Memorial 2007, Part 1: Downplaying Jesus' Sacrifice
"How are we going to treat the Father from now on?"
That was the biggest question at the Memorial I attended on April 2, 2007. Only by the Grace of God did I not go berserk. I had prepared myself not to interfere in the proceedings, out of respect to my family and friends there.
Right from the beginning the onslaught of absurdity and deception was unleashed. The Elder opened the night with a weird guilt trip. He summed up all of creation and the meaning of life into this simple illustration. If a father found his son had crossed the railroad tracks and there was no way to stop the impending train from destroying the young boy other than to derail it and thus killing all of passengers, what would the father do?
"Well, this is precisely what happened", the Elder continued, face still intact. "The Father, Jehovah, sacrificed his Son, Jesus Christ, so that all of you may live! How would we act towards that human father? How much more should we feel towards our Heavenly Father that went through that?".
I am not completely aware how people took his illustration, but I couldn't stomach it. First of all, how WOULD we feel if a Father did just that? I would feel grateful if he let me live, in a strange kind of way, but how would the man's wife and, if the case, other children react to this?
The analogy breaks down even faster. It wasn't just a few that were inside this train, it was the entire human civilization, past, present, and future! Even if the human Father allowed that to happen from inside the moving train, did the Son go there unknowingly?
Not only did God send his Son, but His Son volunteered to take on our deserved punishment and die for us! The ficitious little boy was evidently unsupervised by his Father in the first place and wandered off into a danger zone by mistake. How ungodly to make such comparisons to the Holy Father and Son.
That was the biggest question at the Memorial I attended on April 2, 2007. Only by the Grace of God did I not go berserk. I had prepared myself not to interfere in the proceedings, out of respect to my family and friends there.
Right from the beginning the onslaught of absurdity and deception was unleashed. The Elder opened the night with a weird guilt trip. He summed up all of creation and the meaning of life into this simple illustration. If a father found his son had crossed the railroad tracks and there was no way to stop the impending train from destroying the young boy other than to derail it and thus killing all of passengers, what would the father do?
"Well, this is precisely what happened", the Elder continued, face still intact. "The Father, Jehovah, sacrificed his Son, Jesus Christ, so that all of you may live! How would we act towards that human father? How much more should we feel towards our Heavenly Father that went through that?".
I am not completely aware how people took his illustration, but I couldn't stomach it. First of all, how WOULD we feel if a Father did just that? I would feel grateful if he let me live, in a strange kind of way, but how would the man's wife and, if the case, other children react to this?
The analogy breaks down even faster. It wasn't just a few that were inside this train, it was the entire human civilization, past, present, and future! Even if the human Father allowed that to happen from inside the moving train, did the Son go there unknowingly?
Not only did God send his Son, but His Son volunteered to take on our deserved punishment and die for us! The ficitious little boy was evidently unsupervised by his Father in the first place and wandered off into a danger zone by mistake. How ungodly to make such comparisons to the Holy Father and Son.
John 10:17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
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