(November 3, 2012 at 11:05 pm)genkaus Wrote: ...his duty is to crawl through years of penance, atoning for the guilt of his existence to any stray collector of unintelligible debts... - Ayn Rand
Actually the Bible teaches that man is unable to atone for his sins. Other religions teach that man can atone for his sins, but Christianity says to atone you must keep the law perfectly, love others perfectly and love God perfectly.
No human has been able to do this, so God himself became human, kept the law perfectly and loved God and humans perfectly....then he went to the cross as the sinless sacrifice and on the cross he took the sins of those who would come to faith in him upon his shoulders....the perfect became the most putrid being in the eyes of God and paid in the full the debt of sin for those that would believe in Him.
When believers put their faith in Jesus, God credits them the righteous life of Jesus (and remember there is no longer a penalty for their sins because Christ paid it).
Because I have faith in Jesus it's:
*just as if I never sinned
*just as if I had always obeyed.
Christianity says you can't atone for your sins, that's why you need a Savior....and salvation comes only through Him, the Son of God.
