The first. A young man going off to college was given a credit card by his father who said, “Now don’t overdo it son”. He replied “Sure pops”. Never-the-less he ran up quite a bill and his dad paid it off at the end of every month. After a semester or so, one of his buddies said “Your dad must really love you. You run up quite a bill and he pays off your debt.” The young man replied, “Yeah, he’s got lots of money.”
The second: During the second world war a young soldier de-serted along with a half a dozen others. He was captured with his comrades and was chosen by lot to be hanged as a warning to any others. Another soldier, not one of those who had deserted, said, ‘Permit me to take his place.’ After a short discussion they granted his request and executed him in place of the one who deserted. Now the man whose life was spared lived the rest of his life in gratitude, and as a tribute to, the one who had sacrificed his life to deliver him from death.
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:20
“Atonement” is the Bible term for what Jesus did in dying on the cross to bring salvation to mankind. Today, many people liken the atonement to the situation of the first young man. That view is not Biblical. Jesus did not die to pay off our debt so we could blithely keep running up the debt. The Bible says that He bought us with His blood; He owns us.
More: see Evangelism [broken Sites link.]
See Atonement, when available.
Interestingly the second account actually happened. I did not know that at the time I wrote the ‘parable’. [See Wiki, Maximilia Kolbe]
More: See Atonement article, when available.
