Q: When you say that Jesus is the "Son of God" are you speaking of the pre-Easter Jesus or the post-Easter Jesus?  I don't recall that Jesus ever referred to himself other than as the "Son of Man".

A:No the words Son of God were used by others of Jesus. I think of them in the same way that we are all told we can become the Children of God.

Q: Do you understand the term "Son of God" in a literal way, that is as the result of a Virginal Conception, or do you think of it metaphorically in terms of the relationship Jesus had with God, that is, that it was like that of a Father and a Son?

A: Definitely metaphorical.  I see that Jesus is the prime example of what we should be. Indeed he said we should do greater things. I heard once somewhere the phrase 'as we are, he was - as he is we can become'. It is probably a heresy but it would describe how I see. Not that I am likely to make it in this life.

Q: Is Jesus God, or is that a post-Easter concept developed a century or two later by the Church as it tried to make sense of who Jesus was?  In other words do you believe in the Deity of Jesus, or do you think in terms of his divinity, that he was a disclosure of what God is like?

A: I think he showed us what we should be like. In that he showed characteristics of God. I do not believe that he was God. I tend to think that because early followers thought he was God they said that he did this or that  NOT because he did this or that he must be God. Does that make sense?

Q: You said that you cannot accept the fact that Jesus had to die as a sacrifice for sin.  Does the cross then have any meaning, other than that Jesus was executed.  If so, what if any meaning does the atonement have?  How does "Jesus save his people from their sins?"

A: I think the cross shows how far he was prepared to go to fulfil his purpose of showing us how to live. I think there was clearly a point where he 'knew' (not foreknowledge) what was likely to happen but he continued anyway. So in that way the cross is symbolic of love. One of the first things that I ever struggled with, as a Salvationist and an officer, was how the cross could save us now??

Q: I assume that when you say the resurrection was spiritual, that you mean that it was not the resuscitation of a corpse.  Do you have an explanation for the empty tomb?  Were the post-Easter appearances real, or were they an attempt in story form to explain the fact that after Jesus's death his followers were still aware of his presence with them?

A: Not necessarily so!! It may have been the resuscitation of the corpse but it did not need to be. Hence the words of David Jenkins that if the body was found to-day it would not effect the power of the resurrection. But whatever happened, or not, to the body, there was for Jesus a spiritual resurrection. In a very real way Jesus still reveals himself to people today.

Q: You say he "ascended into Heaven", do you mean that literally, or do you read the gospel account simply as a way of describing in story form that Jesus had gone to be with God?  The earliest account says that: "Jesus departed from the disciples" - no mention of "going up" above the clouds.

A: I cannot find where you read this? I do not believe that it was a literal event but an explanation by a first century mindset explaining why he was no longer on earth. I don't think I have ever taken the ascension story as literal.

It doesn't matter one iota to me how you would answer the questions that I have raised.  You can be as conservative or liberal as you want to be with me - but if you are going to have a website I think it should be transparently honest.

I have tried to be just that - you obviously think that I have not succeeded so it will need some editing.

Wilson's post is honest, it reveals the sad history of the Church's doctrinal positions, and how they came about.  He protects his own skin by not revealing what he really believes, that is OK, but he leaves the reader having to still struggle with the issues.

In a way, for me, it does not matter whether Wilson believes it or not in that it explains a process that I believe could explain how it happened.

I hope I haven't been too hard on you, but there is no sin in being "Honest to God" about what we really believe.  We aren't required as Christians to straddle the fence.  Anyway, being a Christian has nothing to do with what we believe or don't believe in our head, it has to do with the same kind of heart relationship that Jesus had with God.

And I trust that this is the nature of my relationship with God. Or at least that is my aim.