Thoughts for the Day

One

"But if any honest Christian wants to know why He suffered death on the cross and not in some other way, we answer thus: in no other way was it expedient for us, indeed the Lord offered for our sakes the one death that was supremely good. He had come to bear the curse that lay on us; and how could He "become a curse" otherwise than by accepting the accursed death? And that death is the cross, for it is written "Cursed is every one that hangeth on tree." Again, the death of the Lord is the ransom of all, and by it "the middle wall of partition" is broken down and the call of the Gentiles comes about. How could He have called us if He had not been crucified, for it is only on the cross that a man dies with arms outstretched? Here, again, we see the fitness of His death and of those outstretched arms: it was that He might draw His ancient people with the one and the Gentiles with the other, and join both together in Himself. Even so, He foretold the manner of His redeeming death, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Myself." --Athanasius, On the Incarnation

"The compelling similarities between the manners in which the scientific community generates and evaluates theories and the Christian community receives doctrines point to two fundamental theoretical issues which make the notion of 'heresy' an inevitability:

"The underdetermination of theory by evidence ... The dynamics of the reception of theory

... Once more, this model demands a book-length study, which is currently being pursued."


-- Alister McGrath, The Science of God