The Oxford Dictionaries defines redemption as “the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil: God’s plans for the redemption of his world [in singular] a thing that saves someone from error or evil… the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt… the action of buying one’s freedom: soldiers who were captured had to seek redemption [as modifier]: serfs began paying redemption dues… ”
Two assassins are talking about their work and the associated burdens and one of them says, “Sure, I’ve killed many people, but I’ve also saved many lives. Have you ever asked yourself, at the moment of judgment, or whatever happens after death, is there anything that could redeem us?”
It’s a very common question: is it possible to clear the heavy karmic debts that you’ve incurred in this lifetime?
Our answer is, it depends. It may not even be a karmic debt in the first place, even in the case of terminating someone’s life.
In the case of the two assassins, considering they are under contract to eliminate only individuals such as terrorists who intend to harm civilians, we believe the assassins are free of any related negative karma.
Just as it’s acceptable in a karmic sense to squash a mosquito, or eradicate parasites from your body, it’s perfectly okay to kill terrorists, those who have killed and fully intend to kill more American (or European, or Thai, etc.) civilians, for example. Kill a terrorist, save multiple people (or even just one person) in the process, and you balance out your karma, in our educated opinion.
Alternatively, if an assassin is in the business of killing people who merely got on the wrong side of an outlaw, for instance, like in the case of someone with gambling debts, we believe it’s likely the assassin will incur the related karma. Although it may be fate that the gambler was supposed to die that way, and the assassin was supposed to carry out the hit, karma will probably still be incurred, in our view.
However, is it possible that the assassin who knocks off the gambler won’t incur any negative karma? Yes, we think so, because in our past life regression empirical research we’ve witnessed cases where so called horrible acts were committed, yet no karma was incurred, either because it was payback time and the final chapter from past lives, or there was some sort of karmic exemption, since that’s how all the key players set it up before incarnating.
In the case of warriors on the battlefield slaughtering each other, based on our findings, we believe there can be some sort of spiritual “war exemption,” agreed to before incarnating, that frees the soldiers from the heavy spiritual burden; they won’t be forced by their higher-self to be murdered again and again for each battlefield kill. Note: for those who say “war doesn’t have to happen,” we disagree–there will always be alternating periods of war and peace, just like you will never be able to avoid all disagreements and contention between two very different people. Besides, there will always be very bad people on this planet, no matter how much you pray for peace.
Do guilty feelings reflect and even contribute to karma? They can, but a total sociopath who feels no guilt at all is still accruing karma on a regular basis.
For those of you who believe that you have sinned and are damned to hell, you still have time to at least work toward redemption by making up for negative acts with positive ones. Even for those without major sins, helping others however and whenever you can on a small or large scale is always a good idea.
Copyright © 2012 Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo