Atonement

I saw the movie Atonement for the first time the other day and walked away thinking about sin. I'm not really sure if that's what other people thought of when they saw the movie, but I was so caught up in how one persons sin, one lie from one little girl, ruined so many peoples lives. How one man, Hitler's, desire for power led to so many deaths in World War II. How have my sins effected other people?

What I am about to say could make you uncomfortable. It could be deemed heretical, but believe me, I am in no way trying to be blasphemous. 

U2's song Pride (In the Name of Love) starts out

"One man came in the name of love,

One man come and go,

One come he to justify,

One man to overthrow."

It can be debated if this song is talking about Christ or not, but lets assume it is and settle on the fact that even if it wasn't intended to, it still applies to Him. Christ came and conquered death out of love for us. He took our sins and bore them on himself so that we could be in right relationship with the Godhead. He came not only in the name of love but to teach us to love. Isn't this the entire message of Christianity.

Now enter the shaky part of what I have to say. 

Even though Christ died for our sins, and forgives us, it does not mean that our sins do not have consequences. I am in no way diminishing the death of Christ, but I think we need to acknowledge that forgiveness doesn't abolish all consequences. There isn't such a beast as private sin because we live in relationship. What I do effects other people. 

One lie. One piece of gossip. One unkind word. 

They all have consequences.

Christ warns us of this. Look at the Sermon on the Mount. Do you notice that each of the sins that he expands upon impacts not only the sinner but someone else, someone innocent, as well. 

We really need to start rethinking sin the culture of the church. Really, as the body of Christ, we need to go back to the gospel and see what sin is. We need to go back to the Hebrew Scriptures (ie the Old Testament) and see the impact of sin - separation from God. We need to start realizing that we are sinners. Because, if we can't acknowledge that then we aren't in need of a Savior. And maybe that's our biggest problem of all. Because we gloss over sin, because we don't see how it effects our relationship with the Godhead and with others and mars our loving them (which of course is Jesus' greatest commandment) than it makes it incredibly easy to not mention Christ in church, which is happening far more often then we'd like to admit. We need to get the focus right, in order for Christ's atoning sacrifice and Resurrection to be seen for all its worth.

We cannot celebrate Easter apart from Good Friday.