Posted by Doug Showalter on May 06, 1998 at 08:55:10:
In Reply to: forgiving the unforgiving? posted by keith on April 29, 1998 at 20:24:05:
Dear Keith,
I believe it is in God's own nature to be forgiving. God's mercy and love always supercede God's judgment. In fact, that's why God sent Jesus. In God's love, God sent us Jesus to save us from our sins, when, in fact, humanity deserved otherwise according to God's judgment.
When we ourselves fail to forgive, we block ourselves off from receiving or benefitting from the forgiveness God offers us. However, our failure to forgive does not change God's nature to be forgiving.
My view is that forgiveness does not condone sin. Forgiveness is realistic. It recognizes sin for what it is. But it forgives in spite of the sin. To use the well-known example of the Pope's forgiveness: he went to the jail cell to express his forgiveness to the man who had attempted to kill him. There was no indication that this man was repentant. In forgiving, the Pope was in no way saying that it was ok for this man to have tried to kill him. Neither was the Pope saying that this man should be released from his prison sentence.
Forgiveness frees and heals the heart of the forgiver. It also sets up the possibility that reconciliation with the injurer might occur. However, that reconciliation can only take place, if the injurer is also repentant.
Forgiveness does not condone sin. In forgiving, the forgiver transcends the sin. The forgiver is no longer tied to the evil of the sin--in the sense that he/she carries a grudge about it and continually re-lives its evil in his/her mind and heart. However, to really benefit from this forgiveness, the injurer must also be repentant.
There is no indication that many of those who crucified Jesus were repentant at the time. Nonetheless, Jesus asked God to forgive them. In my view, such forgiveness from God came in spite of the cross. In no way did it condone the evil act of crucifying Jesus.
In short: I don't believe God ever withholds forgiveness. As in the parable, the father is forgiving even before he has contact with his prodigal son. He is forgiving, and always scanning the horizon, in hopes that this beloved son of his will return home, and preferably with repentance in his heart, so true reconciliation can blossom from his forgiveness. I do believe that many people block themselves from receiving or benefitting from the divine forgiveness God offers, because of their own failure to repent, or their own failure to forgive others. In a spiritual sense, they are prodigals who never return home.
Doug Showalter