I began by explaining that I was not at all able to accept the orthodox view that Christ came to the world in order to take on the punishment for the sins of human beings, and that everyone could be freed from the effects of their evil actions through the crucifixion of Christ. A God that is not able to forgive a sinner, without requiring that the punishment for his offence be inflicted on another person who is completely innocent of this offence or sin, loves neither the sinner nor the innocent person. If he really loved the sinner he would forgive him without in any way insisting on the punishment for the offence being inflicted on another person. And if he loved the innocent person it would be impossible for him to allow that person to suffer the punishment for a sin he had never committed. To this God the most important thing is therefore neither the sinner nor the just person, but the administering of the punishment. This has to be carried out at all costs. If it cannot be inflicted on the guilty, it has to be inflicted on the innocent. That is therefore the main requirement for the sin to be forgiven. But a sin is not forgiven if the punishment for it has not been revoked. To allow an innocent person to suffer the punishment for the offences of a guilty person is the very height of injustice, even in cases where the innocent person is quite willing to take it on. The orthodox, ecclesiastical view of the forgiveness of sins therefore allows God to appear as an altogether unfair being, totally devoid of love for the living beings, and with such a firm will and burning desire to see punishment and suffering being inflicted on these beings that the only way he can free a being from suffering is by transferring it to another being. Such a God has never ever revoked the effects of, or the punishment for, any sin. If a man cannot pay his creditor the amount of money he owes him and another man comes along and pays the money for him, it is this man and not the creditor who has cancelled the debt. Just as the creditor here has not cancelled the debt owed him by his debtor, neither has God in the aforementioned situation concerning the forgiveness of sins cancelled the punishment given to the sinner. He is merely letting another pay instead. It ought to be quite obvious that such a view of the forgiveness of sins cannot survive the development of logical thinking and the increasing sense of justice in human beings. And equally it ought to be absolutely the case that a view of life that in its deepest logical consequences allows God to be a being that is neither just nor loving, and whose highest, unwavering aim and sphere of interest is punishing living beings and making them suffer, cannot possibly form the basis of a divine world culture or the peace on Earth and the ensuing great good will toward men that is the fulfilment of the Christmas gospel.

No, Christ's mission was not to let himself be slaughtered or crucified in order to placate an angry or vengeful God, and neither was it to educate people to not take the consequences of their wrong or evil actions. Life itself develops or educates all living beings to take the consequences of their actions. If someone makes the mistake of putting salt in his coffee instead of sugar, he has to put up with the fact that his coffee is salty. And in the same way absolutely everything that is unpleasant in a being's fate can be traced back to the same cause. The being, out of ignorance, has acted wrongly. These wrong actions give rise to effects that, just like the mistake with the salt, are by nature unpleasant. But this unpleasantness, which can often manifest as the most intense unhappiness and suffering, forms the foundation of what we call evolution. The unpleasant effects of mistakes give rise to wisdom. The mistakes and wisdom will thus through reincarnation inevitably transform the unfinished human being of today into "the human being in God's image". This aim is far more worthy of a God than the former, perverse aim to excuse the guilty people from punishment by transferring their punishment to an innocent person. But how do human beings become acquainted with "God's image"? Well, is this not the very reason why "God's image" had to be revealed in flesh and blood? Was it not of the utmost necessity that a human being should be born who could express completely God's image in thought, temperament and way of being? And is not Jesus Christ the revelation of this image? A way of being that can never in any situation whatsoever express anger towards anything or anyone, a way of being that can forgive its neighbour not only seven times a day but can forgive him as many as seventy times seven times a day, a way of being that turns the right cheek when its originator is smitten on the left, a way of being in which it is more blessed to give than to receive, a way of being whose originator would rather suffer himself than that others should suffer, a way of being in which one can never in any situation condemn other beings to be punished or to suffer, a way of being in which on the cross at the very height of the most severe sufferings one can with the last vestiges of one's spent energy caress one's executioners or crucifiers with the most fervent wish that they themselves should not go through such sufferings, a way of being in which one knows that all who inflict pain and suffering on other beings are in reality completely ignorant of what they are doing, and are therefore truly not "sinners" but ignorant and thus unfinished human beings in God's creation of the human being in his image, and can therefore be treated only as younger brothers, a way of being that sees that everything at present is a stage in the process of building the kingdom of heaven on Earth, a revealing of God's image. It is cosmic consciousness. It is Christ. It is not surprising that Christ could say, "I and the Father are one". It ought to be quite obvious that such an image of God, manifested in flesh and blood, manifested in a physical way of being, must cause the old heathen image of God, with its anger, punishment and eternal damnation for sinners, to fade away, crumble, break down and perish. If a flesh and blood human being can display such a sublimely perfect consciousness displaying the very highest love, then the Godhead's consciousness or radiant halo must sparkle with at least equal brilliance. Christ's mission was therefore to reveal God's image on Earth. Christ is the perfect human being. He is the model of divine behaviour on which all human behaviour must be based. For this reason he is the way, the truth and the life for the still unfinished human beings of the entire world. Without this way of being there would be no peace of mind, no peace between nations and races, no end to illness, poverty and misery. Life itself works and ripens the human being into this way of being, but when the human being can itself begin to contribute towards making this way of being a talent and a habit, it will already have begun to experience the kingdom of heaven in its heart. And to the degree that the kingdom of heaven grows in its heart, it is in the process of becoming a Christ or a "human being in God's image".

My talk provoked loud applause and the bishop thanked me for the lecture saying that "it came from the heart, one could definitely sense that". Afterwards I was driven back to where I was staying by Arelius Nielsen, having been enriched by an extraordinary experience.