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The Great Exchange
#sin #christianity #cross #forgiveness #goodnews #gospel #guilt #jesus #jesuschrist #shame
Published: 2017-10-11 22:17:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 62044; Favourites: 548; Downloads: 0
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Taking a break from the jokes to say something serious about my faith. Maybe it will encourage someone. Funny stuff next time.EDIT: If you want a print of this cartoon you can now get one through my website. I also plan to make prints available directly through DeviantArt if I can figure out how. Until then, here’s the link to my store: cedricstudio.com/product/print…
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I like the picture and I think, I can understand the meaning.. however, I still have the feeling that people should not seek the help of God too much. On one hand I feel really bad for him and I would not want to let him carry my sins and pain. Even though he is considered as immortal and almighty, I would not want to burden him with things I can handle alone or with my family and friends.
On the other hand everyone has their own life and therefore their own responsibility to create the life the way they want it to be. It is hard work. With all the failures and mishaps that occur during a lifespan it is inevitable to be confronted with oneself. It is hard to forgive. Especially oneself. However, isn't it necessary to learn from our wrongdoings?
It seems like God is carrying our failures away and everyone forgets the dirtied robe. But we shouldn't let him do that. Nobody has a clean white robe after a life, because we are all human and failures just happen. They simply must not be forgotten and never repeated.
Forgiveness is one thing. The other thing is to stand up for oneself and pay attention to the robe, which mustn't be stained by the same dirt again.
Please, I really don't want to offend anybody.
I respect religion.
Especially because it helps people who need the light in the darkness.
I just felt the urge to comment my thoughts about the topic. I would appreciate it, if someone explained me the things I may not yet understand about forgiveness, religion and life.
The drawing is great, regardless
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Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Sorry for the late reply, I only check DA every few days.
Since you asked for other explanations, here’s my two cents:
You are right that Jesus forgives us for our failures, but it is much more than that. The Bible uses the word “sins”. That’s a very different thing. Failures are usually just accidents that we didn’t really mean to do, whereas sins are often intentional and therefore require punishment. If a waiter trips and spills food on a patron, that’s a mistake that can be forgiven. But if he intentionally takes a plate of food and dumps it all over the patron’s clothes, that’s a very different thing. He deserves to be fired. If the restaurant is in England and the patron is the Queen, the punishment may be far worse.
Now imagine what it is like when we intentionally sin against the great King of the Universe. Something as simple as using God’s name as a curse word is actually a giant insult to Him. Every day we speak and act in ways that disrespect and offend him. We lie, we covet, we hate, we take his name in vain, all of which are acts of rebellion against His laws (the Ten Commandments). Jesus said that if you look at a woman with lust you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. He also said that if we hate someone it is as bad as murdering them in our hearts. We are not just making mistakes, we are guilty sinners.
That makes what Jesus did on the cross even more amazing! He wasn’t just paying for our mistakes, he was taking the punishment for our persistent rebellion against God. He doesn’t just forgive the little “oops’s“ in our lives, he offers to forgive us even when we hate him and outright rebel against him. All we need to do is humble ourselves, repent, and sincerely ask Him to change us. If we do that He will graciously wipe away *all* of our sins and make us new inside! (Not perfect, but new people who are gradually learning to change). If we don’t, then we are basically saying, “No thanks, I’ll pay the consequences myself on Judgement Day” (which is a horrible thought).
Anyway, that’s Christianity in a nutshell. I hope that makes sense. Feel free to share more thoughts if you have them.
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Thank you very much! 
I never thought about it that way. If I understood it correctly, it would mean that the dirty robe is representing the sins against God committed by humanity? Sins like the examples you haven given (blasphemy, hate, lust, etc.).
Those sins insult Him and He is going to pay back on the Judgement Day?
Another thought occurred in my mind. Actually, as far as I know the events, God made us and thus He could be referred to as our "Father" ( Sort of a higher instance for our existence in a way?).
Rebellion is somehow within the blood of younger generations who don't want to do as they are told. Parents really suffer during that time and are also insulted in many horrible ways even though they gave life to their child and took care for it. Nonetheless they would not punish them in a manner they wouldn't 'survive'. They would punish them in order to make them better and not to make them pay for their insulting behaviour. Jesus seems like a big brother who has gone through that all and wants to help his younger sibling (us). He takes the blame in order to see us growing up by releasing the heavy guilt from our shoulders.
On Judgement Day would be the question if God let us come 'home' to Him or not. Either He forgives us or not. I can imagine it if someone really disappointed Him, because the person never showed any attempt of changing their bad behaviour.
Somehow I hardly believe that God would take insults against Himself into account but rather judge the people by their doings during a life span.
I wouldn't have wanted to believe in someone who let 'believing sinners' to heaven but punished 'non-or different believing good people'.
But maybe that is another point I do not understand completely.
I'm sorry for another long text.. I hope I don't get on your nerves with my questions and thoughts. Thank you!
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Hi AceProf. Thanks for the kind and thoughtful response.
From my understanding of the Bible, yes God is our loving Father but he is also a just and righteous Judge. So maybe a better analogy would be if a judge had a son who committed a serious crime. The judge has to balance his fatherly love with the requirements of the law that justice be served. If he just lets his son go he is not being a fair or good judge.
God is both the ultimate father and the ultimate judge. The beauty of the cross is that it reconciles both. Jesus, God's sinless son, steps into the courtroom and offers to pay our fine. That way justice is served while at the same time we see how amazing God's love really is!
Also, you said, "I wouldn't have wanted to believe in someone who let 'believing sinners' to heaven but punished 'non-or different believing good people'." I hear you. That's a common objection to Christianity but it's based on a misconception. Christianity doesn't teach that good people are sent to hell simply because they got a question wrong on their theology exam. Rather, the Bible teaches that people are sent to hell for their *sins*. No one has ever lived up to the Ten Commandments - we all lie, steal, blaspheme, covet, etc. We all have sin in our hearts and we are all guilty before God of offending Him and rebelling against Him. We might compare ourselves to other people and say, "he or she is a good person", but when if the standard is Jesus and his perfect obedience and holiness, none of us are even close to being truly good. We sin every day in thought, word, and deed. If you do the math you and I will both have thousands of sins to answer for on Judgment Day. That's why I'm so very thankful for the cross. Jesus offers hope! "I am the way, the truth, and the life...." "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Jesus).
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I just realized my comic was selected as a DD (Daily Deviation). Wow, I’m blown away. Thanks to so many of you for taking the time to respond and for the kind and thoughtful comments.
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I think automatic forgiveness is an excuse to make people feel ok for doing bad things. I don't believe in "sins", but pretty often if you do something bad, you have to do a little more than just apologize to make it right again. And there's some things bad enough that they change you as a person, and no religious rite can undo that. Some things people SHOULD have to live with for the rest of their lives. Basically, don't do bad things.
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I'm sorry. I hope things get better for you.
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Things are fine for me, don't know what you mean. Thanks though, i guess?
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Appreciate the sentiment, but you're really confusing.
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