Something is broken in our civilization. To set some worry aside it’s not only a
westerner problem, it’s a whole world problem. But see unlike most problems in
modern society this one cannot be fixed by calling your local official or
sending troops in or diplomats from other lands meeting in a room with a large
table. No, this one is a problem at the core of our understanding of love and
our foundation for Christian marriages. See marriage is broken, love is skewed,
and time is running out. Writers and
Theologians would have us to believe the problem is ease of divorce, or a
polygamist lifestyle when single and the weight of converting to a monogamous
marriage. But the problem is more
foundational. The culprit lies in the
building block for our understanding of love. The culprit is a fractured and
out dated understanding of the atonement.
If someone were to
ask me the reason the old view doesn't work; I’d say the reason the atonement
meaning of the old is “too old” is because it is an un-relatable view for our
modern society to base love off of a culture distant by millennia’s from
sacrificial worship and sacrificial language; we can no longer relate love to dying, or a
giving up of oneself or sacrifice as a model of true love. In this individualistic society it just isn't keeping the foundation secure. Now let us stop and understand that the
atonement of Christ is an ultimate display of love, I do not refute that. However we need to reach the masses with it
in this post modern world and do it in a way that makes sense to them; and not
only reach the masses but fix the decay of the family.
If you were to ask any Christian of an example of the utmost
display of love most would point to the cross.
However if you put that same Christian in a marriage that requires a lot
of what we label “sacrifice” and tell then from the time they were little that
love requires giving up things as well as accepting things 50% will fail right out of the gate; tying the national average.
We need to fix our understanding of love, and our model of
the utmost love.
