk nonchalantly accepted the professor’s remark, "Mr. Leonard will be responsible for the bill, as I have indicated." More than a little disorientated, I turned to follow my professor out of the door. Then he stopped. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked. "Yes sir," I responded. "It will take time, of course, but I…" He interrupted me with words directed to the clerk. "Let’s see that Mr. Leonard is fitted for a suit just like mine. And put them both on my bill." Not only was my debt cancelled, but I received what I did not deserve. And my benefactor provided me with more than a suit and an unforgettable memory. He gave me an encounter with grace." As I’m bringing this to a close We don’t deserve what we have To know God in a personal way

reject the gift of grace and try to just be good to esrn your way to heaven is like if someone bought you a mansion out of love and yo uinsisted paying them back 10 cents a day. You want the blessing, but are rejecting the love behind it, and you can never ACTUALLY pay back the gift.