Karma vs. sin

Are the Buddhist and Christian views that different? Buddhism holds that the law of karma is inexorable. You do something bad -- e.g., mistreat another person -- and that act does not go away; does not vanish. It remains and will haunt you -- if not "you" specifically (the beauty of the doctrine of reincarnation lies in making you think it is you yourself who must and will pay for what you have done) then somebody somewhere at some time. Similarly, in Christian understanding if (and when! -- fallen world and all that) you sin, the sin does not vanish. It has to be atoned for. It seems to me this is just a different way of describing the law of karma. Now, the solution to the hold of karma/sin in the two religions is, to be sure, somewhat different. In Christianity, atonement comes through an act of grace -- accept that Jesus has taken it upon Himself to atone for your sins, and you can be washed free of them. (Grace isn't cheap, though.) Buddhism teaches that if you work at it (and live virtuously) you can eventually remove yourself from the world and thus the inexorable workings of karma. They don't seem to me THAT different. The business in Gaza, for example, will not be over and done with when Netanyahu and the bloodthirsty fanatics around him succeed in killing and starving enough Palestinians that they no longer represent a "threat" to Israel. The sins/ law of karma what have you will work themselves out in terrible ways we can't yet foresee. SR