Member-only story
God’s Surprising Stance on Human Sin and Punishment
It turns out he doesn’t want to smite you.
For most of my life, I believed there was only one way that we could be reconciled with God — and that was through Jesus’s death on the cross. He paid for my sins, and that was the only way I could have a relationship with God. I only had to believe and accept that, and then I could live eternally in heaven.
But then, one day, I stumbled across a video that fairly blew my mind. I had to watch it several times to let it sink in. It was such a paradigm shift that it rocked my boat. I kept thinking, how was it possible that I had lived my entire life as a Christian and had never heard of any orthodox Christian views other than the ones I grew up with?
Why does that matter, and why do I bring it up?
Because how we believe God deals with sin either makes the universe safe or terrifying. It affects how we treat others, how we feel about ourselves, and how we feel about the world around us. It impacts how we parent or teach, or lead, or…pretty much every interaction we have, whether conscious or not.
Here’s the video that took me by surprise. It’s very cleverly done, using chairs — the black one to represent humanity, the white one God:
