Notes In The Margin

I believe we have all done something in our life that is worthy of Damnation.  Despite what you may think, the road to Hell is truly paved with good intentions and the brakes have failed.  There’s a banana peel somewhere in your future. So even if your life appears to be exemplary, you must have screwed up somewhere or you will.  Therefore, you are Damned.  Seems no escaping it.  Hitchens had a phrase for it. “We are all born sick then commanded to be well”.

        Good luck with that.

Damnation can take many forms ( see Lesson #31 ), but they all have one thing in common; they are all rather unpleasant.  Damnation may not even be your fault.  The Original Sin was certainly not your fault yet you carry that on your back for all eternity.  I know, I know. You were warned about the fruit and the serpent and the consequences. But as the traffic cop says to the motorist “Ignorance is no excuse”.  A fate to be earnestly avoided.  You get the ticket regardless.  So we carry on our merry way, from disaster to disaster, wreckage strewn by the wayside.
The only way out of this mess is Redemption which presupposes Salvation.  Salvation is offered. Redemption is the goal.  Once you seek Redemption, you are forever in debt.  But the assumption is that you (we) have offended someone or something. and you are asking for pardon, forgiveness or absolution.  Maybe you get it, maybe you don’t.  The Christian ethic says you always do, at least in the New Testament. Just ask.  Now, we are taught from an early age that you don’t get something for nothing.  Something will be demanded in return; confession, an act of contrition, a blood sacrifice, the flagellant’s scourge, money, etc.  “I’m sorry”  likely just won’t cut it.  Considered objectively, the cycle of Sin/Damnation/Redemption is a give-and-take circle without end for we’re sure to Sin again, then be Damned again, and Redeemed again. “For the Bible tells me so”.

So, how do you sleep at night?  Having passed through the fire and emerged a little scorched, how do you ever become whole again? 
Consider this for a moment.  Redemption is that which you grant to yourself. You are your only path to Redemption and hence, to Salvation. You have to live in your own skin.  Ultimately, the person you must live with is yourself. 

Only then can your conscience be free.  

Now, there’s a heresy to put the Cathars to shame.

Lesson #32 – Damnation and Redemption

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