"Many people believe that there is a mathematical correlation between sin, penance, and redemption. More sin, more penance, and so forth. Our own point has always been that there is no connection. All the variables are independent. You do penance not because you have sinned but because it is your destiny. You are redeemed not through doing penance but because it happens. Or doesn't happen.
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Well, Drave set me straight on his take on penance, sin, and redemption! I, apparently being one of those people who see a mathematical correlation between them, projected that idea onto Drave two posts ago:
"Sometimes making oneself a better person is too hard. It's easier to just take a dozen lashes with a whip and be done with the guilt of your sin. But as Drave correctly points out, atonement and penance are not two variables in different equations; they're values on the same side of an equation balancing out the other variable, guilt. Lew will rightly punish himself for having hurt his wife which will probably lessen the amount of time atonement will take. Without penance, atonement just takes the standard amount of time that needs to pass before grief isn't in control anymore. You really don't have to do any work; time will do it all for you!"
Drave wasn't pointing out the thing I thought he was pointing out. He was simply bringing it up so that I would think, "Oh yeah! Guilt! Penance! Sin! Atonement! It's all entangled!" Then he could play Devil's Advocate (or simply Devil because, come on, he's totally Satan, right?) and say, "A-ha! But no! The variables aren't connected at all! I'm talking predestination here, good buddy! Either you're saved or you're not saved. All that shit you do to atone or to deny sinful temptations or to perform holy work? Doesn't matter! Either you're destined to salvation or you're not. Elect or Preterite."
Drave believes in unconditional election. That means God chooses a specific number of people to be saved regardless of anything they do. Conditional election takes the view that God, being omniscient, has already saved an elect few because he knows beforehand that they will use their free will to do good works and resist temptation. It's kind of the "Wait a Second Clause!" where some holy thinkers realized that unconditional election meant nobody ever needed to seriously act out their faith and religion. Why bother when God has decided beforehand with no standards at all?!
Drave, being the Devil (probably), now teaches people on Earth that they don't need to be holy to atone. Why bother?! Just be your usual selfish self, don't worry about guilt, don't bother with penance, and don't lose any sleep over redemption. If you're destined to it, it'll come, whether you're lashing yourself with a thorny whip or shagging, gambling, and drinking to your heart's content.
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