Exclusion is often the fruit of a retributive, or penal substitutionary atonement, view of the cross—as though the Father looked away, as though Jesus only died to save some, as though Greater Love didn’t reconcile all creation, as though what was lost in Adam wasn’t fully restored in Christ, as though at the cross there was a delineation between Jew or Gentile, black or white, lost or found, sinner or saint, gay or straight, republican or democrat, capitalist or socialist, Christian or Muslim…woman and ministry—as though there is still a veil that separates some from His all-inclusive, measurelessly reconciling love.

You see, as I’ve left every Jesus that isn’t reconciling. I’ve also left every idea of church that isn’t built upon the Cornerstone of Greater Love. I’ve left every aspect of the church that practices us or them, in or out, for or against; and when I find I haven’t, I repent…

I was heartsick and disturbed by the theological certainty he placed in the punishing nature of God—a certainty that was clearly crushing him. He was tormented over whether he’d “evangelized” enough. He wondered aloud if a prayer said in the horror of a violent car crash would be enough.

“What am I still lacking?” That was the cruel and punishing road my pastor friend traveled. He seemed to believe God counted his dad’s sins against him—and his dad had come up lacking.

My pastor friend’s pain was real, traumatizing, and tragically unnecessary.

You see, what he described to me wasn’t Christian hope. It was fatalism.

The older brother was confronted with the offensive truth that he had been keeping score in a game his father wasn’t playing. When it comes to heaven and hell, I think most Western Christians are playing the same deterministic reward and punishment game…

“Finished” means “ended or completed.” I looked it up. Case closed, settled, resolved. No one was overlooked by Christ at the cross—not even Judas. Paul told us, “…in Adam, all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive.”

“All” means, “everyone.” I looked it up.

Trust is the central theme of life here on earth. Trust is our throughline and the evidence of heaven coming to earth. Trust is eternal life in the ever-present now. Trust is a Triune God perfectly revealed in the God-Man, Jesus. Trust is discovered in Jesus’ prayer that we would know union as He did—first with Him, our heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit; then with each other.

This podcast announces and features Jason’s new book, Leaving and Finding Jesus, in audio format. Retribution is the title of chapter seven and is presented in its entirety. In this chapter and podcast, Jason juxtaposes retribution with reconciliation and recognizes that a punishment lens on the nature of God is one of the reasons the church is navigating broken trust. It’s also why we currently find ourselves in a Deconstruction Movement.

God is as Jesus revealed Him, and on a cross Jesus forgave. God in Christ reconciled the world to Himself.

Control is the antithesis of intimacy and oneness. A hierarchal understanding of submission is what’s wrong with this world.

And war makes cruel hypocrites out of even the best-intentioned Christians.

And nothing undermines trust quicker than this hypocrisy.

And war makes cruel hypocrites out of even the best-intentioned Christians.

And nothing undermines trust quicker than this hypocrisy.