Read the entire article at N.T. Wright on Easter, Atonement and the Message of the Cross - RELEVANT (relevantmagazine.com)

Whether you’ve been around Christianity for years or are new to faith, you probably know the Easter story. It goes something like this: Humans are sinners; Jesus died as a sacrifice, paying for our sins; and then three days later, Jesus came to life again — the result of which is that His followers can go to heaven when they die. But what if we’re getting it all wrong?

“Many people have grown up assuming that is what the cross is all about,” says world-renowned theologian, scholar and author of The Day the Revolution Began, N.T. Wright. “And the awful thing is that this message about an angry God and an innocent victim has a lot more in common with ancient Pagan thought than with ancient Jewish or Christian thought.”……………………