Oct. 23, 2006
sitting in church thinkin' about sin.
Yes, my mind was wandering a bit during
Father's sermon. But, the sermon was on baptism and well, one
thing leads to another. My thoughts connected with a conversation
this past weekend about sin and redemption and the Orthodox vs Western
understanding of this. I'm going to throw this one out, mainly
because I have not read enough about it to even begin to sound
authoritative.
Some scoff at the Orthodox understanding of
the purpose of Christ's death (free us from death), saying we
de-emphasize Christ's atonement for our sins. There is certainly
scripture (and I'm told many Patristic Fathers) to back both
claims.
But, what I was thinking is that... prior to
Christ's Incarnation there already was a way to obtain forgiveness of
sins. Its not like God wasn't already in the business of
forgiving his people - look at David. Christ did bring us
forgiveness of our sins, on a more personal, timely, and
everlasting manner. We no longer have to kill something to be
forgiven, we only need ask with a contrite heart. Unfortunately
(or fortunately depending on how you look at it), sinning and needing
forgiveness is somewhat of a revolving door. Everyone does it -
again, and again, and again. However, there was NO WAY for anyone
to get away from death. And once you die, your dead - they're no
going, "oops, sorry, I didn't mean to do that. Give me another
chance?" Once its done, its done, just ask the rich man:
Luke 16:19-31 - and that was in the lectionary for this Sunday.
So my thinking is, yes of course,
Christ came to forgive us our sins, He came to take away the need
for a scapegoat. But what we needed much more was salvation
from the dark coldness of death. We needed the Passover Lamb.
Make sense? Anyone care to expound, disagree, kick me in the pants??
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Posted by Dixie 
Posted by 
Ancient Faith Radio
Oct. 23, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Philippa