atonment

WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD

last night was our due date... and in light of our baby not coming out, we decided to splurge on sushi and a movie (which we haven't done much since restructuring our budget and financial lives).

after some incredible shrimp ebi and shrimp tempura (with the perfect mixture of soy and wasabi) we decided to watch atonement. the film was beautifully done and is a moving piece...unless you are like my father and don't want to watch a movie without a hollywood ending.

the movie got me to thinking about theories of atonement. duh. in the movie, the narrator telling the story is trying to make up for wrongly accusing 'robbie' of raping her cousin. this sends him to jail and separates him from his love 'celia'. both die in the world war (he is pardoned to participate in the war). her atonement was to write a book where they are together and live happily ever after. not much of an atonement if you ask me. i believe her attempt is anemic and inexcusable. she could have tried to truly atone for the brokenness by owning up and setting the record straight before the tragedy of the war. so there was no restoration...no redemption...and no healing to the broken relationships.

my thoughts went to scriptural views of atonement.

1. if Jesus Christ died ONLY to save each of us personally from our sins, does it matter? if that is it, and there is no restoration, redemption, and mending of broken relationships (both with Him and with humanity) then is it worth anything at all?

2. can we discuss a theory of atonement apart from discussing a biblical view of restoration?