Law of Equivalent Trade

Recently, I have been watching Full Metal Alchemist episodes. It's actually a pretty insightful show...surprisingly so. If you haven't guessed, the it is about alchemists. In the show, the alchemists transform one object to another. But, in order to transform something, they must obey the Law of Equivalent Trade. Whatever an alchemist is trying to make, the starting materials have to equal the ending product.

The Law of Equivalent Trade is one of the main themes of the show--many of the alchemists use it outside of alchemy as a code of conduct as well. But this law of equal trade literally guides everything that they do. Many of the talented can make just about anything. But, there are two things that an alchemist should never make 1) gold and 2) human life. The first rule exists for obvious reasons. But the second, not attempting to create human life, is much more complicated.

Human life is considered sacred, and toying with it is playing God. Even attempting to create human life is considered an unforgivable sin that has grave consequences. Even so, many alchemists are drawn by the mystique. They conduct research to try to figure out how a human transmutation (bringing a human back to life) can be successfully completed. No one has succeded. A human life needs more than just the elements that make up the body, and nothing has been found that is equivalent.

As I'm watching the show, I've been pondering this: they have not found anything equivalent to a human life. But, I have, in a way. For me, Christ was enough. His sacrifice was enough to bring me to life. The show is right in the fact that only God can create life. But, God did more than create human life, He also recreated life through Jesus. When we die, we don't have to worry about a transmutation going awry. Figuratively speaking, Jesus stepped into the center of the transmutation circle, and it was enough.