WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY? Pt. 3

Pt. 3

The Lord’s Prayer includes the passage, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” The implication is that unless we forgive those who have offended us, we have little or no hope of being forgiven. There is what I will refer to here as a “proximate correlation.”  Forgive the other guy’s sins, and your sins are also eligible to be forgiven. In another place Jesus says, “If you do not forgive your brother his sin, neither will your Father forgive you.”

(and)

“If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1^st John 1:9)

It seems to me that there is an inherent contradiction between God’s style of forgiveness, and the style He expects us to adopt and exercise.

For you see, the implication seems to be that we are to forgive anyone and everyone their sins whether or not the offender asks us for forgiveness.

And yet in the case of the Almighty, the implication seems to be that we are required to ask for forgiveness before He will exercise His forgiveness.

Considering this contradiction, I have only been able to glean one apparent rationale for it.

by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 43. Copyright pending

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