God's Solution

Last time, I talked about one aspect of the problem that faces us.

It is really only one aspect of a large problem, but in some sense it is the part that most concerns me. God can not bless us with what he wants to bless us with, eternal life and joy, because we are broken. Giving it to us now in our current state would only ruin it for everyone, and also ruin us individually because we can't handle it. It would also ruin us as people, to be able to cause hurt but still have the rewards for the virtuous.

Moreover, we have already hurt each other and ourselves, and if we are to live in a universe that can have real positive consequences, it must also have real negative for hurts caused. Justice must be done.

I personally would not have an objection if God just agreed to wave it away. Agreed that it was all in the past, and from this point on He will make it all right and change us so we no longer hurt each other or ourselves.

There are also people who on a deep, intuitive level realize that even their mistakes need to have an effect on the world, that if their mistakes were just waved away, it would be deeply, profoundly wrong.

Those people are right, and my feelings are wrong. There must be Justice. The harm we caused must be paid for.

The problem is, we can't pay it. We have no capital to pay it with. We have caused lasting harm to ourselves and others, and we have no resources to recompense the victims. If we try to pay our own debt, we will never be able to. It is not possible. No matter how long we stay in hell, we will never have paid our price.

That is how big our problem is.

God's solution to that problem is on the one hand, complex and nuanced enough to study for a lifetime, but on the other hand, you can boil it down simply as:

He offers to pay it for us.

And once paid, to fix us, not just to correct the consequences of how we hurt each other, but to completely fix us, eventually putting us in new bodies that will not hurt or be hurt by others.

God came to Earth in Jesus, suffered and died in payment of the price we deserved to pay, and is willing to extend that payment to us.

There is only one catch, which is simply that you must take the offered payment in place of yours. He will not force it on us. Forcing it would render it meaningless. You must come to him of your own choice.

In the end, that's all Christianity is. The rest is just follow on; having taken the gift, we should follow Him as he requests and allow the Holy Spirit to start the process of fixing us now, even though it will not be finished in this lifetime. The down payments on the future rewards even in this life are worth pursuing. But the essence is:

• You are in error. You hurt yourself and others.
• You can't stop, and you can't undo the past harms.
• This has incurred a debt you can not repay.
• You accept Jesus' payment of that debt for yourself.
• In gratitude, you follow him in this life.

For as long as you draw breath, you can accept this offer.