Monday, April 27, 2009
Blog Questions for the Week following April 26, 2009
Read Luke 24:46, 47. Reflect in silence on what it means to be forgiven. Is this important to you, that God completely forgives you? Does this become more important if you recognize that accepting God's forgiveness means that you agree to forgive others? What do you need to forgive? Consider that to forget, in Old English, can mean to set aside or to neglect (rather than losing a memory). Can you forgive others and set aside your desire to harbor anger and to seek vengeance? In other words, can you forgive and forget? What impact will this have on you and on the person who has sinned against you?
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Short and appearing to be straightforward but my two Bibles read with a slight difference that confuses me:
ReplyDelete……repentance for the forgiveness of sins…
or
…that repentance and forgiveness of sins…..
However, the part that fascinates me the most is just prior….. “Then he opened their minds to understand”…..
I wonder if my mind has been opened yet?
Judy's comment points up for me even more the importance of humble listening and openness to the processes of change of thinking and being. Like Judy, I'm fascinated by the idea of their minds being opened to understand. I wonder how the setting aside process would feel different if preceded by the opening of the mind to understand.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel sinned against for other people---then anger makes me want to make things right. Do we still forgive and let the anger go? Is it ever right to seek vengeance? People who take advantage of the meek or the oppressed or the poor make me very angry. I want to defeat them in some way. I want to make it right, but I also want these bad people to feel badly about what they have done, or to feel the pain they have inflicted upon the helpless. Very difficult for me to forgive in this instance. The anger builds up and I just want to quit trying. More prayer does equal less anger for me so I think I know the answer for the forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteBut often the sin is ongoing---everyday, every hour. You can set aside the past but how do you set aside the present?
It's this last part that is troubling for me. If there is someone who continually exerts power and who is focused on wielding the power and not necessarily on the harm that is caused to others, particularly those who are vulverable in some way, then how does the time sequence of forgiveness work here? It is perhaps more understandable to set aside hard feelings or the desire for vengeance if the action is past, but doesn't justice demand a different response to such action that is ongoing--particularly if the person is unwilling to cease such action even when it is pointed up as harmful?
ReplyDelete