GDR
If that represented Christianity for me then I would have the same reaction about you.
I never said it represented Christianity for anyone but only my own humble take on the events.
Jesus said that there are two commands. Love God and love your neighbour. Who and what is our priority?
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Indeed, and if Christ represented innocence, then what is the morality involved in having him pay for your sins thereby excusing yourself from taking responsibility as a person with a mature and reasoning mind would? The priority in my eyes would be to show God that the welfare of others is first and foremost and not my own selfish needs.
I would further assume that a
loving god would find this to be the action of a worthy soul and hence to be rewarded.
Of course I long ago left such things that I find to be fantasy and no longer deal with it except in where it comes up in conversation. That said I am sorry if I caused you distress and discomfort.
We may pray all that we want for forgiveness, but it requires actual repentence
It never concerned me to be forgiven and I ,at that time, was of the mind that my punishment was mine to suffer and not some innocent person in my stead.
This requires true sorrow for having sinned, not just because we might have been caught, but that we are truly sorrowful for actually having, "done what we ought not to have done or for having not done what we ought to have done".
How does this release us from sorrow to brandish the supposedly only innocent man ever with our transgressions? The sorrow is not something that my point of view diminishes in the least but ,in fact, magnifies it to the point of humbling ourselves for the actions we personally consider wrong.
I came to the conclusion later on that the ""sins' we engage in are partial{ or total} regrets for actions that we later reflect upon when we learn to empathize with others and realize that we find those actions as grievous and distasteful. We are human and make errors of judgement as we grow and mature and it is to be expected that we cause others transgression however the errors are not sins and I have a far greater tolerance of people for this understanding.
" Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!What a ride!"