Chapter 3.III – The Atonement without Sacrifice

March 12, 2021

We have an upside-down view of the crucifixion and therefore, we are confused about it and afraid of the Atonement.

There are a few key concepts we need to be clear on.

The Atonement “arises from perfect innocence” (7:7)

·       “Innocence is wisdom, because it is unaware of evil, which does not exist.” (7:8)

·       The innocent mind is a pure mind that is “is perfectly aware of everything that is true” (7:9) and therefore is the state of right-mindedness.

·        Innocence perceives the perfect integration of the Holy Trinity of which we are a part, there is no separation of the Trinity because they are of one Mind and one will. (9)

·       “The hearts of the innocent are pure and they defend true perception.” (10:2)

·       The innocent understand the Atonement so “they are without the will to attack, and therefore they see truly.” (10:3)

·       The symbol of Jesus’ innocence in the Bible is a lamb. The symbol of the lamb laying with a lion depicts “Innocence and strength are not in conflict but naturally live in peace.” (14:4)

·       “Only the innocent can see God.” (14:6)

·       The innocent are of sound mind and therefore” do not confuse destruction with innocence.” (16:3)

·       “The innocent mind has everything and strives only to protect its wholeness.” (16:4)

·       “The innocent mind cannot project… it can only honour others.” (16:5)

·       “The state of innocence or grace is one in which the meaning of the Atonement is perfectly apparent.” (17:1)

·       “The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His Son. In this state your mind does see God…” (17:2)

Here we have a synopsis of what innocence really means according to the Course. Innocence is the natural, undistorted state of the mind of God’s Son. The next thing that needs clearing up is our confusion about the Atonement being a sacrifice. The problem is that we look to the crucifixion as a demonstration of the Atonement when it should be the resurrection we see as the demonstration of it.

When we believe that the crucifixion of Jesus, an innocent and pure—see how your mind is twisting these words even after reading the above—Son of God, is the demonstration of the Atonement, we think Atonement means “God permitted and even encouraged one of His Sons to suffer because he was good.” (2:1) This leads us to believe that we are required to sacrifice. It also leads to our upside-down idea that punishment is for our own good. Unfortunately, this is carried into the world to justify any kind of persecution including war against those we see as “bad” and even to the beating of our own children.

This error also leads to the belief that we must sacrifice ourselves in order to be worthy of Heaven. “Although this appears to be a much more benign error from the viewpoint of society, it is nevertheless inherently dangerous because once a two-edged defense is used, its direction cannot be self-controlled.” (12:3) This is a problem when we remain confused about the idea of Atonement being the need to sacrifice versus the need to accept truth, accept our innocence. Jesus tells us he did not sacrifice himself because he accepted that nothing can destroy truth and he commended his spirit into the hands of God. This means he finally accepted the oneness of spirit rather than the separation.

How do we rectify this error? How do we accept that the resurrection is the demonstration of the Atonement?

To the anti religious idea that “God permitted and even encouraged one of His Sons to suffer because he was good…[we] would have to pause and ask, ‘How could this be?’ Is it likely that God Himself would be capable of the kind of thinking which His Own words have clearly stated is unworthy of His children?” (2:5-6)

We have been taught that the Atonement is the perfect defense and that it protects the truth. In the Bible, Jesus taught that God would have us love our enemies. In order to accept that the Atonement requires the suffering of one of God’s Son we have to distort the message of love in a tragic way with the consequence that it condones the persecution of others. We, therefore, need to question any belief that any form of harm has any value in correction and tell ourselves that “[Jesus] was not punished because you were bad.” (4:5)

If the resurrection is the demonstration of Atonement, its message is that nothing can destroy truth. The Atonement radiates nothing but truth. It is perfectly aware of everything that is true and is unaware of evil because it does not exist. The Atonement is harmless. It sheds only blessings. It is wisdom.

The Atonement is truth and arises from perfect innocence. (7:7) The resurrection as the demonstration of the Atonement “is thus the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that all of the other lessons which I taught are true.” 8:3-4) These are the lessons of love and mercy, that strength is innocence and nothing can destroy truth.

We can use the resurrection as our own perfect lesson, as the “One Generalization” with no need for further lessons. We can accept Jesus’ demonstration of the one correction for the one error and we too will commend our spirit into the hands of God. Our minds will awaken and we will remember God and we will remember our part in the Holy Trinity in the perfect integration of the one Mind and one will. (9) Likely we will require our practice of the defense of Atonement to correct many times before we can accept its lesson fully.

Reflection:

Let us determine today not to confuse or distort symbols. We have distorted the Atonement, a symbol of Jesus’ innocence, or pure mind, with weakness and vulnerability, the symbol of sacrifice. Let us try today to accept this symbol as one of strength and a state of grace.

Practice:

I commend my spirit into the hands of the Father and accept my state of grace because nothing can destroy truth.