Sin, guilt, atonement and fellowship with God are the prescribed events to cleanse a person of sin. In grander terms, through knowledge of science and human behavior, what does it mean? How does it make life better?
Attending a private university, discussing religion is common practice. One teacher equated sacrifice, as portrayed in the Bible, to personal sacrifice. This is an intriguing idea; however, not being able to afford as much while working towards becoming wealthy is logical. In addition, this varies from my belief of sacrifice in relation to acknowledging sin.
Modern society developed through millennia. Slaughtering a goat or cow is outdated. Read Leviticus and look at the procedure when atoning for sin in order to apply it to current life. A person commits a sin. For whatever reason they are filled with envy, anger, remorse, sadness, apathy or feeling less than. In a moment of grief or self-interest commit sin. When accepting guilt, acknowledging they sinned, they went to the priest to sacrifice an animal. The priest is a wise person skilled in addressing these issues. They talk about the event and the person recognizes how sin caused harm to another and themselves. They sacrifice an animal and eat dinner. They talk about what they learned and begin seeing ways to address the problem without committing sin in the future. Seeing how God is truthful they find fellowship with God and return to a better life; thereby, resist performing the same mistake again.
Today there are many methods to accept guilt. Psychologists are wise people. Confessionals allow a person to express committing a sin. Every time they accept guilt they must figure out why they keep sinning to resolve ongoing issues. Admitting fault produces the initial phase of accepting guilt. Yet accepting guilt in privacy also begins the atonement process.
Next a person atones. This is more than avoiding committing sin. It is a method to acknowledge the sin is of the past and accept current life. This could be dinner. Sacrifice does not have to be a punishment; however, sometimes when accepting guilt I will deny myself a specific food for a month. Whenever wanting the specific food, it reminds me of the sin. This is also not the sacrifice. This is prolonging acceptance of guilt. After the week or month is over, I may enjoy the specific food again. This is atonement associated to sacrifice. Learning to follow the Word of God is something we should attempt whenever possible.
Celebration and review of everything learned we accept the truthfulness of the Word of God and become wise. Easier to recognize interactions between everyone, everyone wants wise friends who help them avoid harm and care about their life.
People may say humans are flawed. It is true people make mistakes, yet this does not excuse a desire to be wiser through experience. Anger and feeling less than are real emotions caused by real events. We do not have to complicate people's lives when finding solutions. We are envious because others judged us. We stole because our promised wages were denied. They cannot afford paying because a con-artist tricked them out of our money. The con-artist became a con-artist out of vengeance because a thief stole wages and the company shut down. Feeling tricked they will trick others out of money.
Reactions produce more reactions until someone makes a proactive decision to stop sinning and do the best they can with what they have. Stolen money is gone before thieves are caught. The money to pay workers is gone. We can become wise from the experience and prevent theft, get better security. Perhaps the thief did something outrageous. They were fired and unable to find another job; therefore, they sought vengeance. Don't gossip and destroy people's ability to earn an honest living.
No one owns another person. A person cannot force people into labor. Avoid hiring people you don't like so another will hire them. People should receive compensation for work. If unable to pay money, pay with labor. Labor is valued. Make good deeds even through good deeds.
When people suffer from disease and people die from poverty the reality of life over-rides an ability to remain calm. Faced with ongoing death and remorse we ask many questions. Regardless of any book or nice words, life continues. Constantly recognizing another person's activities affect life acknowledges our part in contributing to sin, before it escalates.
War is different than committing sins though excessive sin is a sign of war. War occurs when people refuse to acknowledge sin. As people realize no one will resolve issues and they will continue to die without resolving threatening problems. Dreams of a better future fuel desire to stop whatever is bothering them. This is another reaction.
People should be able to rely on communication to resolve issues. The democratic system is worthwhile because it purposes a peaceful way to express grievances. Yet, as apathy grows, harm to others grows until a war begins. Embarrassment and tactics to silence people contributes to eliminating communication making it difficult to remain peaceful while fixing problems and finding solutions. Without solution, it is inevitable people will make the same mistakes again.
Humility is essential in accepting guilt. Age contributes to wisdom. The Bible warns against cult behavior. When addressing sin, guilt, atonement and fellowship we engage in a productive activity. As Christ mentioned hypocrites pray in public for selfish needs or give to charity to gain kudos. I do not want to dismiss praying in public. It promotes faith in God or an activity to avoid committing sin. Charity still clothes and feeds poor. Action without purpose is not perfect and may lack virtue. It is better to accept guilt when ready.
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