A Theological Question concerning Sacrifice and Suffering

I have a question. This is not a hypothetical question meant to spurn discussion, but a real question that I've been thinking about this week. Here goes:

Why did Jesus have to suffer the way that he did, or did he even have to? Obviously, I understand that Jesus was required to die as a substitutionary payment for our sins. Given the foundation laid out in Exodus, I understand that Jesus' execution was necessary. But what I can't figure out is why was Jesus hit, beaten, spit upon, mocked, falsely accused, and scourged.

Under Mosaic Law, the animal that was to be sacrificed as a payment for sin was quickly and humanely killed. Why wasn't this the case with Jesus?

Was there some theological, divine reason that Jesus was punished above and beyond his sacrificial execution? (Did God have a purpose in it?)

Or was it simply man's doing that Jesus was made to endure these things in addition to the sacrificial death he was to bear? (Were the Jewish and Roman leaders just being a bunch of jerks?)

Why couldn't Jesus have simply been executed the way that the animals were under Mosaic Law?


This isn't a rhetorical question. I expect some answers.

Simon Says: How much fun can a worship service really be?

For Easter, Granger Church played a really big game of Simon, using glow sticks and Daft Punk.

Awesome.

Gary Lamb; Revolution Church; Canton, Ga; and the Easter Egg Drop

Gary Lamb is one of my favorite preachers to listen to. He is the pastor of Revolution Church in Canton, GA. Last Saturday, they held an Easter Egg Drop for the community. They had a helicopter fly over a public park and drop 50,000 plastic eggs filled with candy for the children and parents below. A few of those eggs were filled with a certificate for free Xbox 360, a Nintendo Wii, a Ps3, etc. Just to be clear that it wasn't just candy involved in the event.

As a church hosting this event, they were expecting between 3 and 4 thousand people to show up for the Egg Drop. The population in Canton, Ga is approx. 18,000 people. It should also be noted that Revolution Church is only a few years old and their weekend attendance is less than 1000 people.

Police estimate that more than 17,000 people showed up for the Egg Drop and the logistical nightmare that followed.

Do the math.

For Better or for Worse

Abusive Animal Stunts for Easter??

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) had this to say about the Easter Weekend Services at Church by the Glades:

According to its news release, Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Florida, intends to display an Asian elephant named Judy at the church this Easter weekend.

Elephants like Judy who are forced to participate in publicity stunts are trained through domination, fear, and punishment. Sharp metal bullhooks and electric prods are the standard training tools of the industry. Captive elephants are subjected to beatings, prolonged confinement, physically difficult routines, and exhausting travel. The agony these magnificent animals must endure daily is the dirty little secret of the entertainment industry.

Judy's lonely and unnatural life is in sharp contrast to what she would experience in the wild. Elephants are highly social animals who live in matriarchal herds, protect one another, forage for fresh vegetation, play, bathe in rivers, share mothering responsibilities for the herd's babies, and travel up to 30 miles each day. Their ability to feel pain—as well as sorrow, joy, and happiness—rivals our own.

Unfortunately, PETA didn't actually do their homework. Church by the Glades actually brought Judy the elephant in courtesy of Vanishing Species, a conservationist group that has rescued more than 300 animals and utilizes those animals humanely for educational purposes furthering conservation efforts. Judy's "stunts" and "physically difficult routines" consisted of her leisurely standing in the grass in front of the church occasionally being hosed off to keep her cool. And the one aspect of Judy's life that they conveniently leave out is that if she were indeed reintroduced to her "life in the wild", she wouldn't actually last long because she has already been "semi-domesticated". It wouldn't be in the best interest of my dog, Memphis, if I just opened the door and let her go free. It's no different for Judy.

My wife used to support PETA in college, but their antics like this proved to be too much to handle. PETA takes what is essentially a good idea and just simply takes it too far. Animals should be treated humanely by people of course, but animals are not people. This is where they get it wrong. Not to mention the fact that they obviously have no common sense. Attacking the concerted efforts of a conservationist group and a spiritually evangelistic group is a serious waste of time and resources. Why don't they give more focus to our overcrowded dog and cat shelters? That's what I'd like to see. Less focus on the lone elephant that resides in South Florida and more focus on the thousands of homeless dogs and cats that reside in South Florida.

Lights will guide you home, and I will try to fix you....

(ht: TJ)

Song: Fix You
Artist: Coldplay
Film: Passion of the Christ

Good Friday - The Day of Atonement

South Florida's inflation rate highest in nation

Keep repeating the mantra folks: Warm Weather. Warm Weather. Warm Weather. Warm Weather. Warm Weather. Warm Weather. Warm Weather.

The forecast for the next couple weeks is highs in the low 80's and lows in the high 60's. Did I mention that this was the second warmest winter on record for South Florida? The only winter that was ever warmer was in 1932. We haven't had much chance for bonfires because it has been so warm.

Michigan Pizza

We've been living in South Florida for 7 years now. One thing I've missed: Michigan pizza. You see, South Florida is the 6th burrough of New York City. Down here, all the pizza is New York style pizza. That means that the crust is too thin and the sauce is too sweet. Even the cheese isn't quite right most of the time.

What makes Michigan pizza different? No, its not the water. (I roll my eyes every time I hear a New Yorker say that its "in the water.") The sauce is bolder, not necessarily spicy, just bold. Also, the crust is thicker; the slice doesn't "flop" or require folding. I'm not sure what makes the cheese different, or if its just that they use more of it.

But I digress. We've discovered Michigan pizza in South Florida. Jet's is a Michigan pizza chain with locations throughout Florida - I don't know why. The bad news is that Jet's is exactly 14 miles from our house. Now we're going to see how determined I am to get good pizza.

Pastoral Blog Cliches

I'm not sure why exactly, but I subscribe to quite a few blogs that belong to pastors. I suppose, when you subscribe to enough of them, you start to see the similarities. Here are a few cliches that I've noticed on blogs that belong to pastors:

• 'My beautiful wife' syndrome - apparently, every pastor out there is married to the most wonderful, smart, beautiful woman in the world. Also, she is "way out of his league." She is his perfect helpmate. The church's children's ministry couldn't get by without her. Their 6 children would be lost, stupid, and starving without her. I understand because I myself married out of my league, but I resist the urge to shout it from the proverbial rooftop with every post on this site.


• 'Next week is going to be the most exciting week ever at our church' syndrome - there are only 52 weeks in the year. How many of them can really be the most exciting week at church? For that matter, how many of the topical teaching series can really be the coolest, biggest, most exciting series to date? I'm not trying to poo-poo the presence of excitement in the church, but consistently inflated excitement doesn't really make much of a difference.


• 'Last week was the most exciting week ever at the church' syndrome - I'm not sure which is worse; the 'last week' syndrome or the 'next week' syndrome. Either way, every week can't be the most exciting week ever. So try and save those exaggerated postures for when it really counts.


• 'Sunday/Monday night mind dump' syndrome - last time I checked, I wasn't really a big fan of watching someone else take a dump. Why would this be any different? I very rarely read anything of interest in these play-by-play recaps of each weekend's church services.


• 'Verse of the day/week' syndrome - a devotional is one thing. A devotional disguised as a site that might actually contain something interesting is something else entirely.


• 'Six million pictures of my kids' syndrome - if it is your first child, I'll give you a pass for one month. After that, change the name of your site to http://www.picturesofbillyandsusiegrowingup.com/


• 'My favorite sports team' syndrome - pastors are family men first, and sportsmen second. Boy do they like their sports. I like sports too, but not enough to constantly post again and again about my favorite teams/players and their current happenings. Much like your children, it usually stands to reason that no one else is as interested or as excited as you are.

Some of you may ask, "Lew, why do you spend so much time reading pastors' websites?" My answer is, "I don't know. I just do." And if you are reading this and thinking that I'm possibly talking about you specifically, well, that just isn't the case. It isn't called a cliche for no reason. It is called a cliche because everyone is doing it.

Also, there are obvious exceptions to some of these syndromes. I'll give you a couple examples. One fellow has devoted much of his blog to the adventure of adopting two boys from Russia. That is actually pretty cool to read about. Another fellow has devoted much of his site to story of his abused/rehabilitating granddaughter and her struggles. These tales are far from the "look at my child" syndrome, as they are gripping in their emotional weight and serious in their need for corporate prayer.

Hopefully, this site hasn't succumbed to a 'syndrome' of it's own.