Did Jesus "die" for our sins?

It is always a blessing when individuals work on expressing the Truth that they know.  It is one of the cornerstones of Unity Teachings.  And we know that it is improtant that we not ".. hide our light..."   The question was raised in a study group "Did Jesus "die" for our sins?"
From that discussion came this response....

METAPHSICALLY SPEAKING


The question is, did Jesus Christ "die" for our sins? In the bible Paul wrote "Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God, our Father." (Galatians 1:3,4).

Metaphysically Jesus represents the "I am" in each of us. In (1st Corinthians 2:16) Paul states "We have the mind of Christ." This is our spiritual identity. Jesus' teachings were all about the Christ within. "Christ in you, the hope of our glory." (Colossians 1:27). The Lord God of the Scriptures is Christ, the spiritual man; our divine consciousness; the creative power within us, God as us individually. In ignorance Jesus was crucified. "O Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing". (Luke 23:34). The cruel and unjust treatment of Jesus though ignorance and hard-heartedness was put upon him by the unfeeling attitude of the leaders and followed through by the insensitive soldiers and was by no means the "perfect plan of God."

Jesus of Nazareth came to awaken in us the Truth of the Spiritual nature in each and everyone of us. Jesus saw the duality of Earth-Life without accepting it as Truth, and in his knowing led us back to God. He knew that the power of the resurrection is "The Christ." Christ is the perfect idea of man in the Mind of God. Christ Jesus, the union of the idea of expression, is perfect man demonstrated. Christ existed long before Jesus. It was the Christ Mind in Jesus that exclaimed, "So now, O my Father, glorify me with thee, with the same glory which I had with thee before the world was made" (John 17:5). Jesus became identified with Christ; One with God. Christ needed Jesus' form to appear to mankind to show us the way to the Truth of who we are. The prophetic hope of mankind was not fulfilled in Jesus but was revealed through him and the true hope of mankind is the Christ Spirit within the heart of every one. We are all his sons and daughters, even as Jesus is, we too are all of equal value in the eyes of God.

Jesus did not die to appease the wrath of God, nor to atone for humanities guilt to provide an effective approach to an offended and unforgiving God. "The Father" never conceived of such injustice as an effort to pay God (as some believe) a debt which the human race had come to owe. God is a loving Father, the only concept Jesus ever taught.

The notion that God is a stern master and an all-powerful ruler whose desire is to send one who is willing to suffer and die for us is rooted in man's desire for control and power. In pride and arrogance it was man and not God who planned and executed Jesus' death on the cross. The idea of ransom and atonement is incompatible with the teachings exemplified by Jesus . Through Jesus' willingness to show humanity that the appearance of death is just that, we are enriched men and women and forever inspired by the manner in which Jesus showed us the way in which he met his death.

There was nothing about Jesus on the cross that was required by "The Father". It was the willing acceptance that Jesus gave and which he refused to avoid that shows his perfect trust in a loving God and his own mercy towards mankind. He was persecuted as the world judges. He experienced betrayal, abandonment, beaten and finally killed. Yet the message of the crucifixion remained the same: teaching only Love, for that is what Christ is. The death and resurrection revealed the Truth of Eternal life. Jesus is our way shower, the Christ Mind is our Savior.

In trusting "The Father" Jesus set a worthy example for every person in the universe. He refused to use material tests to prove spiritual Truth and is the example of loyalty and nobility. Jesus showed his Real Self as to the Truth of who he is during his time on the cross. Do you not comprehend that Jesus Christ is God on the cross showing humanity the Truth of who we are; that we will be lead, step by step through the maze of life in the progress along the path of Truth; that we are one with the fullness of infinite Power and Energy; that the Holy Father and Divine Mother, in the unity of one parent has created us all with the Divine Nature; that is ours from the All ness of God?

Just as we (humanity) must progress from the consciousness of the human to the realization of our divinity, so did Jesus evolve from his humanness to his rising to the spiritual realms of consciousness into the perfect Mind of "The Christ" which is God. With purpose and intent, thru the Christ, the infinite God lives as us.

The belief that Jesus in an outer way atoned for our sins is not salvation. Salvation embodies a knowledge of God that frees one from all imitation and points the way by which mind and body may be lifted up to the spiritual place of consciousness. It is based solely on an inner overcoming, (a change in consciousness). It is a cleansing of the mind, through Christ, from thoughts of evil. Jesus' personal love for men and women and his absolute trust in God would break the hold of negativity and the false belief that we are born sinners.

Jesus taught the people that the world was not evil, "God created the heavens and the earth in the very beginning" (Genesis 1:1) "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good." ( Genesis 1:31). It was the thought's in one's mind that manifested the appearance of evil. "Thought's express themselves in life form according to the character given it by the thinker." The form is simply the conclusion of the thought, hench sin is simply inner negativity. Jesus taught us that delivering us from sin and this present evil world would be by the transforming of our mind thereby returning to our original state.

The spectacle of the death of the human Jesus on the cross contradicted what the powers that be in that day wanted. They had come to destroy him and his teachings. Instead it served to bring the best out in men, it stimulated man's realization of the Father's Eternal love and his Son's refusal to turn his back on his Beloved Father by denying the teachings that he knew to be the Truth. His choice was to live by faith regardless of the appearance or the experience that would come his way. He revealed to mankind a new higher way of living faith, he knew why he had come, "Eli, Eli, lemana shabakthanil My God, my God, for this I was spared!" (Matthew 27:46). These were the words from his own Aramaic language. Jesus, did not say, my God, my God why have you forsaken me?" Jesus never doubted "The Father". He heard the voice of God and was exalted!

Jesus resurrected his body through the Spiritual I am dwelling in him. Our resurrection is not of the future, when the physical dissolution of our body takes place. Christ is the resurrecting power and the life in each of us here and now. Jesus lived the Truth and showed the world "Eternal Life", according to the will of God.

DONNA MAE ROSE

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So what would be your response to the question?

In Oneness,
Rob