This past week my oldest son went out to PA for an event called Creation… many music groups and speakers brought together for several days, people camping out in open fields, …he went with a bunch of young people from church.
When they came back yesterday, I heard one comment expressed about how one of the speakers defined ‘propitiation’. I was saddened because what they saw as the speaker ‘simplifying’ the definition, I saw as cheapening and distorting. The speaker offered that propitiation is like having Jesus putting his butt in the place of ours for a spanking.
I just forwarded this video to those who attended with prayerful hope that they will better understand what/how the Bible defines propitiation…
The Tells of Tim 
Haha I was momentarily confused . . . I kept waiting for the guy in the video to make the spanking statement . . . then I read your post more slowly and realized this was a proper definition of propitiation, which is what I was thinking as I listened 🙂 I need to slow down!
Anyway – I hate it when the Gospel is dumbed down. Make friendly, cute little metaphors like a “butt spanking” to represent Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement accomplishes precisely nothing and is even destructive, I think.
Interestingly, a friend forwarded an article to me just today (link below) and the relevant portion of it is: “We have to educate believers. Instead of trying to isolate laypeople from critical scholarship, we need to insulate them. They need to be ready for the barrage, because it is coming. The intentional dumbing down of the church for the sake of filling more pews will ultimately lead to defection from Christ.”
If people aren’t taught and brought to understand the Truth, how can they truly know the Savior?
http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2007/08/my-favorite-passage-that%E2%80%99s-not-in-the-bible/
… and that defection is clearly evident in the local church. Have you considered how a tolerance for the dumbing down of God’s Word in the church is resulting in a huge defection of second and third generation church kids? Scary and heartbreaking.
I’m encouraged to know that our God is perfectly, sovereignly, and graciously carrying out His purposes. I’m very encouraged to see a growing response of great affection for Christ and the Word as Truth is rightly proclaimed in our day. We need more of this!!
I thank my God for you Blaine as you lead your family and your church in worship of our Great God. Blessings (and thanks for this link).