The doctrine of “Substitutionary Atonement” — the basis for the doctrine of Salvation is basically this:
- Jesus took our place and died on the Cross for sins
- This Salvation is one time, good for for eternity, no matter how bad one has been
- Jesus shed his blood for the forgiveness of sin
- Belief in one’s heart and confession that God raised Jesus from the dead is what saves
- The blood of Jesus cleanses the believer of sin
This doctrine is a central, foundational concept, a pillar on which Christianity has stood firm for centuries. It has made Christianity a religion exclusive, in a way that no other religion could be the true one; and belief in any other religion will only lead one to eternal damnation in Hell, according to this dogma.
This article is only an outline and is not meant to be an exhaustive expose’ of this doctrine. The main points of this article have been expounded upon in more details in other parts of this book.
It is impossible for this doctrine to be of sound biblical truth because its main points are contradicted by other sound principals in the Bible; also because most of the events of the life the central actor that this doctrine is based on, Jesus Christ, are based on events that cannot be proven and not according to sound biblical principals in order to make the doctrine work. The following are the basic points of his life, critical to make it believable:
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- Jesus was born to be the Savior of the world
- Jesus was to be the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy
- Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins
- Jesus was three days and three nights dead
- Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day
- Jesus ascended to Heaven in his resurrected body
1. Jesus cannot be Savior since God is the only Savior, and God is one — not three, and there is no other god but Him. Moreover, the actual details of his birth were forged.
2. Jesus was, according to this doctrine, supposed to be able to save because he was the Messiah (and God incarnate). However he was not the promised Messiah Christians claim to be, because he did not fulfill any of the most key prophecies the Messiah was supposed to perform at his coming.
3. The Messiah, was supposed to be the king of the Jews and liberate the Jews from the oppression of the Romans. Yet he completely failed at the mission Messiah was prophesied to fulfill; was captured; tried and executed for insurrection.
4. Jesus, being the true prophet he actually appeared to be, predicted he would be alive for three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth, and in fact he survived the ordeal (as did Jonah). The fact that he was in the tomb three days and three nights is is not so important than the fact that he wasn’t even dead according to the prophecy. Moreover, having only been on the cross for six hours, he was taken down alive (thought to be dead).
5. Though the New Testament claims he was raised from the dead, he was actually still alive when he left the tomb. The story of his resurrection is very likely not true. Not one person is recorded to have witnessed the even nor wrote an account of what was seen — it is only and article of faith, which has to be believed.
6. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, the story of the ascension of Jesus to Heaven in his Earthly body was could not have happened. Furthermore, in every case, a dead physical body does not return to God but to the Earth, and it is the spirit of that body, according to Scripture, that returns to God. Even though it says five hundred people witnessed this, it’s likely based on more stories that someone created and inserted into the Bible — like so many others.
Seeing that the whole birth, life and death of Jesus is likely based on a myth (that’s not to say that he did not exist), the doctrine of Salvation in Christianity is a complete failure in concept, since the idea of Salvation is completely dependent on the belief in the life, death and resurrection of “Jesus Christ” and portions of it contradict Scriptural precepts.
The fact of the matter is that to need salvation, there needs to be something to be saved “from”. Thus, the invention of the concept of an Eternal Hell became very convenient. What was originally merely death and the grave, with some ingenious misinterpretation and forgery, became a horrible and fearful fate called Hell.
When you think about it, to make belief that God raised Jesus from the dead, a requirement for salvation from an imaginary Hell, is a dogma religionists have used to get unsuspecting people to accept a religion out of fear. And it is fear of the unknown and a nonexistent eternal threat used to control and manipulate people for their own ends.
