No I don't see what is the cost of sin. What is the cost of sin?
You feel guilty about something? Every religious nut I have ever known has fallen really far and so they needed god/religion. I guess I don't want to take that away from them but eventually they chill out too so you must be a new convert. How long you been a born again? Doesn't it get old? It does for us.
[MENTION=11281]sealybobo[/MENTION]
Example:
1. Cost of political conflict and war
when the sin of "unforgiveness of differences" has either
* Palestinian and Jewish people
* Republicans and Democrats
* progay and antigay, etc.
pitted up against each other, the people who benefit are the war-mongerers
the politicians and parties and media who rack up the dough selling conflict to both sides.
==> Look at the estimated trillions of dollars spent on the military complex and WARS
when people both here and abroad could get paid work by investing in the infrastructure
==> Look at the 6 billion Obama spent campaiging (including 15 million he borrowed from BOA) while there is no money to save national historic sites, forests and other landmarks; but millions keep going to fund politicians to fight in the media to push opposing agenda, instead of invest directly in common solutions
==> Look at the 24 billion wasted on the last govt shutdown over conflicts with ACA and budget. Then our budget fell 24 billion short of resources needed to revamp the VA for Vets.
So that is the COST of "unforgiveness" and unwillingness to trust and work together to solve problems, but instead to divide and play "political bully games" that we can't afford
2. Cost of lives to crime, addiction, abuse and related ills
When people cannot forgive things in their past, and project them forward, into abusive relations or addictions, this costs everyone: it costs them their health or their lives, it costs relationships and ability to work, it costs taxpayers and society to pay for the aftermath --
of drug addictions and criminal dealing, drunk driving, domestic abuse, and other offenses.
the people who RECOVER from criminal or addictive pasts
will admit they had to go back and FORGIVE the root causes of their rebellion, rejection and retribution.
So those are ALL rooted in "unforgiveness"
Every act of crime, abuse, injury or injustice committed to harm people, property or principles can be traced back to unwillingness to forgive something or someone,
and to ASK for HELP to correct it so the problem could be resolve and prevented.
When people finally decide to choose restorative justice instead of retributive means,
the opposite happens. The forgiveness opens the door to healing, restored health and balance to mind, body and relationships, so when people act and live in harmony,
it reduces the incidence of sickness, crime, accidents, abuses, and conflicts that otherwise waste resources and cost human health, lives, time and energy to manage after the fact.
We all pay the price of rebellion, rejection, and retribution that stems
from the "sin of unforgiveness" and fear of changing things for the better.
The sooner we start reversing that trend, we can cap the costs and losses,
and start investing in corrections to prevent problems from repeating in the future.
This is why forgiveness is necessary, or else we couldn't face the fact
that we have all contributed to problems and we share responsibility for fixing them.