A Course in Miracles, or ACIM for short, is a very different course from Christianity. It is a much more humble course.

It is also more flexible. It is a very broad approach to forgiveness.

The ego loves to make copyright controversies, or even a dispute between an ACIM teacher and another teacher. This is the ego’s attempt to keep you from peace of mind. What is Atonement?

Atonement means "to make amends, reconcile, or repair a relationship that has been damaged by wrongdoing." It is a central theme in many religious traditions, especially Judaism and Christianity. The word is sometimes confused with vengeance and punishment. Most religions have rituals of atonement, such as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on which Jews repent for their sins. The Christian doctrine of atonement involves the belief that Christ made a sacrifice for all human sins.

There are many theories of atonement, but most involve some form of substitution or compensation. God's righteousness is offended by sin, so atonement must be made to restore His perfect justice. Various theories have emerged to explain this role, including Anselm's satisfaction theory in his Cursus Deus Homo (or CDH). Most of these theories also address the question of how Jesus could atone for human sin if He Himself is without sin.

In ACIM, Atonement is a process of correction that undoes the errors of judgment and guilt. It includes a forgiveness of the self, others, and the world. The final step is recognizing that this forgiveness is an extension of the Atonement itself, which unites all minds in God.

During this process, miracles arise naturally from the one mind that has accepted the Atonement. As it is united with God, this one mind goes out to everyone and everything, including those who have not yet accepted the Atonement. In fact, this is why it is so important to accept the Atonement for yourself, as Jesus says several times throughout ACIM. acim

It is tempting to translate this idea of Atonement into New Age terms, such as enlightenment or at-one-ment. However, doing so is problematic. First, it obscures the importance of the spiritual journey that leads to this state. Second, it takes away from the Course's attempt to use Christian language and terminology in a different way. It is better to simply use the word Atonement, because this gives it more meaning. As we practice, it will help us to reclaim our inheritance and return to the reality of God's Love for all His Sons. How does Atonement work?

The word Atonement has been attached to a few controversies within Christianity. My purpose here is not to exhaust them, but to simply explain what it means, and how it works. In a nutshell, it is reconciliation. The Atonement is what happens when every last thought and belief that holds separation from God in place is undone. Once this is done, peace reigns in your mind and body. You can then know that what your body’s eyes seem to show you is false, and that the separation never really happened.

The Bible has many references to “atonement.” The word atone or atoned occurs 103 times in the ESV translation of the Old Testament. It is usually translated from the Hebrew word kaphar, which literally means to cover or make whole. The word atonement is also used in the New Testament to describe Jesus’ sacrifice. In a nutshell, it means that Jesus’ sacrifice made up for all our wrong beliefs about God and ourselves. When we sincerely accept this, it works miracles in our lives.

Another important thing to understand is that the Atonement can be seen on multiple levels. It can work on the level of the individual, as it is in ACIM, or it can work on the level of the entire world. It can even work on the level of the universe. The Course teaches us that if we want to experience the Atonement, we have to choose to believe it is real.

This is one of the big challenges for most people. The ego is very good at trying to convince you that the Atonement doesn’t really happen, or that it only works on a limited basis. The ego will use all sorts of arguments to try to dissuade you from believing in the Atonement, such as copyright controversies or disagreements between teachers of A Course in Miracles.

Regardless of the controversy, it is important to remember that the Atonement works all the time, in all dimensions of time. It is a miracle that can be experienced and shared at any moment, as soon as you sincerely choose to accept it. What is the purpose of Atonement?

Ultimately, atonement is all about reconciling people to God. This is a theme that runs through most religions, and is usually tied into some form of sacrifice or expiation. The Bible is no exception. All instances of atonement in the Old and New Testament feature four key elements: a transgressor, God’s judgment, a substitution, and a blood covering. In the Old Testament, the rituals of atonement are both personal and social, whereas in the New Testament, they are mostly social, although some individuals participate on their own behalf.

Often, the belief is held that atonement can only come through suffering and sacrifice, that Jesus’ death on the cross was an act of atonement. This belief is based on a mistaken view of the nature of sin, and of what it takes to overcome it. It is also based on the false idea that God is punishing us for our sins, and that only when we have suffered enough will we be willing to forgive them.

This distortion of atonement is widespread in Christianity, and it has resulted in a lot of confusion about what Jesus was teaching. ACIM teaches that atonement is actually a process of correction, an undoing of error and fear. This is a process that begins with an individual receiving a blessing of atonement for themselves through the Holy Spirit or Jesus within their mind, and then extends outward to all those who are ready to accept it. As this forgiveness grows, the forgiven become unwilling to accept any form of error (that is, sin or guilt) in themselves, and they begin to release it from others.

Another important aspect of atonement in ACIM is that it is universal. This is in contrast to some of the more traditional views of atonement, which only consider it to be possible for a small number of elect people to reconcile themselves to God. This is a fundamentally misguided view of the Gospel, and it denies the fact that Jesus came to save all men, regardless of their choice to believe or not. What is Atonement in ACIM?

ACIM is a book that teaches you to open up and let go of your attachments to concepts, roles and even people. It is really designed to empty your mind of any kind of opinions, and if you are not careful it can be easy for the ego to make up controversies like copyright controversies, or controversy between teachers who have different interpretations of what ACIM is teaching. The ego loves to take sides and get people frozen in their positions. That is why the ego is so sneaky.

You should read books like Absence from Felicity by Ken Wapnick, Journey Without Distance by Robert Skutch and Understanding A Course in Miracles by D. Patrick Miller to get an idea of the various positions that are out there.