[Proud_texan]

One of my favorite quotes:

"We want a God without wrath who took man without sin into a kingdom without justice through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." - The Kingdom of God in America, H. Richard Niebuhr

Niebuhr wrote that over 60 years ago.

Re: the private transactions I was fuzzy on the "why have you forsaken me" scripture and I've been working on it. For the first time in His Life God withdrew from Jesus when he asummed all our sins as God wasn't capable of experiencing sin. That's what I imagine hell to be like, the end of our relationship to God, even for those that don't realize that there is such a thing, even if it's only one sided.

You're right, that would have been even worse than the physical.

[nightdriver]

"For the first time in His Life God withdrew from Jesus when he asummed all our sins as God wasn't capable of experiencing sin."

Based on my own inadequate understanding of the scriptures, from Genesis to the Revelation, that is the same conclusion I have come to.

[tame]

I was fuzzy on the "why have you forsaken me" scripture and I've been working on it.

An important point regarding "why have you forsaken me". Jesus was quoting the beginning of Psalm 22, which contains prophetic passages about him. That Psalm, far from demonstrating a lack of faith on Jesus' part, goes on to deomonstrate that God "has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help." [Psalm 22:24]

[tame]

"We want a God without wrath who took man without sin into a kingdom without justice through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." - The Kingdom of God in America, H. Richard Niebuhr

Wow. Great quote!