Cheapening the Atonement and Redemption

 Has our church cultured cheapened the Atoning sacrifice of our Savior?

I think specifically about purity culture. The idea that purity is upheld and extolled above all else. 

Many of us have sat through the chewing gum lesson in church circles. A new piece of gum is held up, and told it’s our purity, look how great it is. Then it’s chewed up and put down on the wrapper. It can’t go back to the way it was.

I’ve seen similar lessons demonstrated with a glass or other fragile object.

Then and now my reaction has always been, “what the hell?!?”

The whole idea of redemption, the whole purpose of an atonement, of salvation is being able to overcome and be restored from our sin and fallen state.

The entire purpose. Yet somehow we’ve made it seem that not having to access that restorative power is somehow so much elevated over having to use it.

Now I’m not saying that I want people to struggle and suffer. I don’t. But I feel like we are creating incentives to not come forward and not use the atonement. We’re creating the expectation that repentance and redemption aren’t possible.

Most of the comments I hear about the atonement are very oblique. Loving the atonement and what it’s done for us, and those are often accompanied by praise for avoiding temptation and the evils of the world. 

I wish we were a lot better about addressing the more specifics of how the atonement works in us, for us, and through us. 

I’m probably biased toward this because I work with addicted veterans for a large portion of my current role. I’ve spent time with victims and perpetrators of crimes and violence. I’ve seen the scars of those called to perform necessary and lawful violence in military and law enforcement roles. I’ve seen the changes that can and have been made to make one whole. And I’ve seen those currently powerless or afflicted in a way where they can’t right now. And everything in between.

And I don’t see any of that over the pulpit on a regular basis. If you do they seem either sanitized and/or exceptional. Everything got better immediately, there was no negative ramifications etc. 

We don’t talk about the work it takes. The process. The ebbs and flows. The relapses. The detox. The mental workloads. The guilt.

There’s a his idea and perception that repentance equals immediate change or you didn’t do it right. That combined with the idea that purity is better than repentant can drive people from our communities. And we can do better.

We can use the atonement for more than cursing, or missing church, or gossip. Christ can handle putting back together broken pieces and restoring them. He can handle the ugliest of confessions and hold true love and care for them.

I worry our expectations of behavior have negatively dictated how we approach the atonement. Left people feeling that certain things are beyond the atonement’s reach. That they’re too broken to belong.

We have to change that. 

I’m going to start with me. Be more honest and open about the challenges I’ve faced. The difficulties of it. The continuing challenges.

I know there are so many like me. Who walk away or stay silent. Because they aren’t heard. But they exist. And they can help. I know who’s helped me and I’m trying to figure out how to do the same for others. 

Because we can’t do this alone. People aren’t alone. And there are challenges many people never experienced so they can’t provide the same support as someone who has. Especially all are needed and welcomed, so we need to do better to support those who are here, especially when their life and challenges are very different from others.

The ability of a person to change themselves will never cease to amaze me. I truly believe in the power of the Atonement, a savior and his role in that process. I wish we celebrated the long arduous process it takes as much as other parts of it.

But I think we can.