Hi there michwell. There’s no doubt that the subject of atonement is something of a mystery. I’d also have to agree that it is God’s grace in spite of our worthiness or ability to understand that ultimately matters. In the meantime, however it is worth discussing how God does things for a number of reasons. One is simply that if we don’t discuss, we fail to rise to the challenge of helping people get past what might be stumbling blocks to their faith. For example, understanding Christ’s death as some kind of abuse is by no means helpful in aiding the Holy Spirit’s work to turn us toward God. This is the “negative” reason for discussing. The “positive” side is that by entering into discussions about how God works and what is happening, we discover new and rich meaning in our own rituals and practices. Our experience of God and relationship with God is enriched. For example, as wray suggested, understanding Jesus’ death as a commitment to life, suddenly gives us pause to say “hey, life as we know it matters, God matters now.” Perhaps we already knew that, but by discussing a subject that is so difficult, we are reminded of it. I am certain that there are many more ways that Jesus’ death was more than some kind of cosmic child abuse, a commitment to life in spite of the consequences of such huge commitment just one of them.