A Course In Miracles...?

[Gaura Priya]

Has anyone read this book? I just started reading this book, and it's very interesting in philosophy in the first place!

I love the idea that the Atonement occurred with the Resurrection of Jesus, rather than on the cross, or as some Mormons believe, in the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

[Awoon]

30 yrs ago.

Jesus God doesnt require atonement.

 

[Gaura Priya]

30 yrs ago.

Jesus God doesnt require atonement.

I still like the text, as voluminous as it may be!

 

[Katzpur]

Has anyone read this book? I just started reading this book, and it's very interesting in philosophy in the first place!

I love the idea that the Atonement occurred with the Resurrection of Jesus, rather than on the cross, or as some Mormons believe, in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Could you be more specific? For starters, what do you understand "the Atonement" to actually be?

 

[Gaura Priya]

Could you be more specific? For starters, what do you understand "the Atonement" to actually be?

From my traditional understanding, the Atonement refers to when the sacrifice of Jesus Christ bridged the gap between men and God, and thus through His sacrifice, we no longer are under the penalty of sin and transgression through faith in Him.

I've heard from a Mormon that a few believed that His blood that was teared in the Garden of Gethsemane was when it actually occurred, but this is not mainstream belief.

In any case, I find that ACIM's understanding of the Atonement quite refreshing, actually, showing that His resurrection is where He showed that God and the principle of perfection was shown theretofore, rather than through His death.

 

[Katzpur]

From my traditional understanding, the Atonement refers to when the sacrifice of Jesus Christ bridged the gap between men and God, and thus through His sacrifice, we no longer are under the penalty of sin and transgression through faith in Him.

I see. To me, the Atonement was the entire process by which Christ took upon himself the sins of mankind and experienced on some fundamental level the totality of moral existence. This substitutionary act on our behalf made it possible for us to again me made "at one" with God.

I've heard from a Mormon that a few believed that His blood that was teared in the Garden of Gethsemane was when it actually occurred, but this is not mainstream belief.

Actually, Mormons believe that the process by which Christ atoned for our sins began in Gethsemane and concluded on Calvary. Unlike most Christians, however, our focus is on His Resurrection and the promise of eternal life it gives us. That's why we don't use the cross in our worship services. We prefer to have the living Christ, as opposed to the dying Christ, symbolize what His sacrifice ultimately accomplished, so possibly it's not all that different from ACIM's perspective.

 

[Gaura Priya]

I see. To me, the Atonement was the entire process by which Christ took upon himself the sins of mankind and experienced on some fundamental level the totality of moral existence. This substitutionary act on our behalf made it possible for us to again me made "at one" with God.

Actually, Mormons believe that the process by which Christ atoned for our sins began in Gethsemane and concluded on Calvary. Unlike most Christians, however, our focus is on His Resurrection and the promise of eternal life it gives us. That's why we don't use the cross in our worship services. We prefer to have the living Christ, as opposed to the dying Christ, symbolize what His sacrifice ultimately accomplished, so possibly it's not all that different from ACIM's perspective.

Here's what some passages say in ACIM:

"God Himself is not symbolic; He is fact. The Atonement, too, is totally without symbolism. It is perfectly clear, because it exists in light. Only man's attempts to shroud it in darkness have made it inaccessible to the unwilling, and ambiguous to the partly willing. The Atonement itself radiates nothing but truth. It therefore epitomises harmlessness, and sheds only blessing. It could not do this if it arose from anything other than perfect innocence! Innocence is wisdom, because it is unaware of evil, which does not exist. It is, however, perfectly aware of everything, that is true.

The Resurrection demonstrated that nothing can destroy truth. Good can withstand any form of evil, because light abolishes all forms of darkness. The Atonement is thus the perfect lesson. It is the final demonstration that all of the other lessons which I taught are true...

The lamb taketh away the sins of the world only in the sense that the state of innocence or Grace, is one in which the meaning of the Atonement is perfectly apparent. The innocence of God is the true state of the mind of His Son. In this state, man's mind does see God, and because he sees Him as he Is, he knows that the Atonement, not sacrifice, is the only appropriate gift to His own altar, where nothing except perfection truly belongs. The understanding of the innocent is truth. That is why their altars are truly radiant."

I've reached a few pages, and I'm still as confused as ever. I guess I may have to just get used to the metaphysical language used. Some Christians have called A Course In Miracles as a cult coursebook, but it is pretty much like a secondary Bible with metaphysical concepts couched in Christian conceptions. The claim is that the Coursebook is actually the voice of Jesus Christ Himself. However, as a Hindu reading this, what some people think as new Age, I read this book and feel that it still is quite Christian in its idea of Atonement, the centrality of Christ in its unique theology, etc.