God’s Mercy

God’s Mercy

Divine Quid Pro Quo

As Christians, we’re told how lucky we are to have been offered God’s mercy through the sacrifice of his son for our sins, but let’s dive deeper on this “mercy”.

According to the Christian theology I was raised in we’re born with the the taint of sin on us, we’re inherently sinful creatures and not worthy of God in his infinite perfection and wisdom. We can never do enough good deeds, or be good enough for God, so it’s only through his grace, his forgiving loving nature that we even stand a chance at being able to attain heaven.

This gift of course was through the sacrifice of his “only begotten son” who was also himself, sacrificed on the cross for our sin.

So this is the “gift” we’re offered, through this sacrifice. This “gift” if we choose to accept it, allows us to have our dirty souls washed clean, the debt repaid to the individual who originally charged us with this debt, by default, due to the sins of our mutual ancestors.

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”-Ezekiel 18:20

So what is required for us to receive this benevolent “mercy”? To accept Jesus as our savior, and live out a life by the rules imposed on us by this God. It is only through the exchange of our life of servitude and adherence to these various rules, and constant shame, guilt, and prayer that we might retain this “gift”. Otherwise, we face an eternity of damnation and torture for falling short.

To me, this seems less like a “gift” and more like an exchange, quid pro quo…this for that.

Yet we’re all told that it was a “gift” and “mercy” bestowed on us. One single route out of the open maw of hell.