It is true that fewer and fewer people today believe in the doctrine of atonement, but this (letting others take upon themselves difficulties and giving others the blame for something one in reality is oneself the cause of) is universal and a significant cause of all the forms of war that are to be found in the world today. One must learn to see that the structure and laws of the universe say something quite different.
      There is no absolute "sin" in the world, and therefore no "sins" to forgive either. There is certainly an ocean of sufferings and difficulties, but why should they be the result of the wrath of a demonic Godhead? When the Godhead himself is said to be the creator of these "sinful" people he himself must have a part in their "sin". To torture and torment the poor creatures because they are not otherwise than he himself has created them would be pure perversity.
      But Christ, who has shown people how one can serve and be loving in every situation, has said that God is love. He has also said, "Take up thy cross and follow me." Our cross is our suffering. Christ himself has said that we must go through our suffering in order to experience being "one with the Father", who is love. But this fits with what was said previously, that people who themselves have experienced sufferings and difficulties become more sympathetic and helpful towards others. Suffering or "the cross" leads to neighbourly love, to serving others.
      But where does "evil", such as war, sufferings, illnesses, crimes and everything that shows itself as dark fate for people, come from? Why is what Paul says true, that "the good we would we do not, and the evil we would not, that we do"? Because the human being is in the middle of his creation and is not a "completed" human being. This "strange animal", as some scientists call the human being, is "strange" precisely because it is neither a real animal nor a real human being. It is a transitional being on its way to becoming "man in God's image". What Christ did as world redeemer was to show people what it is to be a real human being who "sows the seed in which all the generations of the earth shall be blessed". The seed is neighbourly love; it is "the way, the truth and the life" for all human beings.
      Since the terrestrial human being has developed from an animal kingdom and is still half-animal and half-human, it is natural that the jungle-mentality is still dominant in his consciousness. But the longing for peace and a higher manifestation of the creative force and intellectuality exists too. It is the animal in the human being that is responsible for us having to have barbed wire and hoarding around our homes, and for us having to have a police force and a judicial system. It is the animal in the human being that makes the nations arm and employ their intelligence in ever more terrible weapons. It is the animal in the human that creates his dark fate.