Tuesday, December 14, 2004

The Principle of Equivalent Trade

I've recently been watching an anime series called Full Metal Alchemist...

In this series(I've seen 29 of 50 episodes), a strong theme is that if you create something, do something, change something, whatever, you must give back anything you take away. This is the Principle of Equivalent Trade.

The main bent of this series is that there are alchemists with amazing abilities to "transmutate" things. These abilities seem almost like magic, but they insist that they're scientists. The alchemists especially relate the Principle of Equivalent Trade to every aspect of their lives.

What does this say about our reality? It is the case that every action has consequences, an equal and opposite reaction. To live good lives, we should give as much as we take, and replace anything we destroy. The Principle of Equivalent Trade.
This is justice, integrity, character. Realizing this fact.

What does this say about our God? Only God can truly create. Only God can truly destroy. When He created the universe, this was a truly amazing miracle, because it goes outside our conception of Equivalent Trade. And God set this in our hearts, all these things, so that we can work at one with the universe. And His law, given to the Israelites, is an extension of Equivalent Trade that we are to use for our lives. To repent for your sins is to give back something you have taken. Following these things will make everything exist in harmony.

But the biggest thing God did is unfathomable to everyone, even those who accept and embrace it. The sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross, in all its solemnity, yet reveals the greatest joy the world has ever seen! The world is redeemed. Yes, this means ALL humans are redeemed. We can now enter heaven, and be in communion with God, the Great Being that binds us all into one. Being redeemed means we have the potential, that we are now able to enter into heaven when we leave this frail body For we can never fully repay all the things we take. Our nature causes us to sin even when we want to do good. We all know this in our hearts. By this, justice says we should be condemned for what we do.

To be at one with God, who is love, all we need to do is accept his love for us, to accept that Jesus did indeed redeem us and that he died to save us from ourselves, our sins, from our ignorance of Equivalent Trade.

We have nothing to lose by this, and everything to gain. Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life", and "no one reaches the Father except by" Jesus. God grants power to his people. Christ repays all our sin for us, without anything more from us than our love. In Christ we are great, a sight to behold. And all this is given freely :-) All this is good. It eases the heart.

No comments: