Not sure if this has been posted here, but would be curious to hear the groups thoughts…
Judith decapitating Holofernes (pictured above) C.S. Lewis was famous for stating that, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” But why is that? Obviousl…
Much of what the writer says I actually agree with, and to understand why you must have a little bit of knowledge on the maximal greatness.
God is the maximal greatnes, and this means that he is in possession of all great making properties at their maximal degree (commonly refered to as a perfection). One of these perfections is moral perfection (to better understand this, I would recommend “aquinas” and the “five proofs of the existence of god” by Edward feser) . Basically, it is impossible for God to forgive sin, as if he did forgive sin, he would be allow sin as he personally liked the sinner, demonstrating partiality, meaning that he is ultimately not all good. (1 reason why Islam is false)
But, God is also perfectly loving, meaning that we have conflict of interests. God hates sin and must eradicate it, but he also loves the sinner pretty much infinitely. How can God settle this issue? How can this be reconciled?
Christ. In the person of christ, God’s perfect love and perfect richeousness are made manifest, meaning that he ultimately takes vengeance on sin (justice), but enables a way out for the sinner.
This is the only reason mercy is considered a good thing. All of our sins were washed away at no personal cost, and yet we would still refuse to let Go of crimes committed against our own persons? It is simply hipocrisy and it is an abomination.
But I also find that the auther of the article is totally wrong when it comes to justice and what counts as a crime.
As stated above, God is perfectly good, meaning that he will ultimately expect perfect goodness, and a failure to expect such goodness would ultimately mean that he isn’t totally good. The entire perspective of the auther can be summarised as follows:
“Wow, you can’t be honestly telling me that if I tell a little lie here and there that I deserve hell? What, does God police my internal thoughts as well? What, does God really think that its bad if I imagine having sex with random strangers as I walk past them? Seems pretty unfair to me!”
Well ultimately, God doesn’t care about your worthless opinion. Simply because you believe that your moral crimes aren’t all that bad, doesn’t mean they are not so in the eyes of the one who gave you morality. The person clearly has a deeply twisted moral perspective, and that is unfortunate. You will find that most people will gladly profess their own goodness from a mountain top, but they can never deliver the goods.
The one thing that is often omitted from forgiveness doctrines is that the person to be forgiven must first ask for forgiveness. It’s not automatic from God, and it is not mandated in the Bible that we forgive others unless or until they ask to be forgiven.
“So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” (Luke 17:3 NIV)
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