Atonement Theories & Anger, Part 5: Why Penal Substitution Stunts People’s Emotional Development

Atonement, Anger, and Emotional Development In this blog post, and the four earlier posts, I compare and contrast how our emotional development is impacted by Medical Substitutionary Atonement (MSA) and Penal Substitutionary Atonement (PSA).  As a reminder, the word “atonement” is used to designate an explanation for, or theory about, why Jesus had to die. …

Atonement Theories & Anger, Part 3: Exploring What Made Jesus Angry

Jesus Was Angry at Death, and the Corruption of Sin That Made Death Necessary I resume my study of John 11 from the last post. Jesus was not angry at Mary.  He was certainly not angry at Lazarus for dying.  Jesus was angry at something else.  He was angry about the fact of Lazarus’ death,…

Atonement Theories & Anger, Part 1: Does Your Anger Relate to God’s Anger?

Introduction As the death toll from police brutality piled up by 2020, many people in my church family expressed what is often called “black anger”:  black people in the U.S. being angry about racial injustice.[1]  On a few Sunday services, several black individuals cried out, lamented, and shared how absolutely furious they were.  They were…