Thoughts on Divine Forgiveness
I had an epiphany on Sunday.
One of the issues that I have long had with Christianity is "forgiveness".
That if one confesses with his mouth and proclaims Jesus as his Lord and Savior
that he is forgiven. I have known some
great Christians and I have known some slime-balls. These are people who stand
up on Sunday, thump their Bible a bit and then Monday through Saturday live in
the gutter. In fact some of the most abhorrent
people I have ever met -- are deeply involved in church.
First I had to separate religion and
faith/spirituality. That was
simple. Religion is of man --
Spirituality is of God. I have a great relationship with God. I believe in God and I believe that Jesus
Christ was His Son. I am okay with
that. There is one other stumbling block
I have with Christianity and that still needs some pondering. I can't accept that while Jesus Christ might
be MY path to God that there are not other paths as well. I can't believe that God is that limited,
that small. He wants to be available to ANYONE who seeks Him. I can't believe that just because you are
born into another culture and another faith that you cannot connect with
God. He would not turn His back on
anyone who was simply born in the "wrong place at the wrong time" and
didn't have access to the teachings of Christ. I believe that God connects with
cultures in ways that they can accept and understand Him. So for Christ to be
the ONLY way (even though He might be MY way) -- it just not reasonable to me. But that one is not resolved and therefore is
NOT part of my epiphany.
Let's talk forgiveness.
Imagine that someone rear ends you in traffic. The damage is not great but there IS
damage. The person who hit you is sorry
and you are willing to let go of your initial anger at having your car damaged
and your day disrupted. You have
FORGIVEN this person for their mistake. That said, you are still going to
require some restitution for the damage to your car. It was their fault! Forgiveness is an emotional thing. It is about letting go of resentment and
anger. Maybe your friend owes you a lot
of money and has for a long time. You
can be angry at him -- stewing about it and getting wrapped around the axle
about it. Of course the anger is ONLY
affecting you -- your friend lives in another state and is totally unaffected
by your daily resentment. So you decide
to forgive him emotionally and let go of the anger. After all, if his situation was different and
he made changes, then he would pay you back.
But nothing has changed and he has not paid you back and has made no
effort to. But you have forgiven him
emotionally. He owes you no penance and he
doesn't have to be punished. That does
not mean he doesn't have to pay you back.
Restitution and punishment are different -- there is nothing punitive in
restitution. God forgives and thus has
let go of punishing you for your sins.
That does NOT mean at some point in this life or the next that you do
not have to pay restitution for whatever damage you have done. It is God's will and God's decision in
deciding what your restitution looks like.
The idea of Hell is punitive -- that you will be eternally punished for
your sins. Read Dante's Inferno and you
will get a great idea of what it MIGHT look like! But I don't think God wants to waste souls
and energy on punishment. It is like putting
someone in prison for property damage when it might be better to let the person
work and pay of his debt and restore what he has damaged. When the gal who started the Hayman Fire was
sent to prison I thought it was a waste.
She should have been sent out to the forest she destroyed and made to
work, clearing and planting…that would have been restitution. What good was
putting her in prison where we had to house, feed and care for her on the tax
payer's dime? I would have preferred
that she get out there and work to make what she damaged whole again -- or at
get as close as possible. I will stay
off the tangent that this could lead to…
In my mind Hell is reserved for a select few from two
camps. The first being such damaged
souls that there is no changing them -- there is no hope. They are those who are born or have become
evil. There aren't many but there are
some. God knows who they are. The second group is those who are totally
unwilling to be remorseful. I don't mean
that people have to formally confess to anyone in a church or anything. But these are people who "take" and
don't have any consideration for those they take from nor do they feel sorry
for anything they have done to hurt or damage others. They let others pay the
price. I think these are few as well --
but the number may be growing in today's society. God knows who they are too -- so I don't need
to concern myself with them other than to avoid them when I meet them.
So in conclusion -- yes God forgives all those who genuinely
seek His forgiveness -- but that does NOT mean you are off the hook! You will make restitution and it won't be
Hell. It will be making the world a better
place, in some way restoring the balance of "goodness" that your
"bad deed", or sin if you will, got out of balance. It is really a big picture thing -- much like
the Navajos and their idea of Beauty.
The word Beauty to them really means balance in all things. Your "divine" restitution might
come in this life or another and it might benefit the individual you hurt or it
might not. They have their own path and
their own story and that damage might be a lesson or part of their "bigger
picture". That part is up to God. That does not mean that in this life you
don't have to pay for the guy's bumper you hit!
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