📅 Today is Day 11 of The 20-Day Easter Special
Each day leading up to Easter, we’re critically examining a core resurrection claim—one at a time—through the lens of reason, evidence, and The God Question’s Core Philosophy.
Christianity claims to be the story of a loving God who so cared for humanity that He offered His only son as a sacrificial substitute for our sins. This claim lies at the heart of the Easter message—and for many, it’s the cornerstone of faith, comfort, and salvation.
And yet, it invites one of the most morally troubling and intellectually pressing questions we can ask:
Why would a loving, all-powerful God require a bloody execution to forgive the people He created?
If we apply The God Question’s Core Philosophy—a framework that emphasizes intellectual honesty, logical consistency, and moral clarity over blind faith or inherited doctrine—this question becomes not just important but urgent. It forces us to examine the underlying theology, its ethical implications, and whether the traditional Christian narrative of atonement aligns with the character of a God truly worth believing in.
❖ The Problem of Substitutionary Atonement
The dominant Christian explanation for Jesus’ death is called penal substitution: the belief that Jesus was punished in our place, satisfying God’s justice so that we might be spared. This model casts God as both judge and executioner—a deity who cannot simply forgive but must see blood spilled to balance the cosmic scales of justice.
This theological framework may feel familiar and even sacred to many—but it raises profound moral and logical concerns:
- Is it just to punish the innocent for the guilty?
In any human legal system, punishing an innocent person instead of the guilty would be considered a miscarriage of justice—not the pinnacle of love. - Why would divine love be contingent on violence?
Why would God’s forgiveness hinge on suffering? Why isn’t divine mercy enough? - Why can’t an all-loving, all-powerful being forgive without demanding death?
Human parents can forgive their children without sacrificing another sibling. Are we to believe that our moral instincts about love and justice are more advanced than God’s?
The penal substitution model mirrors the logic of ancient tribal religion more than enlightened moral thinking. It casts God in the image of pagan kings and blood-hungry deities—demanding appeasement, reparation, and death.
❖ What Love Looks Like
The New Testament insists that “God is love.” But is love best demonstrated through the orchestrated execution of a beloved son?
Applying The God Question’s Core Philosophy, we must challenge the assumption that divine love and divine violence are compatible.
- Would we admire a parent who demands the death of an innocent child to forgive a guilty one?
- Would we call that love—or emotional abuse?
- If God had to “satisfy justice,” who created that justice system?
- If God is the author of the moral law, why create a system in which blood is the only currency of forgiveness?
If Jesus had to die to meet the demands of some cosmic ledger, it implies either:
- God did not create the law (meaning there’s a higher authority above God), or
- God created the law and refuses to bend it, even when love and compassion demand it.
Either conclusion is problematic for the traditional view of God as supreme in love, morality, and power.
❖ What If the Cross Wasn’t About Payment?
A growing number of theologians, philosophers, and progressive Christians offer a radically different interpretation of the cross. They suggest that Jesus was not a sacrifice God needed, but a victim of humanity’s addiction to scapegoating and violence.
In this view:
- The crucifixion exposes human cruelty, not divine necessity.
- Jesus is not the fulfillment of God’s wrath, but the target of our wrath.
- The cross is not about transaction, but transformation.
Seen this way, God does not demand the cross—we do. Jesus submits, not to appease God, but to break the cycle of violence and reveal the emptiness of religious bloodlust.
His resurrection, then, is not a divine seal of approval on execution—but a divine reversal of injustice. A cosmic protest against the idea that death, violence, and empire get the last word.
This vision paints a picture of a God who is morally intelligible, whose love is not conditioned on pain, and whose justice restores rather than destroys.
❖ A God Worth Believing In
At its core, this post asks a deeper question:
Is the traditional Easter story one we can still affirm as reasonable, moral, and true?
Because if God is truly good:
- Why would He build a salvation plan around violence?
- Why would forgiveness require suffering?
- Why would love look like death?
And if God is truly powerful:
- Why limit salvation to those who accept a specific historical interpretation of a blood ritual?
- Why make divine love dependent on doctrinal agreement about a Roman execution?
Using The God Question’s Core Philosophy, we must not settle for sentiment or tradition. We must hold our conception of God to the highest moral standards—higher than we would demand of ourselves. If a human parent, judge, or leader acted the way God is described in penal substitution theory, we would be appalled. We must have the courage to ask: Should we hold our God to a lower moral bar than our neighbors?
🧠 The God Question’s Core Philosophy Applied
- Does the claim rely on evidence or belief?
- Substitutionary atonement is a theological assertion without independent evidence. It demands belief in a metaphysical debt and divine wrath that must be satisfied by blood.
- Are alternative explanations considered?
- Historically, yes. Early Christians embraced many views of atonement, including Christus Victor (Jesus triumphs over evil) and moral influence (Jesus inspires repentance). Penal substitution became dominant only after the Protestant Reformation. But most modern churches present it as the only valid view.
- Is there independent corroboration?
- No moral philosophy affirms that punishing the innocent is just. No legal system embraces substitutionary justice. The claim lives entirely within religious tradition.
- Is the claim falsifiable?
- Not really. The idea that Jesus’ death satisfied God’s justice is treated as sacred mystery, shielded from moral scrutiny or rational challenge.
- Does the explanation raise more questions than it answers?
- Absolutely. If God is love, why violence? If God is just, why punish the innocent? If God is powerful, why not simply forgive?
❖ Conclusion
If the Easter story is meant to reveal the love of God, we must ask whether the model of a bloody execution—required by divine decree—truly does that.
A God who demands blood is not morally superior to a God who simply forgives. In fact, the latter seems more worthy of reverence, trust, and belief.
Perhaps the real scandal of Easter is not that Jesus died—but that we thought God needed Him to.
📺 For Further Exploration
YouTube: “Rethinking Penal Substitutionary Atonement”
Description:
This video offers a critical examination of the traditional penal substitutionary atonement theory, exploring alternative perspectives that emphasize a more compassionate and non-violent understanding of God’s nature. It challenges viewers to reconsider the implications of believing in a deity who requires violent sacrifice for forgiveness.
📅 Note: After we wrap up our 20-Day Easter Special on April 20, we’ll return to our regular schedule of posting three times a week:
- Tuesdays & Fridays – our structured explorations through all 11 blog categories
- Sundays – our Sunday Special Feature, where we critically respond to real-world religious claims in real time
We hope you’ll stay with us as we continue asking bold questions and applying reason to faith.
God or Delusion? 