(March 1, 2012 at 8:53 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: Not exactly, whateverist. Placing yourself at the mercy of someone else is not the same as throwing yourself on a grenade. In the case of the grenade the enemy soldier has already committed the act of violence. In contrast, the injustice done to Jesus was performed after his surrender.
True enough but if Jesus is God and God knew what he was getting himself into (the whole omniscience thing), then in a sense the violence done to Jesus was no more than that done to someone who pretends to have a gun when told to put up their hands by the police. Really both are suicides.
In comparison with the grenade jumper, Jesus/God is more culpable for the violence done to him since he set the whole thing up. He is more like the person who gets a cop to kill him. God exploited the Jews and Romans to achieve His end. (Or at least that's what it would be if any of this story were factual.)