Is forgiveness something that is "offered" - I usually see it as something "given", no need for the person to actually accept it, it's already there. And even without acceptance, I see a chance that by knowing you are forgiven, that it could creep in and change you somewhere along the way. I believe there are people who might refuse it and yet still in time feel it and actually benefit from it.
Yes!!! God's forgiveness is real and steadfast; his love is unconditional, but we can reject it and then we are not in relationship and cannot experience his grace and welcoming. If we aren't willing to accept God's love and forgiveness, we remain separated from God. The good news is that the offer of being in relationship is always present. We need to choose to love God and our neighbor as we love ourselves.
A damn good post, forgiveness is at the heart of our or my believe, God knows if we are truly sorry for our sinful actions and thoughts and God forgives those who are truly sorry. Many will fake feeling bad and sorry for said actions when really they are not but God can see through their bullshit. As to what is unforgivable I am sure there may be things that are mostly from our human point of view. This human cannot say or guess what God thinks or feels and thus do not know what he would consider unforgivable.
In "The Five Gospels" the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar point out that the text about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is very likely not a statement Jesus made, but rather an addition well after Jesus death made by the early Jesus Movement folk, the followers of The Way. /res
Btw, Timothy Shriver's father, Sargent Shriver, a founder of the Peace Corps is covered in Doris Kearns Goodwin's new book on her late husband Dick Goodwin, a speechwriter for JFK. p 72, An Unfinished Love Story, about the 1960s.
This is beautiful and beautifully clear. We had this same verse passage in worship today and the sermon gave me chills. In a good way. I didn't understand "the unforgivable sin" when I was 13 and going through confirmation classes. I do see it now at 67. Thank you for this wonderful and stirring message. God Bless you.
“And as long as ‘thanks, but no thanks’ is our spiritual posture, we cannot ‘have forgiveness.’ We will not experience the benefits of what we refuse to accept.”
One of the things I love about universal salvation, as I have come to understand it, is that God never retracts that invitation, that even after death our souls still have the option of accepting God’s love, and that God is willing to wait for every soul, no matter how long it takes.
Thank you, Jake. As I say occasionally, If you have to believe in God to really commit to loving all people, then by all means, believe in God. The problem most people seem to have when we ask God to "remake us in the image of love" is that we end up leaving it up to God and maybe our subconscious mind. Do we commit to read about those we fear, ignore, despise, do we seek them out to listen, to learn, to help, or heal, do we join a community with others who are making real strides to reach out and listen? How much do we commit ourselves into our own prayers to God or just "let God"? Best regards, Out Reach Team Member, Poor Peoples Campaign, D.C. June 29
As sometimes happens with the lectionary readings , Preachers have an option of ignoring a part of the scripture assigned. While that technically did not happen by the local sermon, He did state that the whole blasphemes is whole sermon in itself for another time. He then emphasized 31-35. Good sermon but the But that I have being both Presbyterian and Episcopal formed--the message is so much more powerful when you risk using the whole of scripture offered in the lectionary especially today. Thank you for this clarification and loving message today.
I caught in the comments that you have connections to Seminary at /Sewanee. My connection is I was in one of the first EFM /Theological Ed. by Extension in Chattanooga. Charles was still writing original curriculum . Do to a move for husband's career. I finished in 1987 in Odessa Texas! My Diploma is framed and hung where I see it several times a day. Thank you for sharing your Faith with the rest of us.
Over the years, I have treated Forgiveness like a much welcomed perennial. That is to say, there were times when I was certain I had forgiven, only to be faced with a deeper level requiring my attention. G-D's Love is boundless, there in, He forgives us again and again...Seventy times seven. Forgiveness is a form of letting go. Forgive as we are forgiven. It has become a daily practice. One time I heard a person say, "That is utterly unforgivable" I thought is silly, as the act was somewhat trivial. My ego immediately went to the most grievous acts I had forgive, including murder. Recognizing my pride and ego, I asked myself what is unforgivable? That became my focus of contemplation for a week or so. I made it personal. "What do I find unforgivable? Is there a line in the sand, where I say, no, sorry, that's too much to ask?" It was most humbling. So I prayed to G-D that He guide me to my line in the sand, the line or lines that I have overlooked. He, of course did. The brilliance of the act of forgiveness , which is, ongoing, is that when we forgive, that act spreads to many, past present and future. All can be released in the Light Of G-D to a higher awareness
Brilliant piece Jake! it spawned a number of my own thoughts...
The oft quoted proposition: “to sin is to be human, to forgive divine” is WRONG. IT IS NOT HUMAN TO SIN. As Jake points out, when we sin we “debase our very essence,” “we tear the fabric of reality, the web of relationships’” “we reject, distort and corrupt love.” From this vantage point Sin is the failure to love and to allow myself to be loved.
To extend Jake’s thought further, JESUS models for us what it truly looks like to be fully human and fully alive. He was fully human because He was without sin. He is the prototype of what “human” is in every respect. To live in this realm where sin cannot undermine our becoming more human--so we can grow into our full human potential and gift to the world--we need to be inspired and guided by the same SPIRIT that inspired and guided JESUS. We need what animated JESUS to animate us. We need an infusion, an anointing, an empowerment—which is the promise of the SPIRIT--to say and do like JESUS. Thus, the Christian journey is all about embracing our humanness and learning to live and become more human each day by living in, with and through the SPIRIT of JESUS.
The way you have woven together the moral law, sin, and forgiveness provides us with a concise, yet full explanation of sin and grace and how God's love works in our lives. After 4 decades of ordained ministry this is one I will keep to reference and share.
It makes sense that God would not override our will, but does God ever stop loving or forgiving us? I wonder if death is the portal where we stop driving God away, and God’s love overrides our resistance. I hope that faith comes very late to some.
Is forgiveness something that is "offered" - I usually see it as something "given", no need for the person to actually accept it, it's already there. And even without acceptance, I see a chance that by knowing you are forgiven, that it could creep in and change you somewhere along the way. I believe there are people who might refuse it and yet still in time feel it and actually benefit from it.
Yes!!! God's forgiveness is real and steadfast; his love is unconditional, but we can reject it and then we are not in relationship and cannot experience his grace and welcoming. If we aren't willing to accept God's love and forgiveness, we remain separated from God. The good news is that the offer of being in relationship is always present. We need to choose to love God and our neighbor as we love ourselves.
A damn good post, forgiveness is at the heart of our or my believe, God knows if we are truly sorry for our sinful actions and thoughts and God forgives those who are truly sorry. Many will fake feeling bad and sorry for said actions when really they are not but God can see through their bullshit. As to what is unforgivable I am sure there may be things that are mostly from our human point of view. This human cannot say or guess what God thinks or feels and thus do not know what he would consider unforgivable.
In "The Five Gospels" the Fellows of the Jesus Seminar point out that the text about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is very likely not a statement Jesus made, but rather an addition well after Jesus death made by the early Jesus Movement folk, the followers of The Way. /res
Btw, Timothy Shriver's father, Sargent Shriver, a founder of the Peace Corps is covered in Doris Kearns Goodwin's new book on her late husband Dick Goodwin, a speechwriter for JFK. p 72, An Unfinished Love Story, about the 1960s.
This is beautiful and beautifully clear. We had this same verse passage in worship today and the sermon gave me chills. In a good way. I didn't understand "the unforgivable sin" when I was 13 and going through confirmation classes. I do see it now at 67. Thank you for this wonderful and stirring message. God Bless you.
“And as long as ‘thanks, but no thanks’ is our spiritual posture, we cannot ‘have forgiveness.’ We will not experience the benefits of what we refuse to accept.”
One of the things I love about universal salvation, as I have come to understand it, is that God never retracts that invitation, that even after death our souls still have the option of accepting God’s love, and that God is willing to wait for every soul, no matter how long it takes.
Thank you, Jake. As I say occasionally, If you have to believe in God to really commit to loving all people, then by all means, believe in God. The problem most people seem to have when we ask God to "remake us in the image of love" is that we end up leaving it up to God and maybe our subconscious mind. Do we commit to read about those we fear, ignore, despise, do we seek them out to listen, to learn, to help, or heal, do we join a community with others who are making real strides to reach out and listen? How much do we commit ourselves into our own prayers to God or just "let God"? Best regards, Out Reach Team Member, Poor Peoples Campaign, D.C. June 29
Thank you Diana for sharing your Substack with Jake Owensby. I love both of your Substacks and was so happy to see you know each other.
Jake's words near the end of his essay/homily will be my prayer for this week: "Remake me in the image of love that is my true self."
May you have a lovely birthday celebration and a wonderful week to come.
As sometimes happens with the lectionary readings , Preachers have an option of ignoring a part of the scripture assigned. While that technically did not happen by the local sermon, He did state that the whole blasphemes is whole sermon in itself for another time. He then emphasized 31-35. Good sermon but the But that I have being both Presbyterian and Episcopal formed--the message is so much more powerful when you risk using the whole of scripture offered in the lectionary especially today. Thank you for this clarification and loving message today.
I caught in the comments that you have connections to Seminary at /Sewanee. My connection is I was in one of the first EFM /Theological Ed. by Extension in Chattanooga. Charles was still writing original curriculum . Do to a move for husband's career. I finished in 1987 in Odessa Texas! My Diploma is framed and hung where I see it several times a day. Thank you for sharing your Faith with the rest of us.
❣️🤩😍❣️✨💆♀️✨❣️❣️🙏🙏🎊🙏🙏🙌🙌🎉🙌🙌
Very powerful sir, and not easy to live into this transforming, transfiguring power.
Over the years, I have treated Forgiveness like a much welcomed perennial. That is to say, there were times when I was certain I had forgiven, only to be faced with a deeper level requiring my attention. G-D's Love is boundless, there in, He forgives us again and again...Seventy times seven. Forgiveness is a form of letting go. Forgive as we are forgiven. It has become a daily practice. One time I heard a person say, "That is utterly unforgivable" I thought is silly, as the act was somewhat trivial. My ego immediately went to the most grievous acts I had forgive, including murder. Recognizing my pride and ego, I asked myself what is unforgivable? That became my focus of contemplation for a week or so. I made it personal. "What do I find unforgivable? Is there a line in the sand, where I say, no, sorry, that's too much to ask?" It was most humbling. So I prayed to G-D that He guide me to my line in the sand, the line or lines that I have overlooked. He, of course did. The brilliance of the act of forgiveness , which is, ongoing, is that when we forgive, that act spreads to many, past present and future. All can be released in the Light Of G-D to a higher awareness
Brilliant piece Jake! it spawned a number of my own thoughts...
The oft quoted proposition: “to sin is to be human, to forgive divine” is WRONG. IT IS NOT HUMAN TO SIN. As Jake points out, when we sin we “debase our very essence,” “we tear the fabric of reality, the web of relationships’” “we reject, distort and corrupt love.” From this vantage point Sin is the failure to love and to allow myself to be loved.
To extend Jake’s thought further, JESUS models for us what it truly looks like to be fully human and fully alive. He was fully human because He was without sin. He is the prototype of what “human” is in every respect. To live in this realm where sin cannot undermine our becoming more human--so we can grow into our full human potential and gift to the world--we need to be inspired and guided by the same SPIRIT that inspired and guided JESUS. We need what animated JESUS to animate us. We need an infusion, an anointing, an empowerment—which is the promise of the SPIRIT--to say and do like JESUS. Thus, the Christian journey is all about embracing our humanness and learning to live and become more human each day by living in, with and through the SPIRIT of JESUS.
Wow, amazingly put. I’m going to give this a lot of prayerful thought. Thank you.
The way you have woven together the moral law, sin, and forgiveness provides us with a concise, yet full explanation of sin and grace and how God's love works in our lives. After 4 decades of ordained ministry this is one I will keep to reference and share.
It makes sense that God would not override our will, but does God ever stop loving or forgiving us? I wonder if death is the portal where we stop driving God away, and God’s love overrides our resistance. I hope that faith comes very late to some.