Friday, March 13, 2015

Forgiveness

I was on the radio with Bill Bennett yesterday in response to something he had said about forgiveness.
Someone on CNN had once asked him if Bill Graham was right to say that we had to forgive Bill Clinton.
Bill had replied that Clinton would have to repent first.
This was used to make it seem that Bennett was critiquing Billy Graham.
Of course, that wasn't the case.
You can disagree without being considered "critical" (judgmental) of someone.

So on air, I gave Bill my understanding of Christian Forgiveness.

My point was that when we are supposed to forgive, it means that we offer forgiveness.
When the offer is accepted with admission of guilt and repentance, we are obligated to then enforce our offer of forgiveness.

Edit: My wife Scherie disagrees. She says we should forgive immediately. Kind of like the Billy Graham sentiment.
Do you have an opinion?

If God, Who has offered and provided forgiveness to the world, offered it unconditionally, what would be the point of a final judgment?
No, He offers it conditionally. Repent and be justified by your faith in His offer of forgiveness based on the price of the Blood shed for our sins.

Now. as Bill mentioned:
Is their any crime too heinous for God to forgive?
What would the threshold be?

15 comments:

  1. The Apostle John wrote of the sin that leads to death, which can only be that of rejecting Jesus' sacrifice for us.

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  2. We aren't the final judges. Our task is to forgive. IMHO.

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  3. I really was thinking more in terms of personal offense and the response to it.
    Would you forgive someone and act accordingly BEFORE an apology?

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  4. WOW. On the 'too heinous,' absolutely NOT. Remember it says any little sin to God is a sin, no matter what. Don't ask me where, by the way :-)

    Rev Paul; that makes perfect sense. Beautiful reminder. Thanks!

    Ah, I just read your comment above, Ed....forgive before an apology (obviously, nobody needs true redemption from US, so I see your point)... I have forgiven people who didn't apologize...inwardly forgiven, anyway. I think the older and wiser we get, that happens. It's sort of like "What the heck...they didn't mean it.." I WISH I could be better at that.

    A very wise Bible teacher used to say "You don't have to FORGET but you must FORGIVE." She didn't mean to hold it over someone by not forgetting, but not forgetting so you don't put yourself in a hurtful situation again. Forgive, then if you don't quite trust the person, move on.

    "enforce forgiveness?" You mean, don't go back on it?

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    Replies
    1. That's the kind of response I was looking for, Z, and I don't think I was clear enough before the edit.
      By "enforce forgiveness" I meant "put it in to force" as opposed to it idling, waiting.

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    2. thanks, Ed....I get the 'enforce'..thanks.
      "and and forgive us our trespasses as WE forgive those who trespass against us".
      Horrifying!!!

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    3. thanks, Ed....I get the 'enforce'..thanks.
      "and and forgive us our trespasses as WE forgive those who trespass against us".
      Horrifying!!!

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  5. I loved how Bennett asked for your confirmation of his assertion about women "never forgetting" anything bad we (men) do, and you nervously laughed and reluctantly agreed. Has Scherie forgiven you for this?

    And I'll forgive just as soon as I can get this freaking log out of my eye. It really hurts.

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  6. Forgiveness is required of everyone, irregardless of the repentance of the offender or if the forgiveness is accepted. And the only crime for which there is no forgiveness, according to the Bible, is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Mark 3:29). I've understood this to mean to have a full, complete knowledge of the Gospel of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and then to reject it. And not just to reject it, but to wage war against it. That's a pretty high (or low) bar to achieve for eternal damnation. Ignorance, even willful ignorance, isn't enough. We must have passed the class with honors, and then willfully turned our backs on what we have been taught.

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    1. We differ on the blasphemy.
      I see it as rejecting the pull of the Holy Sprit to repentance.
      But we agree on the forgiveness.

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    2. A lutheran pastor told me once, "If you are worried that you've broken the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, you haven't". The same person said that the sin against the Holy Spirit is saying and believing that the miracles of Holy Spirit (faith, the healings Jesus did, etc) were done by the evil one, and not God.

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  7. Hi Ed,

    I'm leaving my best wishes and prayers for your wife's recovery here. I saw the news on Geez, but Wordpress doesn't like me for some reason and won't let me log in. ( Z had the same issue for a while at our site and IDK why ) Anyway, I hope she has a speedy recovery, from what I know can be a painful and trying injury. All the best to both of you.

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