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With all of the talk on the Atonement, I ran into a specific quote from a book I read in my Seminary days. I think sometimes we Protestants, because we are so fully aware of our freedom in Christ tend to be a little more cavalier when it comes to our approach to God. We may approach Him boldly, with nobody but Christ as a Mediator. We stand fully justified before Him because of Christ. We are sanctified because of Christ. But, we kinda get the idea that because it is all taken care of that our sin doesn't really matter any more (at least I see it practiced that way, and confess I have been too cavalier about it at times myself).

Thought this would be edifying for the Protestant grouping. Probably a few of the Orthodox and Catholics as well.

"...The kind of God who appeals to most people today would be easygoing in his tolerance of our offences. He would be gentle, kind, accomodating, and would have no violent reactions. Unhappily, even in the church we seem to have lost the vision of the majesty of God. There is much shallowness and levity among us. Prophets and psalmists would probably say of us that 'there is no fear of God before their eyes.' In public worship our habit is to slouch or squat; we do not kneel nowadays, let alone prostrate ourselves in humility before God. It is more characteritisc of us to clap our hands with joy than to blush with shame or tears. We saunter up to God to claim His patronage and friendship ; it does not occur to us that he might send us away. We need to hear again the apostle Peter's sobering words: 'Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives...in reverent fear." In other words, if we dare to call our Judge our Father, we must beware of presuming on him. It must even be said that our evangelical emphasis on the atonement is dangerous if we come to it too quickly. We learn to appreciate the access to God with Christ has won for us only after we have first seen God's inaccessibility to sinners. We can cry 'Hallelujah' with authenticity only after we have first cried 'Woe is me, for I am lost.' In Dales words, " it is partly because sin does not provoke our own wrath that we do not believe that sin provokes the wrath of God." ...

All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and man. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it. When on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God, and have been so convicted by our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely 'hell-deserving sinners', then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before." (John R.W. Stott, the Cross of Christ)

Thank you so much for your beautiful post and excerpts!

Truly, I believe that the greatest error in the doctrines and traditions of mortal men (which I personally eschew) is that they try to anthropomorphize God.

Only God knows objective Truth. A thing is true because He says it. And all we can confidently know of Him is what He reveals to us.

But mankind seems to want a small 'god' it can obtain, understand, meet eye-to-eye, tell what to do and wrestle with.

When we ultimately realize that being made in His image doesn't mean that God is like man, we are brought to our knees and that cavalier attitude about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit dies.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him [was] called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes [were] as a flame of fire, and on his head [were] many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

And he [was] clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

And the armies [which were] in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he hath on [his] vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. - Rev 19:11-16

This piece, Blogger, is very recognizable to me.

We do worship imperfectly, but what Orthodoxy never lost is the utter reverence (including bowing, kneeling and prostrations) before God, even if that's the best we can do, it is still God-centered. We are not ashamed to feel utterly humbled in our prayers.

The trembling Scott mentions is manifest at the Communion when the priest calls those who have properly prepared "Approach with the fear of God, faith, and love" reminding us of the awesome act that is about to take place.

The West underwent the Age of Reason that deified man and humanized God. John R. W. Scott makes that very plain when he says

If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it

Thanks for the post.