So, if you’re new here, welcome to Secular Frontier! I’ve been exploring Christian Origins in the gospels in relation to sacrifice. In Mark, we have a dual presentation of Jesus as the Yom Kippur pure goat and scapegoat. In a superficial common way, this means penal substitution theology, but in a deeper way it means moral influence theology focused on the excess of violence of the scapegoat being torn apart when it is pushed off the cliff. Jewish sacrifice is usually otherwise done in a humane way. Similarly, the gospel of John identifies Jesus as the Passover lamb who takes away the sin (singular) of the world, which doesn’t immediately reconcile with penal substitution, but makes perfect sense as moral influence as removing man’s “sin condition.” One major problem with the usual interpretation is that Jesus as a Passover lamb sacrifice doesn’t imply substitutionary atonement. So, that’s where we are thus far. More to come!