Acceptance theory (Atonement theology)
The via moderna school of theology emphasizes the traditional belief that God is omnipotent. He could have created the world and the rest of the universe in any form. He obviously chose the one that he did create for some reason known only to himself. “There is no law extrinsic to God to which he must conform. Hence, God is free but reliable, for he binds Himself by His eternal decree.”
.. They disagreed with a number of Anselm’s beliefs, that:
The atonement was dependent on the incarnation — the concept that God appeared in human form in Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus Christ). The redemption of humanity was a necessary act. Humanity could not be redeemed without satisfaction. Satisfaction could only be made by the God-man Yeshua . The best way to obtain satisfaction was by Yeshua’s death by torture on the cross. .. They argued that:
God could have decided of his own free will to save humanity through the work, and perhaps the death, of an angel, of Adam, of any other human being, or even an animal. But he decided, for his own reasons, to achieve atonement through the torture-death of Yeshua. “…all satisfaction comes from the arbitrary choice of God.” 7
Human sin is not infinite in magnitude.
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The belief that God’s pride is so wounded that he would demand as satisfaction the death of an innocent person “assumes a view of God’s moral nature that many modern readers would reject.” 7 Being omnipotent, God could simply forgive people, or find some other way for humanity to attain atonement. .. It seems logical that if the death of Yeshua satisfied God’s damaged honor, and if humans made no contribution to the process, then salvation and atonement should be granted to everyone — to Christian believers and unbelievers alike. It is unclear why only persons who trust Jesus as Lord and Savior would be rewarded.
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Most liberal and many mainline Christians believe that Adam and Eve were mythical humans. That is, they didn’t exist as actual people. Without that belief, this atonement theory collapses.
.. Some Christians note that Eve and Adam were created as proto-humans without a sense of sin. After all, they ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in order to develop a knowledge of good and evil. Being without a moral sense, they cannot be responsible for eating the fruit any more than an animal might. Again, if the first parents are not responsible for eating the fruit, the atonement theory collapses.
