There is another point which must be perfectly clear before any residual
fear which may still be associated with miracles becomes entirely
groundless. The crucifixion did NOT establish the Atonement. The
Resurrection did. This is a point which many very sincere Christians
have misunderstood. No-one who is free of the scarcity-error could
POSSIBLY make this mistake. If the crucifixion is seen from an
upside-down point of view, it DOES appear as if God permitted, and even
encouraged, one of his Sons to suffer BECAUSE he was good. Many
ministers preach this every day.

This particularly unfortunate interpretation, which arose out of the
combined misprojections of a large number of my would-be followers, has
led many people to be bitterly afraid of God. This particularly
anti-religious concept enters into many religions, and this is neither
by chance nor by coincidence. Yet the real Christian would have to pause
and ask, “How could this be?” Is it likely that God Himself would be
capable of the kind of thinking which His own words have clearly stated
is unworthy of man?

The best defense, as always, is not to attack another’s position, but
rather to protect the truth. It is unwise to accept ANY concept, if you
have to turn a whole frame of reference around in order to justify it.
This procedure is painful in its minor applications, and genuinely
tragic on a mass basis. Persecution is a frequent result, undertaken to
justify the terrible misperception that God Himself persecuted His own
Son on behalf of salvation.The very words are meaningless.

It has been particularly difficult to overcome this because, although
the error itself is no harder to overcome than any other error, men were
unwilling to give this one up because of its prominent “escape” value.
In milder forms, a parent says, “This hurts me more than it hurts you,”
and feels exonerated in beating a child. Can you believe that the Father
REALLY thinks this way? It is so essential that ALL such thinking be
dispelled that we must be very sure that NOTHING of this kind remains in
your mind. I was NOT punished because YOU were bad. The wholly benign
lesson the Atonement teaches is lost if it is tainted with this kind of
distortion in ANY form.

“Vengeance is Mine sayeth the Lord” is a strictly karmic viewpoint. It
is a real misperception of truth, by which man assigns his own “evil”
past to God. The “evil conscience” from the past has nothing to do with
God. He did not create it and He does not maintain it. God does NOT
believe in karmic retribution. His Divine Mind does not create that way.
HE does not hold the evil deeds of a man even against himself. Is it
likely, then, that He would hold against anyone the evil that ANOTHER
did?

Be very sure that you recognize how utterly impossible this assumption
really is, and how ENTIRELY it arises from misprojection. This kind of
error is responsible for a host of related errors, including the belief
that God rejected man, and forced him out of the Garden of Eden. It is
also responsible for the fact that you may believe, from time to time,
that I am misdirecting you. I have made every effort to use words that
are almost impossible to distort, but man is very inventive when it
comes to twisting symbols around.

God Himself is NOT symbolic; He is FACT. The Atonement, too, is totally
without symbolism. It is perfectly clear because it exists in light.
Only man’s attempts to shroud it in darkness have made it inaccessible
to the unwilling and ambiguous to the partly willing. The Atonement
itself radiates nothing but truth. It therefore epitomizes harmlessness
and sheds ONLY blessing. It could not do this if it arose from anything
but perfect innocence. Innocence is wisdom because it is unaware of
evil, which does not exist. It is, however, PERFECTLY aware of
EVERYTHING that is true.

The Resurrection demonstrated that NOTHING can destroy truth. Good can
withstand ANY form of evil because light abolishes ALL forms of
darkness.The Atonement is thus the perfect lesson. It is the final
demonstration that all of the other lessons which I taught are true. Man
is released from ALL errors if he believes in this. The deductive
approach to teaching accepts the generalization which is applicable to
ALL single instances, rather than building up the generalization after
analyzing numerous single instances separately. If you can accept the
ONE generalization NOW, there will be no need
to learn from many smaller lessons.

NOTHING can prevail against a Son of God who commends his Spirit into
the hands of his Father. By doing this, the mind awakens from its sleep
and remembers its Creator. All sense of separation disappears, and level
confusion vanishes. The Son of God IS part of the Holy Trinity, but the
Trinity Itself is ONE. There is no confusion within Its levels because
they are of One Mind and One Will. This Single Purpose creates perfect
integration and establishes the peace of God.Yet this Vision can be
perceived only by the truly innocent.

Because their hearts are pure, the innocent defend true perception
instead of defending themselves AGAINST it. Understanding the lesson of
the Atonement, they are without the will to attack, and therefore they
see truly. This is what the Bible means when it says, “When He shall
appear (or be perceived) we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as
He IS.”

Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God. It arises solely from
fear. This is particularly unfortunate because frightened people are apt
to be vicious. Sacrificing another in ANY way is a clearcut violation of
God’s Own injunction that man should be merciful even as his Father in
Heaven. It has been hard for many Christians to realize that this
commandment (or assignment) also applies to THEMSELVES. Good teachers
never terrorize their students. To terrorize is to attack, and this
results in rejection of what the teacher offers. The result is learning
failure.

I have been correctly referred to as “The Lamb of God who taketh away
the sins of the world.” Those who represent the lamb as blood-stained,
an all-too-widespread error, do NOT understand the meaning of the
symbol. Correctly understood, it is a very simple parable which merely
speaks of my innocence.The lion and the lamb lying down together refers
to the fact that strength and innocence are NOT in conflict, but
naturally live in peace. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall
see God” is another way of saying the same thing.

There has been some human controversy about the nature of seeing in
relation to the integrative powers of the brain. Correctly understood,
the issue revolves around the question of whether the body or the mind
can see (or understand). This is not really open to question at all.The
body is not capable of understanding, and only the
mind can perceive ANYTHING. A pure mind knows the truth, and this IS its
strength. It cannot attack the body because it recognizes exactly what
the body IS. This is what “a sane mind in a sane body” really means. It
does NOT confuse destruction with innocence because it associates
innocence with strength, NOT with weakness.

Innocence is INCAPABLE of sacrificing anything, because the innocent
mind HAS everything and strives only to PROTECT its wholeness. This is
why it CANNOT misproject. It can only honor man, because honor is the
natural greeting of the truly loved to others who are like them.The lamb
taketh away the sins of the world only in the sense that the state of
innocence, or grace, is one in which the meaning of the Atonement is
perfectly apparent. The innocence of God is the true state of mind of
His Son. In this state, man’s mind DOES see God in the sense that he
sees Him as He is, and realizes that the Atonement, NOT sacrifice, is
the ONLY appropriate gift to His Own altar, where nothing except true
perfection belongs. The understanding of the innocent is TRUTH.That is
why their altars are truly radiant.