THE PEACEMAKERS:
"Mercy and Truth Are Met Together;
Righteousness (Justice) and Peace
Have Kissed Each Other."
Marie writes:______________________
Love is not merely an attribute of God.
Indeed, Love is God's nature, His essence, the totality of His Being.
Even so, to be complete, Love (Loving Kindness or Compassion) must embody, incorporate, and integrate Justice (Righteousness), by bringing Love into bodily form, making Love a material substance, a reality in a real world.
The psalmist speaks a point to ponder when he said:
Mercy and Truth are met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.
Psalm 85:10 (KJV)Does it stretch the metaphor to say that the mystery of such a union gives birth to Peace?
Please read these stories presented by the Associated Baptist Press this week on the subject of forgiveness.
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An Excerpt: ... So, if Christians model our lives after Jesus, then this truth should be beyond debate: Forgiveness is the indelible mark of Christian character.
As noted in the set of stories also published by Associated Baptist Press today on the subject, forgiveness is not the same as blind denial of wrong-doing or timid acquiescence to bullying, intimidation or evil.
Forgiveness does not accommodate transgressions, nor does it ignore consequences of wrongdoing. Forgiveness does not move the vulnerable and innocent back into harm’s way. And it is not weak sentiment.
Forgiveness opens oneself and others to possibilities not bound by fights, failures and foibles of the past. Christian forgiveness counter-intuitively extends divine love to the unloving and, humanly speaking, unlovable.
The power of forgiveness is infinite. ... (Read entire story here).
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Forgive Us: Christians struggle with radical forgiveness
Associated Baptist Press
Monday, February 01, 2010
Associated Baptist Press
Monday, February 01, 2010
An Excerpt:
At age 8, Chris Carrier was abducted, stabbed multiple times with an ice pick, shot in the left temple at pointblank range and abandoned in the Florida Everglades. Miraculously, he survived (although blinded in one eye). But what happened two decades later may be even more miraculous.
God’s forgiveness of sinners is not based on anything humans do but on what God already has done, said Randall O’Brien, author of Set Free by Forgiveness.
“Contrary to popular opinion, forgiveness precedes repentance,” said O’Brien, president of Carson-Newman College, a Baptist school in Jefferson City, Tenn. “Repentance is the result of God’s forgiveness -- not the cause of it. God does not love and forgive us because we repent. We repent because God loves and forgives us. That’s the radical gospel of the cross.”
Jesus demonstrated unconditional love on the cross when he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Nobody had repented of his involvement in his crucifixion before Jesus freely forgave, O’Brien noted. But God’s universal forgiveness of sinners does not mean universal salvation, redemption and reconciliation, he explained.
“Forgiveness is a necessary but insufficient condition for reconciliation,” said O’Brien. “Reconciliation is always conditioned upon the response of the forgiven.”
What’s true in the relationship between God and sinful people also holds true in human relationships, he explained.
“Forgiveness is a one-way street. Reconciliation is a two-way street,” he said. ...
No excuse for offense
Forgiveness does not “look the other way” and pretend no harm as been done, O’Brien added. It does not minimize the damage caused or the offense committed.
“Forgiveness is not a substitute for judgment. Forgiveness is judgment. It is saying, ‘I judge you guilty, but I forgive you anyway,’” he said.
Forgiveness involves choice -- choosing not to punish an offense, Denison observed.
“It is not pretending that the person was not harmed or excusing harmful behavior. When a governor pardons a criminal, she does not deny the reality of the crime, but rather chooses not to inflict the punishment prescribed by the law. God forgives our sin in the same way and calls us to treat others as he treats us,” Denison said.
Forgiveness does not mean enabling future bad behavior or imperiling innocent people. O’Brien cited the example of a woman who has been physically abused by a spouse. Forgiveness does not mean placing oneself -- or others who are vulnerable -- in a position that facilitates future abuse." (Read entire story here).
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Forgive Us: Is forgiveness always appropriate for Christians? Associated Baptist Press
Monday, February 01, 2010
Monday, February 01, 2010
An Excerpt:
Accountability and idolatry
Justice requires accountability, Rosell insisted. Ministers and their congregations sometimes act as though the only requirement for forgiveness is to change the victim’s attitude and to simply say: “We forgive you.”
“Sometimes what’s counted as forgiveness is the unwillingness to hold a brother accountable.... That is a sin,” he said.
Part of the problem in churches also stems from “pastor idolatry,” he added. “We make a god of the pastor, and when he sins, we often can’t recognize it because of our idolatry.”
Often clergy abusers aren’t held accountable because some church members will pressure the rest to “forgive” him or her. Lack of accountability opens opportunities for further abuse, he said.
An act of obedience
Christians must forgive in obedience to God, said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
... Land emphasized that lack of forgiveness “will hinder growth and your spiritual relationship.” Believers should hold those who hurt them accountable, and in cases such as abuse, should remove themselves from the situation. But in every case, Christians must forgive. ... (read entire story here).
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