by Kathy Ross

The timing could not be better for consideration of Charles’s third reason to disbelieve* in the biblical God. He focuses our attention on Christ’s suffering and death and questions the adequacy of the atonement. Hugh and I have encountered this same question several times lately at outreaches on university campuses, in churches, and elsewhere. If you have not faced it yet, perhaps you will someday soon. By developing a response to Charles, you will be preparing yourself for ministry to other skeptics in your life—and, as an added bonus, you will deepen your understanding of a pivotal doctrine as you make the effort to express it in plain and simple English.

Charles writes,

"Others have tried to justify wrongful suffering by saying that its presence is compensated for by Jesus’ own wrongful suffering. This rationalization is truly bizarre. How can one unjust act (the torture and killing of an innocent man) compensate for a host of other unjust acts (the unfair suffering of many)? Two injustices don’t cancel one another out but only create a greater injustice."

Good Friday apparently seems a "no-good" Friday to Charles. May contemplation of his question heighten your compassion for unbelievers and enrich your worshipful celebration of the Passover, the once-and-for-all Sacrifice, and the Resurrection miracle.

*Charles wrote me at Christmastime in 1994 explaining his reason for rejecting Christianity. In a nine-paragraph letter he states his case for concluding that the biblical God is "morally repulsive." He implies that any open-minded, thinking person would conclude the same. Because his argument succinctly expresses frequently-encountered challenges to our faith, I began to present his paragraphs, one at a time, to stimulate thinking and preparedness. Just as importantly, I sought to enlist prayer support and correspondents for Charles, in case his heart may still be open, even the tiniest crack. Whatever his response, we have much to gain and nothing to lose by attending to his concerns.

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