Keywords

sin, sinfulness, homecoming, Atonement, Jesus Christ

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Two years ago I was privileged to spend Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in Israel. I flew to Israel via New York seated by an orthodox Jew. He was making an annual pilgrimage to his spiritual home for this most sacred High Holy Day, which began at sundown the day we arrived. I spent the flight and much of the next day thinking about how atonement and homecoming were connected for me, as well as about sin and sinfulness. As a Latter-day Saint, I believe that Christ’s Atonement makes possible our spiritual homecoming by cleansing us from sin through the blood of Christ and sanctifying our fallen, sinful natures. In the Church we seem reluctant to talk about sin. Typically, we speak in euphemisms that reduce sin to “mistakes,” “errors,” “weaknesses,” “faults,” “slipups,” and the like. When we do actually speak about sin, it is in reference to discrete transgressions—as if the problem is merely our individual sins. Rarely do we speak about our sinfulness at all.