Rabbis teach today that if you have prayed, fasted, repented, and given to charity you have fulfilled the requirements for making you own atonement. Forgiveness of sin was never earned, it was always granted by His grace, free and undeserved to the penitent. Central to Yom Kippur in Biblical times, were the sacrifices and ministry of the High Priest. On this one day of the year, he was allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies and make atonement with the blood of the Bull for himself and his family and the blood of the goat for the rest of Israel. He was to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat with his fingers, thereby covering the sins of Israel with the blood of atonement.
Today there is no blood sacrifice.
The blood, by reason of its life, makes atonement and we receive the benefit. We were guilty in out sins, but now we can be set free from sin through His death for us. Now this does not affect the diet we have and the continuing battle of the bulge some of us face, but we are promised clearly that because God so loved the world, he gave his some, so that whoever believes will not perish. Let's lovingly tell all our friends and acquaintances that God's gift is the greatest ever and this is no media hype.