Did Jesus really die for our sins?

It has been over two thousand years since Jesus lived and died. The religion that formed in his name has since snowballed into the biggest religious movement the world has ever known, currently totaling 2.2 billion followers and representing a third of the world’s population. For many of these followers, belief in Jesus is the equivalent of an all-access backstage pass to heaven when they die. Many Christians believe that all they must do is show their pass at the gate and they will be granted admittance to the afterlife party, no further questions asked. Supporting and upholding this belief is the Christian doctrine of atonement which refers to the forgiving or pardoning of a person’s sins through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Many believe that Jesus's atoning death is the Bible’s central message and details of that message of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice can be found throughout the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans (see Romans 3:25, Romans 5:11, and Romans 5:19.) Various theories have been offered to explain the how behind this unusual explanation for a man’s death, and these explanations are classified in Christian theology as “Atonement Models.” The gist of atonement is that human beings are inherently fallible and therefore held captive by the power of sin. So the theological claim is that Jesus was born in order that his unjust death would substitute for our waywardness in a classic bait and switch maneuver; God’s wrath satisfied by such a willing sacrifice, humans’ debts would be paid in full and could then graduate to heaven in good standing with God upon death.

For those familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia children’s stories about a wardrobe that doubles as a portal to another dimension, the plot of the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe depicts substitutional atonement theory to the T. This understanding of Jesus’s death is depicted throughout Christian liturgy and tradition. Hymns and well-known scripture passages liken Jesus as a “slain lamb whose blood sets us free to be people of God.” Everything from celebrating the instrument of Jesus’ torturous death to the bread and wine of Holy Communion seek to remind Christians of the importance of Jesus’ bloodshed on our behalf. Somehow this gory understanding of Jesus’ demise has captivated Christians for centuries and inspired more than a few “deathbed conversions” in which a person can gain that all-access pass through the simple act of confessing Jesus as their "Savior and Lord" moments before taking their last breath and bada-bing, they get to taste heaven in all its glory moments later. Is this how it really works? Did Jesus the Christ, who lived two thousand years before you were even conceived, really die for you?

The institutional Christian Church sure wants us to believe this but I doubt Jesus went about doing what he did so that only Christians could benefit. Didn’t Jesus make it clear to his critics that having proper identification could only take one so far? Does “right belief” really serve as “payment” or admittance to heaven? I don’t want to stand in anyone’s way if this model is working for them. On the other hand, I find it deeply troubling when people worship the way he died and ignore the way he lived. If death by crucifixion provides a meaningful way to accept suffering and our mortality, fine. It’s just that I have discovered that there is an abundance of meaning to be mined from his life, so much so that the manner of his death is secondary. Many will push back and argue that "this is what the Bible says." But did you know that Jesus's atonement for our sins is not the consensus belief in the New Testament? Go and read carefully the books of Luke and Acts, which amounts to almost half of the New Testament, and see for yourself!