I have asked You, Lord, for answers to the following questions, which are really the same:
- Why was it Your plan that Jesus be crucified?
- What, objectively, happened at the Crucifixion other than the obvious? Where, other than in the minds of humans, does the Crucifixion accomplish anything?
Tonight, I believe I received two more pieces to the answer in the form of questions put to me:
- “What, objectively, happens when you spank a child or put him or her in timeout?” The answer is nothing. What happens is all in minds: the mind of the child, the mind of the parents, and the minds of observers.
- “If Carla ignored you for a year, would it be OK to simply forgive her and let bygones be bygones, and pretend nothing happened?” The answer is no—for her sake and for mine, no.
That latter point is related to Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo.