that "our Father in Heaven, our All-powerful God,
who is Love," would first create man fallible, and then punish him for
falling?

And if He did so create and so punish man, could you call that just or
merciful?

And if God is our "maker," who but He is responsible for our make-up?

And if He alone is responsible, how can Man have sinned against God?

I maintain that besides being unhistorical and unreasonable, the old
doctrine of the Atonement is unjust and immoral.

The doctrine of the Atonement is not just nor moral, because it implies
that man should not be punished or rewarded according to his own merit
or demerit, but according to the merit of another.

Is it just, or is it moral, to make the good suffer for the bad?

Is it just or moral to forgive one man his sin because another is
sinless? Such a doctrine--the doctrine of Salvation for Christ's sake,
and after a life of crime--holds out inducements to sin.

Repentance is only good because it is the precursor of reform. But no
repentance can merit pardon, nor atone for wrong. If, having done wrong,
I repent, and afterwards do right, that is good. But to be sorry and not
to reform is not good.

If I do wrong, my repentance will not cancel that wrong. An act
performed is performed for ever.

If I cut a man's hand off, I may repent, and he may pardon me. But
neither my remorse nor his forgiveness will make the hand grow again.
And if the hand could grow again, the wrong I did would still have been
done.

That is a stern morality, but it is moral. Your doctrine of pardon
"for Christ's sake" is not moral. God acts unjustly when He pardons for
Christ's sake. Christ acts unjustly when He asks that pardon be granted
for his sake. If one man injures another, the prerogative of pardon
should belong to the injured man. It is for him who suffers to forgive.

If your son injure your daughter, the pardon must come from her. It
would not be just for you to say: "He has wronged you, and has made no
atonement, but I forgive him." Nor would it be just for you to forgive
him because another son of yours was willing to be punished in his
stead. Nor would it be just for that other son to come forward, and
say to you, and not to his injured sister, "Father, forgive him for my
sake."

He who wrongs a fellow-creature wrongs himself as well, and wrongs both
for all eternity. Let this awful thought keep us just. It is more moral
and more corrective than any trust in the vi