Hi I have looked through the piece. It is far from where I am. I left that declension of things a long time ago and have since clarified what I think to the point that I am perfectly content to see Jehovah as the tribal deity he is and Abba as the Word who may also be John’s Word but need not be. He is not as unforgiving as Jehovah seems and he is definitely not separate from us. What is separate but not hostile to us is the mystery of which he is the interpreter. I happen to think Abba and we are coterminous. That reality is one and that it moves. That we evolve slowly but toward the good.

I am content to leave the mystery be and suggest that others do the same. We’ll see it come clear gradually. The theological thicket one goes through when dealing with things like substitution is beyond my capacity to re-enter at this point.

Paul said he was cooked if what he believed was not the case. I think what anyone believes warrants a similar degree of anxiety. Cheers. S