What Is The True Christian Religion?/Chapter 11
CHAPTER XI
"SAVED BY THE BLOOD"
There are three ways advnneed by the "Plan of Salvation" people as to the application and value of the blood.
People claim to be "under the blood," referring to the placing of the blood of the Passover lamb on the lintels of the doorposts of the Israelites to protect them from the Angel of Death who was to pas over Egypt and destroy all the firstborn of the land. The Passover lamb is thought of as a type of Jesus who was slain at Passover time and whose blood is believed to be placed mystically over the households of believers to protect individuals and families from disaster. There are Christian songs dedicated to this idea of being "Under the Blood." In these songs the idea is extended to cover the protection of those who accept the Vicarious Atonement.
Another idea of the value and use of the blood of Jesus is called being washed in the blood. in Revelation 1:5 we read: "Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood." We shall consider that statement in its plate.
The third idea is the familiar one that Jesus vicariously died upon the cross, the innocent for the guilty, thus shedding His blood, in order that God might be able to forgive mankind thee penalty of their sins, which penalty is death. Jesus, they say, voluntarily submitted Himself to this ignominious and cruel death upon the cross in order to at expiate our sins, thereby making it possible for those who accept Him as substitute to be admitted into heaven. In this way, it is claimed, they are admitted into heaven, and in this way only; for, as we have previously observed, this vicarious death does not save the rest of mankind who have never heard of Jesus and His atoning death, and certainly not those who reject this offer of mercy. Under this Plan of Salvation God simply cannot exempt any from eternal death in hell who do not accept this dogma. It is only a partial escape of the human race from eternal death, an escape of the relatively few. Under this idea the important thing is to have our sins forgiven,—wiped out, obliterated. But then,—accepting this pardon—a magical process takes place,—the forgiven who have received a free pardon, are miraculously changed from wolves to lambs, or from evil, sinning people, into saints, for nothing that they can do contributes an iota to their salvation. Is it any wonder that the people of the earth who have accepted this Plan of Salvation have not become actual saints upon earth, but that those who ate nominally Christian under this plan, having no need to keep the Ten Commandments themselves since Jesus kept them for them, have persisted in greed, lust, hatred and every other wickedness? Is it any wonder that wars continue and the exploitation and slavery of mankind by nominally Christian nations? And sometimes by nominally Christian individuals as leaders of industry? Is the "changed life" made the goal for those who attend churches? Why should people "change" their habits of living when nothing depends upon it?
As to being "under the blood." as outlined above, it scarcely seems worth while to discuss it, except to say that people who do accept the idea are sticklers for the literal sense of the Bible and yet accept a mystical idea of salvation by a symbol only. If one realizes that the blood at the Passover lamb was a type of the blood of Jesus, and the blood of Jesus is thought of as the Divine truth itself, which when applied as truth to daily living preserves one from the assaults of evil being, and saves from spiritual death. the idea is good. We should all want to be under the Divine protection by keeping the Divine commandments. That is to be "under the blood." under the protection of Divine truth lived out day by day.
As to the idea of being "washed in the blood," the same idea of applying Divine truth in daily living makes the mystical statement a vivid reality. If I refrain from stealing because it is Divinely prohibited. I am truly washing or cleansing myself from the sin of theft. That is a practical way of being made free from sin.
But the "Plan of Salvation" people think that such a practical course is not Biblical, that somehow the blood of Jesus is literally applied by using the word "blood" instead of its spiritual equivalent of Divine truth.
A preacher called one day upon the writer to find out just what I did believe about salvation. He stayed two hours and a half and I explained simply my beliefs and felt that he had been impressed by the reasonableness of what I said and its strict adherence to Scripture. He told me of his experiences in finding his present religion and I found him to be apparently a very sincere Christian. Again he came to see me in the evening and stayed three hours, bringing with him a long letter of three closely typed legal size sheets filled with quotations from the Bible emphasizing the use of the word "blood." He had evidently spent the entire afternoon following his first visit writing the letter to convince me that I had gone astray.
I told him that if he would only think at what the word "blood" signified, namely, the Divine truth, and since the Divine truth is the expression of the Divine Life, and hence may be thought of as Divine Life itself, for "the life is in the blood," he would have a clearer understanding of the passages he quoted. I showed him that a soldier is said to have shed his blood for his country when it was meant that he had poured out his life for it, that we should drink of the reality of the life of Jesus in our souls as saving us rather than hold on to the symbol of the blood. When Jesus died on the cross, shedding His blood for us it evidently meant that He poured out His life for us in His temptation combats against the hells as our champion. We are saved by His life as it finds expression in our life.
He seemed to agree with me, but the next morning he came again and urged me to give up human interpretation of the Bible, saying that I should accept the Bible as it is. I told him that there are almost as many interpretations of the Bible text as there are men. And he handed me, strangely inconsistent, a diagram which showed that there are seven steps in man's salvation based upon the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, an obviously new and man-made interpretation of Bible symbols. He Wanted me to accept his interpretation of the Bible! I told him that I believed in reality and he merely in the symbol. He admitted that the "blood" did signify the life but insisted that it was wrong to say so. Then he grew angry and said to me, "You listen to me. Don't you talk." My wife interposed and asked him, "Why do you take away my husband's liberty? Has he no right to express his views as well as you?" "No," he said. "I want him to listen no me. I believe in the blood. That's what the Bible talks about, the blood, the blood." He spoke like a man obsessed. I said, "What do you think about when you use the word 'blood'? Does it convey no idea to your mind?" "Never mind," he cried, "I believe in the blood. I don't want to think about it." I said to him, "Frankly, my brother, I believe you will be saved, because from our previous conversations you appear to be a spiritually-minded man, but you will be saved only because you have the will and the life of Jesus in your soul." But he went away muttering.,"It's the blood, the blood."