Redemption of Anakin and other redemption stories (moved from Main)

[Carol]

> > Carol signed off:
> > Carol, who wonders just what it takes to achieve redemption if years of self-endangerment to make up for our greatest sin don't accomplish that
> 
> Kemper now:
> It was his guilt that initiated the redemption which, to me, makes it a little less satisfactory of a redemption story.  No one is saying he wasn't brave with regard to putting his life at risk.  
> I think you would like Avatar: The Last Airbender.  If you're library doesn't have them and you've found your way around torrents, then download soon!  It is a great story that will help show a satisfactory redemption story that will stop your wondering!!!  You won't regret it.

>
Carol responds:
Thanks, Kemper. I'm still afraid of torrents (viruses, legal concerns, etc.) and I'm a bit busy with editing projects right now, but I'll look into it next time I go to the library.

As for guilt being the motivation for Snape's redemption, that's how redemption works in Christianity: you repent your sins as the first step toward atonement. 

Here's the General Confession used in a number of Christian churches. I copied it from a Methodist site, but it's identical to the one used in the Episcopal (and probably the Anglican) church:

"Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, maker of all things, judge of all men, we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness which we from time to time most grievously have committed by thought, word, and deed against Your divine Majesty, provoking most justly your wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us. Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us, most merciful Father for Your Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake."

Though Snape is not necessarily a Christian (he'd have made a great medieval Catholic!), he certainly "acknowledges and bewails" his "wickedness" in "word and deed," not against God but against Lily (and perhaps others). He "earnestly repents" and is "heartily sorry" for his "misdoings," and "the remembrance of them is grievous" to him. 

But Snape goes beyond remorse to active atonement. He can't undo his sin, but he can do his very best to make sure that Lily didn't die for nothing and to fight against the Dark Wizard who murdered her. In essence, rather than trusting to repentance alone, he takes atonement into his own hands. (Maybe he'd have been happier trusting God to forgive him, but, then, he wouldn't have been Snape.)

Carol, who thinks that Snape's redemption would have been unrealistic if it involved a complete personality change like Scrooge's and is sure that he's earned peace and happiness in the afterlife, whether it's a Christian Heaven or not