A Swedish pastor does not need the cross or the atonement. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Joel Kontinen
Each year, Easter time is heralded by skeptical writings that attempt to deny some aspects of the historicity of Jesus’ death and resurrection. This year we heard from Ulla Karlsson, a Swedish Lutheran pastor. She wrote two brief articles in Kyrkans tidning, a church publication, trying to convince her readers that Christians ought to cease from talking about ”sin, guilt, blood and other abominable things. They are not appropriate for today’s enlightened people.”
We have heard all this before. People are offended by the message of the cross. Two thousand years ago the apostle Paul wrote: ”We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength". (1 Corinthians 1:23-25, NIV.)
Instead of sin and judgment, Karlsson only wants to preach about love as she does not believe that the Fall described in Genesis was a real historical event.
It is not difficult to guess that this scepticism is due to theistic evolution.
Ms. Karlsson thinks that Jesus was a great spiritual man who was killed for his radical views but she does not accept the biblical view that regards Him as the Saviour who came to atone for our sins and iniquities.
However, time and again Jesus said clearly that His way would take Him to the cross. The apostles explained that this was because of our sins.
Sources:
Karlsson, Ulla. 2011. Webbdebatt: Plocka bort talet om synd, skuld och slaktade lamm. Kyrkans tidning (24 March).
Karlsson, Ulla. 2011. Kyrkan har ett ärende utan försoningsoffer. Kyrkans tidning (31 March).
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