Original Sin in “The Atonement”
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Warning: This post has spoilers for the movie The Atonement, so if you plan to see it, read no further!
In the film, a little thirteen year old girl named Briony accuses a man of rape. The man, Robbie, is in love with Briony’s sister, Cecelia. Through a series of misunderstandings, and because Briony had a crush on Robbie, she accused him of rape, even though she wasn’t entirely sure that he did it. The consequences were that he was jailed and sent to war, cut off from his love Cecilia.
Many of us say that men are naturally good, and that it is external things — society, a rough up-bringing, culture, the evil world — that turn a man bad. I think this argument is particularly weak because all of those things are products of man. If men were naturally good, then culture, society, the raising of children and so on would likewise be good. We also find ourselves in a “chicken or the egg” dilemma: which came first, the world or people? The world is the way it is because people make up the world, and people are evil.
Despite this, many of us look to “the children” to find innocence, perfection and hope. This is demonstrated by our relative indifference to see an adult man killed in a movie, but if a child is killed, well, that is especially horrible, for we have this idea that children are innocent. But if we really think about it, they are not, and are far from it. A cursory reflection on one’s experiences in elementary school will surely put this notion of childhood innocence to death. Who could be more cruel than elementary school children? Whose words cut deeper, whose deeds more painful? In children we see the same vices in adults — jealousy, greed, selfishness, pride — only over more trivial things. Instead of seeing this in children and laughing it off as simply kids being kids, we should reflect upon it, and understand that we act just as they, and though we may think all of our reasons and excuses are mature, adult and serious, God dœsn’t. We are just kids being kids in God’s eyes, and he will hold us accountable.
If we excuse a child’s behavior by saying that he had a rough upbringing, we again come to the “chicken and the egg” argument. A man raises his kids poorly because he was raised poorly, we will say, and he was raised poorly because his father was raised poorly, and so on back to the beginning of man. But if our first father was really good, he would never have raised his first child poorly, meaning, to follow the rabbit trail back to today, no child would have ever been raised poorly either. So our first father was evil. Even so, those children who are raised well still do evil things. Indeed, raising a child well is simply correcting that child when he dœs something evil, forcing him to mature. A man who dœs evil things is a child who was never corrected of his evil ways.
We like to think of sins committed during childhood as “not counting” since we committed them while we were children, and we didn’t know any better. And yet if we look at reality, we find that the consequences of these sins do not take into account our age. Briony told a lie because she was jealous and wanted revenge. That lie had far reaching consequences that stretched all the way into her old age. That lie tormented her as a young adult, and tormented her as an old woman. If it were not for that lie, Robbie might not have died, at least not in the way he did. If it weren’t for that lie, Cecilia might also have lived, for perhaps she would have been in a different place during the bombings. Because of that lie, her relationships with her sister Cecilia, Robbie, and even her cousin, the rape victim, were forever strained, for as an adult she never did anything to bring the truth to light. And so we see that a sin committed by an “innocent” child led to death, a lifetime of torment, and further sin.
Because of that lie, Briony could not bring herself to stand up and objecting to the marriage between the true rapist and her cousin. Because of that lie, she forever kept the truth silent from her family, who all died before she revealed it. Indeed, she died in her old age a coward, who only revealed the truth once she knew she was dying, and would not be around to suffer the consequences of that lie. In The Atonement, we find a story about a woman whose life was defined by a lie, told in a split second, in the heat of emotion — rage, vengeance, jealousy — while only thirteen years old.
I know in my own life, the things I most regret are the evils I did as a child. I think it is safe to generalize and say that we all have done things as children that we regret, now that we are adults. But can we honestly say that, at the time, we didn’t know any better? I certainly did. While I might not have fully understood the consequences of those sins, every memory I have of them is accompanied by the knowledge that I knew that what I was doing was wrong, and I had many opportunities to make another decision. I think if we were honest with ourselves, we would all admit the same. It is only now that we are adults that we have so much regret over the evils we did as children, but this is only because we now understand the consequences, not because we have become any better with age. For we sin just as much today as we did back then, only we are sure to sin in ways where the consequences are either less or hidden, thus allowing us to live under the false pretence that we are “good”. For all the things that led Briony to tell that lie — jealousy, vengeance, rage — are things we still harbor within us as adults.
I walked away from The Atonement seeing it as a beautiful example of what our life is. We are all evil people who make evil decisions from the moment we exit the womb. We fool ourselves to think that there are “good” people and “bad” people — for truthfully, good people are just bad people who do not have the rashness to act out their evil desires, or are convicted not to. This is why we need God. God is the only one who is perfect, and it is through faith in Jesus that we are convicted and kept from doing evil, and are made righteous through his mercy, not because we deserve it or earned it in any way. If we put our faith in men, we will ultimately be disappointed because we fool ourselves into thinking that those men are perfect. A nation is perfect, we will say, or a leader is perfect, a movement is perfect, and so is a friend, a family member, a favorite author, thinker, teacher, or even the woman we love. And we will always be crushed because all of these people are evil who will sin, and it is foolishness to expect perfection of them. God alone is perfect. He never lies or lets us down. This is why we must have faith in God alone, not in men. We must not believe the deception that men are ultimately good, for history and experience plainly tells us otherwise.
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About OxhornI’m an author, songwriter and movie-maker who lives in Seattle, WA. I earned my BA in history from the University of Washington and have been interested in arguments, reasoning, research, writing and history ever since. I’m best known for my animated comedy machinima movies and music which you can find at oxhorn.com. Visit brandonMdennis.com for more about me, and be sure to subscribe, follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Watch my weekly live show, Scotch & Smoke Rings, at 7:00 PM Pacific for more classiness. |
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11 Responses to Original Sin in “The Atonement”
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Anon 1: Christians believe that the Bible was inspired by God, though physically written by men. So I can think it is foolish to have faith in men and yet also place my faith in the Bible.
What do you mean by the Bible being “absolute”? Please explain.
Anon 2: Yes, but the technical term was pederasty.
I agree that there are many things westerners consider to be wrong that non-westerners have no problem with. I will argue that, just like there is an absolute truth (gravity exists) there is also an absolute right and an absolute wrong. Thus, even though Japanese have traditionally considered suicide honorable, it is still wrong. Morality, like gravity, exists in this universe regardless of whether there are men around to believe in it.
Additionally, there are many Europeans, Africans and other members of this world who share my opinion. An anti-American bias is really unnecessary.
Brandon M. Dennis(Quote)
To correct you, pedophilia was something common in ancient greece. Rich men all had their “pleasureboys” back then, it was considered normal. And other things you could be refering to like canibalism, murder (human sacrifices for example) have also been practiced by some cultures.
Things our western civilasation condemns are held highly honorable elsewhere. Take suicide for instance. You got the death penalty for this crime in many western cultures, yet it was big part of the society of Japan.
It saddens me that someone I consider sympathetic sticks to the mostly American flaw of thinking their set of rules is the only one and everyone needs to revolve around it.
Anonymous(Quote)
What I really wonder is why you think the bible is absolute. As you told before, you think it is foolish to have faith in Man. Yet, tell me who wrote the bible? The bible is a patchwork by men that were inspired by god. I don’t think god will have told them every single word they are to write down… and even if, Man is inperfect, mark your own words. Your faith is not in god but in a manmade book, which is an extended version of what the jews believe in, and later published as an alternate version called Koran!
Anonymous(Quote)
If someone were to look at my life and how I was brought up, one would say that I would have to be a “good” person. My parents never divorced, we always had enough to live on, and my parents taught me right from wrong? Dœs that make me a good person? No. It makes me a person who had a good upbringing. In truth, I’ve lied, I’ve been selfish and prideful, and I’ve probably broken nine out of the ten commandments at least once each. (Never killed anyone, though.)
It’s not within ourselves to be good. We don’t have that inherent goodness within ourselves; it has to come from Someone else. Yes, I believe in God, and yes, I am a Christian. Dœs that make me a good person? No, it makes me a horrible sinner who’s been forgiven more times than I deserve. And there’s no way I could have figured it all out on my own, either.
Oxhorn: It’s a very rare thing for me to find someone as outspoken in his beliefs as I would like to be. And God bless you for that.
Carda(Quote)
Communism has indeed caused a lot of death; over 217million people roughly counting (don’t trust that number, I just went over some major communistic actions). And I do in no way justify the actions of the communists just because they did do it of a political course. Communism is one of the worst political ideologies in the world. End of discussion.
The problem is indeed man, wars start all over the world because of man. And man uses religion as a weapon. As a political weapon maybe, but they used the religion to motivate their citizens to do horrible things. I agree with you on that point.
And well, you put your finger right at it. You are right. And everyone who says otherwise is wrong.
This has indeed been an interesting discussion, and I’d just like to quote Menuet: “My opinions are my opinions. If you don’t like them, well you don’t have to like them”
Rovanion(Quote)
One argument I find rather annoying is that “religions are responsible for all of/most of the wars in the world. Not that, if it were true, it would offend me, for indeed, I think all religions, except Christianity, are false, and many of them (including Christianity) have indeed lead to a lot of death.
But the premise that religion is responsible for more death and war than anything else is simply false and betrays an ignorance of history. Even in the 20th century alone, I would argue that philosophies and movements espoused by the devotedly anti-religious have killed more than any religion has. For example, Soviet communism was a godless philosophy that directly opposed and oppressed religions of all kinds, and 30+ million people died in the Soviet Union alone as a direct result. Hitler killed the Jews, not for religious reasons, but because he objected to them on a physical, scientific level (they smelled bad, their heads weren’t the right shape, yadda-yadda).
Before Islam, before Christianity, and while the Hebrews were just a tiny nation in the Middle East, nation after nation warred with each other over money, sex and land for no religious reason whatsœver. What was the Assyrian motivation? Yes, they had gods. But did they go to war and inflict such savagery on the world for religious reasons, or political ones? Political. And the same can be said for the Babylonians.
The problem is not religion. The problem is man. People die and wars are started because men exist. Men are jealous, prideful and have a lust for violence — that is why there is war, not because of religion, philosophy, science or whatever. It is that men believe in something, not the belief itself, which is cause for all of these man-made struggles throughout history. Man is so prideful that he cannot stand for his beliefs to be challenged, regardless of what he believes in, and that is why he causes war.
It is good to listen to other arguments. But as a Christian, it is not good for me to be persuaded by the arguments of other religions, for as a Christian, I am told by the Bible that all other faiths are foolishness. I can still love people, listen to people and speak kindly with people. But the idea that I have to have an “open mind” in order to have some sort of gentlemanly discourse is absurd. If by open mind you mean that I should open myself to the idea that my faith might be wrong, or that my belief is misplaced, then I will say that it is very good of me to be closed minded. For indeed, if I was open minded, I would have no belief at all but rather an inclination, for the very notion of having a belief presupposes that I have that belief because I think it is true. If I didn’t think it was true, or if I had any doubts, then I would not have a belief, but rather an idea.
I am therefore very pleased to forever be a closed-minded Christian who is unmovable in his beliefs, but loves people, is kind to people, respects people and dœs not stir up strife unnecessarily. It is up to the rest of the world to exercise their politically correct jargon and tolerate me.
Brandon M. Dennis(Quote)
The bible is indeed a great historical reference as it has been kept the same way all the way science 100AD (see the Dead Sea Scrolls). And that’s mainly thanks to the man who put death penalty on making an incorrect copy of a book.
And it shows us today that religion gave the men living back then a will to evolve and to fight their limits ex. the Pyramids.
It also gave man the power to control huge masses of people without really having to force anyone to do what you wanted. Because they believed that what they did was right and that stays until this day.
And that faith can make such horrible things and have done before. As religion is the most common reason for war and religious wars have killed more men and women then anything else.
Someones faith is the most powerful thing a man ever will be able to possess. That’s why so many wars is started over religion. Because it’s the easiest way of getting what you want.
Man today will reject the past by saying that those who lived then didn’t do it because they did believe more in man then in god. But they did believe that the spokesmen of their religion spoke with the voice of their god as much as todays Christians believe that the Bible is the words of god.
And if nor human nor books will tell the truth, we will only have ourselves to trust. Which is what religion is, our faith.
The world is a relative place where we see the world differently then our neighbor, we react to it differently and we are different. Not even time is static. We are all different and we live in a relative world which changes with us. It’s right that we all are effected by gravity but gravity isn’t static.
We do all live our live our life different then the guy on the other side of the globe. And we must accept that the there is no truth, only different points of view.
Keep your mind open and try to see what the guy on the other side of the net sees. Don’t hide in a dark corner thinking I’m right! Because you aren’t always right, I’m probably not right, but it’s good for you to consider it as an option.
Rovanion(Quote)
Actually, I didn’t expect this post to garner any kind of attention at all (my post on Melville and London received little attention, heh) so I am glad this one has stirred up some interest.
I completely agree that you cannot prove faith. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are many things in the Bible that can be proven — for instance, King Hezekiah really did carve a tunnel from Jerusalem in order to provide the city with fresh water. It was found in an archæological dig. There are things in the Bible that are recorded as historical facts — events that involved men and really did happen — and there are things in the Bible that are, from a Christian perspective, equally true, but cannot be proven — that Jesus is God and sits at the right hand of the Father, for example.
Christians who go out of their way to manipulate science in order to prove Christianity, I believe, do so for lack of personal faith. They have more faith in the reasoning of man than they do in God, and so in order to justify their own beliefs, they go to science first in order to “prove” them before they can believe them, and then they use this proof in order to convince others.
But this flies in the face of what the Bible tells us to do. We are supposed to use Jesus and only Jesus to convince others. The good news of Jesus Christ is sufficient to convict and save people. Now this isn’t to say that the people who advocate intelligent design do not have a good argument, and the same gœs for those who have questions concerning (macro)evolution. But when it comes to salvation, all of that is irrelevant. All that is relevant is faith in Jesus Christ.
That, of course, is the truth as I believe it, and I know many disagree with me, and they are more than free to, obviously. But I think that the notion that “all religions teach the same thing” or “all realigions are equally true” is quite incorrect, and flies in the faith of reason. For instance, a faith where you have to be good and do good things in order to earn a place in the afterlife or avoid being reincarnated is completely different than Christianity, which says that you cannot earn your salvation, that salvation is a free gift from God who gave it to us out of his own good mercy, and that we have this one lifetime on earth and afterwards, a lifetime in one of two locations. Likewise, a religion that says that there are many gods, which look like elephants, deer, pigs, cows and inner-thigh ticks is completely different from Christianity which says that there is only one God in three persons. They cannot both be true at the same time.
Also, if we suppose that all religions are “true” to the person who believes them, then we do not believe in any real, definitive truth, but only in relative truth. This I cannot accept, for there is a real, definitive truth that governs all things. Gravity effects all men on earth — this is a definitive truth that is not relative to whether a person believes in gravity or not. Likewise, if God is real and exists, then he is really real, and his existence is not dependent on whether or not people believe it.
I also argue against the notion that truth, goodness and morality are relative to the person, culture or society that interperates it. If we give credence to this philosophy, then there is no real right and wrong, and therefore no one can condemn any deed I do or thing I say. A world like that is a chaotic world where evil men rule.
For example, it is a universal moral truth that pedophilia — sexual encounters with a child, let us say, an infant child — is wrong. It is wrong today, was wrong yesterday and was wrong at the beginning of time. It is wrong in our culture and in every culture, and very few people will deny this.
As for original sin, I believe many people explain it away as simply being part of human nature, or human instinct. I do not argue against this at all. But I do not think that human instinct is any excuse for such behavior. I quite agree that it is instinctive in humans to be selfish, to look out for one’s own interests, to live for the moment, to live for sensual pleasures and to live for a good time. I just believe that all of these things are morally wrong, regardless of whether they are instinctive or not. It is good to live for God and others, not oneself. If we live for a good time, this might often be at the expense of someone else’s good time. If we feed our flesh and cater to our lusts, we might often do this at the expense of another persons safety, body or freedom. Instead, we should do what the Bible says and give ourselves to him, and through him we will begin to act good.
There are many moral people who are not Christians. I am not saying you must be a Christian to be moral. Indeed, I believe there will be many moral people who do not see paradise. That is because morality dœs not save a man, but belief in Christ and love for him dœs. Many moral people act moral because they think it looks good, or it makes them feel good, or they will please someone who is observing their actions. This is being good for a selfish motive. Many feed the hungry and give to the poor, not because it is right and they want to please God, but because it makes them feel better about themselves. Again, a selfish motive. It is good to do good deeds, and it is God’s common grace extended upon all men that non-Christians do good and moral things. But doing good and moral things are worthless for salvation unless they are accompanied with a belief in and love of Christ, just like faith alone is of no merit unless accompanied by good works, brought about through a love in Christ.
Brandon M. Dennis(Quote)
I know that you are going to find a lot of strong reactions towards this blog entry. And maybe your point of it is just to elevate a discussion about religion.
I just want to point out that Religion can in no way be discussed as a scientific topic.
And that is mainly because everyone is right about religion. It’s something that you make up in your own mind or been told during your younger ages. Many people are seeking a meaning with their life and finds the answer in a world created by a almighty god.
And those who believes in any god and wants it to be called science (ex. Intelligent Design) wants to prove that the god exists. That is called Pseudoscience (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience).
While one that dœsn’t believe in it wants to know if the god exists. That is Science.
The existence of a god dœsn’t have anything that can be tested in scientific ways and if possible and a negative answer is the result it will always be rejected by the believers because they are right.
Google and see for yourself what the speakers for Intelligent Design wants to tell us. But it basically about that some parts of the world is to complex to have been created by an endless road of mutations which is what Evolution theory says. And one of their “proofs” is that no animal would have any need for a halfway evolved eye. But that is easily proved wrong as some clams have use for an eye that only can make the difference out of darkness and light. When something covers the sun it reacts very quickly by digging into the sand. So this clam dœs have use for a halfway developed eye.
Well this was a bit out of topic.
Lets see if I can manage my way back to it.
As kids we do things without thinking of the consequences yes. That’s probably because we haven’t experienced the consequences yet.
And as we experience the consequences we stop doing what hurt to much.
The reason why we do all these stupid stuff is for own winning. We all want to gain something, there are actually very few things we do because of kindness. We don’t pay the note at the bar because we are kind, we do it because we gain social status from doing it.
And as in this movie, this girl put up a lie because she in some way found out that she could earn something from doing that. And as Oxhorn described it I believe it was a winning in form of revenge.
The same thing applies when it comes to what you do on your job. You don’t work hard because you are a good person. You do it because you gain something from it, because you earn money of it.
And basically we are not born as little devils. We just feel satisfaction in some way when we do some things. I don’t know why we as children feel pleasure when we hit their minor brother/sister, but in time we learn that it’s not worth it. You loose more from hitting him then you gain from it, because it comes consequences.
That is what I think and what I’ve heard. I’m always open to test my world to see if it works. And remember to test your reality too. That is how science work. Keep your mind open to new ideas and theories.
Rovanion(Quote)
Well, yeah. This is the place for a religious discussion. Oxhorn is very vocal about his own personal beliefs and I’m sure that this is just the sort of conversation he was hoping to inspire.
Myself, I don’t subscribe to any religious doctrine. I’m pretty sure every single one of them is wrong. As for original sin… hmm. When I was growing up in the “evangelical” sect of Christianity, they firmly pointed out to us that each person was responsible for their own sin. Nowadays, my mom calls me up to relate to me how the latest doctrine just makes so much sense because our family (specifically, me! is being punished for the sins of my great grandfather, who was a Freemason (which, according to some extreme right denominations, is merely a front for Satanism. The real kind of Satanism mind you. Not that silly group in Frisco.[rolleyes])
There have been studies recently showing toddlers reacting to researchers with unlearned altruism. There is also research which shows that children can react to others with unlearned selfishness and violence as well.
The bottom line is, these sorts of questions we each have to answer for ourselves. Just be aware that there is always evidence about to both support and refute you opinion.
Way1and(Quote)
Um.. Well, I don’t agree with you. I don’t think Good or Evil (or God, for that matter) exist at all.
Yes, Kids can be cruel, and society can be just as cruel (or more). But kids can also be very nice, as can society.
In the end, I atribute both to some variation of the survival instinct.
But anyway, this is no place for a religious discussion.
Or is it?
Anonymous(Quote)