The militant atheist, Richard Dawkins, has said on a number of occasions that any God who could cause his son to die a horrible death the pay for the price for the sins of humankind would be horrible and vindictive!

What do you think about that?

Hmm…    In order for Dawkings to say such a thing, he needs to have a theological understanding that is both paper thin and wilfully distorted.

So what can we say in response?

Perhaps two things.

The first is this: God was not driven by vindictiveness to force someone else to die in order to appease his anger at sin.  No; quiet the reverse.   God himself chose to die.   He, himself, took the blame.   He took on himself the violence surrounding the killing off of evil.  Quite simply, it was the greatest act of selfless love in history.

So, Richard Dawkins, don’t you dare, in your arrogance and ignorance, call the greatest act of sacrificial love in history “vile” or “vindictive.”   The very violence you accuse God of is the very violence that he is protecting you from.

Secondly: I’d want to say to you, Professor Dawkins: What is the alternative to God not killing off the sins of humanity in himself?

Do you seriously want rape, abuse, injustice, untruth, cruelty an selfishness to continue forever — unresolved and unchallenged?   Well, let me tell you: if a good God exists, that cannot be.   And just quietly: because a good God exists, it didn’t.

Let me tell you a little about the love of God.  It is powerful, perfect and persistent.  A fair description of it is given in the Old Testament book, The Song of Songs.   This is what it says:

Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
    its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame. (Song of Solomon 8:6)

That’s what God’s love for you is like.   He wants you to place him over your heart because his love for you is strong as death.   It is unflinching and it burns like a blazing fire.   That’s that nature of God’s love for you.   And that’s the love you are impugning.

God’s jealous love for you and me was such that he could not allow our evil to keep us from him.   But neither can he turn a blind eye to it.   Why?… because he is holy and can’t simply ignore sin.

God therefore chooses to die in our place to kill off our sin that would keep us from him.   You see: That’s what perfect love does.

God died.   He was therefore not vindictive.   He didn’t force anyone else to die because of our sins.   He was motivated by love to die in our place.

Now here’s the important bit.  All of God paid the price for our sins.   Jesus made it plain that he and the Father were one (Jn 10:30).   This point was beautifully made in the book, The Shack, (written by William Young) in which book’s hero accuses God the Father of callousness in asking Jesus to die for our sins.   God the Father’s reply was simply to show his accuser his hands… which had the same crucifixion scars as his Son.

So, Richard Dawkins: don’t turn the greatest act of love in history into an evil thing, and throw God’s grace back into his face.   To do that would be a terrible injustice and a terrible evil.   In saying what you have, I fear you are standing in a very dangerous place.