Make what you will of U2, but Bono sometimes has some crystal-clear articulations of the Gospel and what it entails. In Bono in Conversation, he makes one of these, picked up by Gene Edward Veith and Vitamin Z:

Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.

This point is worth much reflection. Karma, and in general the concept of “you reap what you sow”, points out that we receive back what we put out in life (or death). Do good, good will come. Do bad, bad will come. Indeed, this concept is present in Scripture — “he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; he who sows generously will also reap generously”. It is also present with higher stakes — sin, and the just result is death (and everyone sins).

What Bono rightly points out is that God’s grace steps in and interrupts this law. In the interview, he goes on to explain how this is possible due to Christ taking in our place what we had coming back to us for our sins so that we could get undeserved love and mercy.

So then, the universe has certain laws — actions have consequences, some temporal and some eternal — but the grace of God, in Jesus, changes how they play out. Jesus gets the punishment for our sins, we get life.