Ideas from A Course in Miracles

This is a point which many very sincere Christians have misunderstood: The Crucifixion did NOT establish the Atonement. The Resurrection did.

If the Crucifixion is seen from an upside down point of view, it certainly does appear AS IF God permitted, and even encouraged, one of His Sons to suffer BECAUSE he was good. This particularly unfortunate interpretation is genuinely tragic on a mass basis and has led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. Persecution is a frequent result, justifying the terrible misperception that God Himself persecuted His own Son.

The real Christian would have to pause and ask “how could this be?” Is it likely that God Himself would be capable of the kind of thinking which His own Words have clearly stated is unworthy of man?

In milder forms, a parent says “This hurts me more than it hurts you,” and feels exonerated in beating a child. Can you believe that the Father REALLY thinks this way?

Jesus was NOT punished because YOU were bad. It is so essential that all such thinking be dispelled. This kind of error is responsible for a host of related fallacies, including the misbelief that God rejected man and forced him out of the Garden of Eden.

The Resurrection demonstrated that NOTHING can destroy truth. Good can withstand ANY form of evil, because light abolishes ALL forms of darkness.

“Vengeance is Mine sayeth the Lord” is strictly a karmic viewpoint. This is a real misperception of the truth, by which man assigns his own evil past to God. The “evil conscience” from the past has nothing to do with God. He did not create it, and He does not maintain it. God does NOT believe in karmic retribution at all. His Divine mind does not create that way. HE does not hold the evil deeds of a man against even HIMSELF.

Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. Sacrificing others in any way is a clear-cut violation of God’s own injunction that man should be merciful even as His Father in Heaven is merciful. It has been harder for many Christians to realize that this commandment (or assignment) also applies to THEMSELVES.

Though Christians generally (but by no means universally) recognize the contradiction involved in victimizing others, they are less adept at ensuring their own inability to victimize themselves.

Jesus has been correctly referred to in the Bible as “The Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.” Those who present the lamb as blood-stained do NOT understand the meaning of the symbol.  Correctly understood, the symbol is a very simple parable, or teaching device, which merely depicts His innocence.

Innocence is wisdom, because it is unaware of evil, which does not exist. It is, however, PERFECTLY aware of EVERYTHING, that is true. Because the innocent heart is pure, it defends true perception, instead of defending itself AGAINST it.

Innocence is INCAPABLE of sacrificing anything, because the innocent mind HAS everything and strives only to PROTECT its Wholeness. Innocence can only honor man, because honor is the NATURAL greeting of the truly loved to others who are LIKE them.

The lamb taketh away the sins of the world only in the sense that the state of innocence or Grace, is one in which the meaning of the Atonement is perfectly apparent. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” is another way of saying the same thing. Only the innocent CAN see God.

The innocence of God is the true state of mind of His Son. In this state, man’s mind DOES see God, and because he sees Him as he Is, he knows that the Atonement, NOT sacrifice, is the ONLY appropriate gift to His OWN altar, where nothing except perfection truly belongs. The understanding of the innocent is TRUTH. That is why their altars are truly radiant.

The lion and the lamb lying down together refers to the fact that strength and innocence are NOT in conflict, but naturally live in peace.