Late in his life, St. John Henry Newman declined an offer from a Protestant to explain the Atonement fully. He replied that the Atonement is a theological mystery, far too complicated to be reduced to human reason. He was correct. The reason there are many competing (sometimes only partial) explanations for how Jesus Christ made us sinners at-one again with the Father is that it is complex—both literally and figuratively a thorny topic.
The literal thorns can stand in for the figurative ones. Granted that God is all-powerful and all-wise, couldn’t He have devised a plan for Christ to save us without the misery?
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