Forgiveness in the life of a Christian

Forgiveness for a Christian

There are incidents that have happened in all of our lives but for dumb luck or Divine intervention, our existence would be very or vastly different. My mother wanted me to be proficient on the violin, of which there was no chance. But I did give me an awareness of my hands and use of my fingers. Because of my violin lessons for seven years, I truly appreciate the instrument in the hands of a master.

Working construction as a teenager on the Lytel Flood control I came close to losing both of my hands but for the intervention of a black co-worker. I am ashamed to say I do not remember his name. Another man working up top either on purpose, or by unawareness, set in motion a situation that would have cost me my hands if it were not for this unnamed co-worker. This man working above was both mean and vulgar, and in my thinking at that time, very capable of doing the deed.

It is easy without any thought to be thankful to someone who has saved you from harm, or in my case, the loss of my hands. But to forgive a person who either didn’t care, or would get some perverted pleasure out of such an act, is hard to understand or to consider forgiveness.

The Christian faith has stated in its all of its creeds, as they should as Jesus did teach us, to forgive as we are forgiven. What if we do not? He clearly taught us that if we do not forgive, then our sins would not be forgiven. Sin separates us from the only hope for eternity we have, and it separates us from the only One who has the words, authority, and gift of life to give. No part of the teaching of Jesus is clearer, and I can find no exception to what He has taught us concerning this subject.

He does not tell us we are to forgive other people’s evil done toward us provided such acts are not too frightful or there are extenuating circumstances, stupid or perverted. We are instructed to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, and however often they it is repeated. Maybe the best reason in the world I can think to do this is if we do not, we retain our own sins.

My only hope is that God’s grace is greater than my sin. The Bible tells me that it is. But I know that sin separates me from God, and in so doing, sin separates me from life in eternity. So, believe me, I have forgiven this man who may have wanted to do me harm. Who knows, maybe he took a dislike to me when I bowed my head and said grace before I ate my lunch that noon.

Three viws of Christmas

Christmas has three levels of observers.

First is the awareness that Christmas is and has for many the deepest meaning for those of faith. The wonder of the event, not the date, but the realization of what has happened when God chose to reveal His nature in terms we can understand by all that is revealed to us in Jesus. This observance is obligatory for Christians, and it is deeply personal and a faith practice which reaches the year around. Here I need not say more. Those who understand what I am saying, will.

Second view is the one I grew up with. It is a popular holiday. It is a time for family gathering, laughter and visiting. It is also focused on children, but more often than not, it is teaching the wrong message of what Christmas truly is. It surely is a close family and friend time, a reaffirming of relationships, and observing customs passed down or created by events or history past. This is also the sharing of family and friend news via cards and letters that either time or geography has separated or denied us. But Christmas is surely lost if that is all that it is. How this level of Christmas understanding is celebrated by others is of no concern or business of mine or anyone else. It is their traditions and heritage.

Third view is the one that troubles me and here I am guilty. While our culture and the greatest part of our economy is based on discontent, i.e., if it is last years style or model, it must be replaced. The movers of merchandise, beginning in August to entice us to spend our money on gifts for others, that for the most part for what persons do not need, or for procuring things to give we would never buy for ourselves. The big news reported is that the economy is either up or down because of the money spent on such.

Now here is where I am guilty as I now admit twice. I have two large boxes where year around I put things that I want to give to someone at Christmas. The part that seems to have gone wrong is that we are to have a gift for everyone, and to not give one to someone who has given us a present, is unthinkable. This is such a distortion of the season, which comes out of the thought that such an awesome gift has been given to us by God, we also give to others. We also for this same reason make our homes festive with lights outside and in, as an expression of the light of joy given to us at the darkest time of the year. These symbols are deeper than we sometimes suspect.

But things are given as presents which no mortal ever bought for himself – gaudy and useless gadgets ‘novelties’ because no one was ever fool enough to want such for him or herself. The question stands that have we really no better use for materials and for human skill and time than to spend them on all this rubbish? I say this with the awareness than I just bought 10 hot wheels for a man 40 ish as a joke for Christmas next.

It is a special time of year, celebrated many different way, but with the hope that the darkness of the days has an inner hope that God’s light and life has shined in our darkness to guide our lives into eternity which is His purpose in all that is, and can at times be seen behind all the symbols we use to celebrate Christmas.

One further note. A man named Nicholas was orphaned at age 12 but left a small fortune. As a compromise he was named a Bishop as a boy. He became a saint, thus Saint Nicholas, who was very generous with his wealth, and wears red being a Bishop. We observe this ancient figure, sometimes called Santa Claus. as a generous gift giver at Christmas time. Yes, Virginia, Santa Claus is real.

Why I am a follower of Jesus, the Christ.

The truths and thoughts that I hold concerning the Christian faith.

It begins for me with Plato. He observed that we mortals are like those who sit in a cave with our back to the outside. As we do so we are watching the shadows moving on the wall in front of us. and think what we are seeing is reality. It wasn’t until I understood a bit of physics that I saw how right he was. Our real world in which we dwell is made up of electrons, quarks, maybe a lot of dark matter and according to some, vibrating strings. The big underlying tension is knowing that all matter was made up originally equally with matter and anti matter. The present discussion among physicists is: “Why is matter favored over dark matter.”

But at this point a thinking person looks around and sees such an incredible order in all that is, from the stars to atoms, and a person reaches most often the conclusion that some thing or Some One has brought about all of the interlocking order that is more than evident following the big bang. Billy Graham made this observation also but he also added that he also sees the work of a corrupter in all that is. To the world observer there is both evidence of an awesome order and also there is an obvious brokenness in the world in which we dwell and certainly a brokenness in the history and lives of we mortals.

This brings us to the need of finding a word we can use to describe this issue. It most often is called religion. There are many religions and forms of religion. A person of the Christian faith does not have to believe that all other belief systems are wrong, but at the same time, a Christian can believe with certainty that the Christian faith is completely right.

In our freedom of choice we can deny any point of faith, and even choose the intellectual position of an atheist. A person who says there is no god sees all religions as an opiate of the people, just wishful thinking, or a wonderful cosmic accident. An atheist can assert and hold the position there is no god as their judgment.

An aside to this view for me is that intellectually atheism is untenable to the thinking person. To say there is no God is to assert that the atheist has examined behind every star, looked at the total of all that is, and then reached such a conclusion. Since we are mortals limited in time, space and knowledge, this is an impossible position to honestly take, given the above. I deeply respect the position of an honest searching agnostic.

There are basically two world views of religion. A world view of God is called Pantheism. A position best set forth by the German philosopher Hegel, and as much as I am able to understand this view, it is held by mostly those of the Hindu faith. This view holds a circular view of history. Kingdom’s rise and kingdom’s fall perpetually.

The other view of God is held by Jews, Islam and Christians. This view holds that there is one God, and God is the Creator and sustainer of all that is. This view is called monotheism and holds a linear view of history, meaning history has a very real beginning and an definite end.

The gulf between Pantheism and the Christian monotheism idea of God, is very real. The Pantheists mostly believe that God animates the universe much like you animate your body, move an arm or shake your head. The universe itself, our world and nature is almost God. To put it another way, if our world did not exist God would not exist either. This thinking is that anything you find in the universe is a part or a dimension of God. Hence the thinking is that the earth is sacred. The ancient Persians began putting men to death by crucifixion up on a cross above the earth because if the earth was sacred they did not wish to defile it with the body of an evil doer. The dead were left on the cross for the birds and animals and thus did not pollute the earth.

As a Shaman explained it to me, Pantheism is the basic view of many of the American Indian religious expressions. This is also why I believe I was called a god in India as a visitor in a home.

The Christian view is drastically different. God invented, created, and spoke into existence (energy into matter) and made (brought forth) this and all other universes. This God did so much like a person planning and making a piece of furniture, building a house or painting a picture. The painter is not the picture, and the house or the furniture is not the carpenter. All three are formed in the mind and planed by the maker. The Creator’s skill, mathematics, and plan and purpose is evident in what He has done. What He did is different from Himself.

As a person who chooses the Christian faith, we find ourselves free to respect all positions of faith and I say this knowing that there are some truly bizarre and strange expressions of belief. But I have found that in every lie there is some truth. I have also found that in every form of religious expression there is some insight, faith, worth and truth in varying degrees.

Being a follower of the revelation of Christ, thus a Christ-one, does mean that where Christianity differs from other forms of faith, Christianity is closer to being right
than are other religions. To restate this position, I believe Christianity is closer to being right and true than are other religions.

In the world of the laws we live by in our daily physical lives, not man made laws but the fundamental laws of our existence, there is only one right answer. Without caring what you believe, or what you may or may not hold to be true or false, an item dropped will fall at 32 feet per second, per second the world around. In doing a math problem, there is only one right answer no matter what was intended or believed.

But some wrong answers are closer to the right answer than are some other wrong answers. No matter how much a person may protest that a view is correct, it does not change what is the right answer in math, in physics or, I believe, in my faith.

Let’s go back to the beginning. The big division in our human existence is between the majority of the world’s population who have affirmed that this world is not the result of the spawn of chance, or that it arbitrarily came to be as it is. The majority affirm a belief in a creator, or deity, and the minority are those who do not believe in anything above chance.

At this point, the Christian faith lines up with the majority of the world’s population who believe there is something or someone that has brought order in all that is. Central to the Christian faith is that some thing or someone has brought a rather awesome order out of the positive and negative charges of electrons, atoms, and the protons that which make up all that is above our heads and beneath our feet. I would go so far to observe that in all of its interdependence and order, it is all done to and for the benefit of we mortals.

But there is another division. What kind of deity or God do we mortals hold to be God? The Christian faith holds that God as seen by the Christian is the creator who is beyond (outside of) time, space or limitations, or at least in our understanding of such.

The counter position is that the creator being is beyond good or evil, not either. As we are not to judge, and are not to judge at any level because we are not a god, neither does this god judge. What is, is even for god. An outfall of this position is that of Deism, which holds that God created and wound up the universe much as one would wind up a clock, and either departed, or withdrew and let it run as it does, but as the creator, he is not now involved in any way.

The other position is that God is now deeply involved, committed by covenant, revelation and promise, but remaining totally other. God for the Christian is Holy beyond our under standing, yet He has chosen to come into our womb of time and space in order to enter our world of human existence that He might reveal to us His nature in terms we can grasp. He is a God who is a God of infinite love for those of us to whom He has given the gift of life. He wants us to behave in one way with this entrustment of life and not another, but His purpose is always for our own good, our spiritual growth and maturity, and our faith understanding.

A view within Christendom which is in contrast with Christianity at the most basic level is what the Mormons believe. Their mantra is “As we are, God once was. As God is, we shall become.” This would result in many gods and stands in opposition of the monotheism of Christian belief.

The incredible revelation for the Christian was that we could address God as our creator and could address Him as our Father as revealed to us by Jesus. This I have not found in any other major expression of faith. Reading the Noble Qur’an I find the hundred names for God, but nothing close to God being a God of love or the relationship of a child to a father. For the Christian it is a core belief that God is One and His character is that of grace beyond measure to lead and guide us into eternity. God is far beyond our grasp and understanding, truly our Heavenly Father who has declared and shown His love for us.

Because we mortals have been created with the gift and responsibility of free will, we can and often do choose to do that which is not the revealed will of our creator. We can and do reject what God wills for our good. A Christian belief is that rejecting God’s will has and does lead to a broken world and broken lives. This is called sin and means that we have missed the mark of God’s intentions for our lives. It is also to be noted that we do not and cannot break any of God’s laws in the world of physics or in the world of the spiritual. Rather by disobedience we break our selves on God’s laws in body or spirit. If God is the only source of life there is, and we cut ourselves off from that source, then there is only the absence of life. Or as we are told “the soul that sinneth shall die.” Ezekiel 19:04

Still, we would not have any idea what broken is if we did not have the perfect to compare it to, even as I would not know what a crooked line is if I had never seen a straight line. For a Christian it is in the God filled man named Jesus, the perfect image of God in the three dimensions of our existence, that we can grasp and understand the revealed nature of God. For example, as in my mind I cannot envision a color not made up of the three primary colors that are the colors of the world in which I now live. I have limited capacity in all dimentions. This is why the infinite Deity had to enter the boundaries of my time and space so I could grasp and understand. We cannot conceive outside of our limits, so God entered our limits.

By doing so God opens up a new dimension of vision for us in the person of Jesus. We see God in the three dimensions of our existence, and thus we can grasp and understand the nature of God. So God was in Jesus revealing Himself by living among us, as a way to show us what kind of God He is. His nature and values were set before us in our dimensions, showing Himself to we homo sapiens in the person of the man Jesus.

It has to be noted that it is not what Jesus taught that sets Him apart. Some of His teachings are the elements of common morality seen among all nations and faiths, such as: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Luke 6:31. These common values, I have come to feel, are the fragments of what God wrote into our being when He created us. It is common for people to hold in high esteme what we call the common virtues: honesty, justice, and truth. These are the commonly accepted cardinal virtues, which sometimes are not so common, that we humans admire and seek to imitate. It is also true in the negative that cowardliness, lying, cheating are rejected among the greatest majority of cultures.

For the Christian, Jesus speaks God’s mind. This is the hinge point. But for the non Christian to be confronted by a man that asserts that God was speaking through Him, or to hear a human say: “He who hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:09.) would quite honestly think that such a man was either right out of the loony bin, mad as a March hare, or else He truly was God speaking to us unlike any other man or religious leader has or could speak.

It becomes a stark truth that if what Jesus said was not true then His painful, tragic death on the cross was not necessary, and He was a first class fool not to use his intelligence to escape. One of ordinary mind would have lived for life’s pleasures and enjoyed his old age. He could then write down His teachings, if these were the really important purpose of his life, so we would know exactly what He taught.

Looking back to the Old Testament we see that not only did God choose a people, the Jews, but we also see that He hammered them and hammered them again to get into them the revelation of what kind of God He was. Jesus brought to us who are God’s creation, created -- not begotten, a full revelation of God’s nature, a God who acts out of love, and offering to those who accept, grace, redemption, and forgiveness of sins. It is not by works, burnt offerings, or what we eat or do not eat, but by God’s freely offered grace and love that we can and do celebrate the Good News shown to us by Jesus who truly is the Christ.

This revelation given to us by Jesus is seen as a very sad, if not a monstrous and as certainly shameful and pitiful lie all ending as a dishonest sham. The issue then becomes can our Creator play us false, lie to us, and then laugh us to scorn because we have been taken in by the lies that He has told us through His prophets, testified to by Jesus and written in the scriptures?

Or have we been told the truth? Has God been honest, faithful and truthful and can the Holy One of Israel be trusted to keep His word and the covenants He has made?

The Christian faith is centered in and on the truth that God is a God who can be trusted and that we can find the truth about our tomorrows in Him. Jesus is the absolute center of the fullest revelation of God’s nature and purpose that we have in our world and history. Jesus has told the truth and has the right answer to the question of our Creator’s nature and purpose. Jesus did this when He taught us that we could call our Creator and our God, “Our Father who art in heaven.” The God that Jesus revealed to us is a God who loves us unconditionally and who calls us to heal our lives and our world’s brokenness by being obedient to Him through the strength that His love gives us.

If Jesus was only a great moral teacher then would not we detect conceit as He spoke such words as “He who hath seen me, hath seen the Father.”? We read that Jesus is “humble and meek” and so many have affirmed that He is as do I. If He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings, such as: I am the vine and you are the branches….with out me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

When someone says they do accept Jesus as a truly great moral teacher, but they just cannot accept His claim to be God among us, this raises a serious question. This is an impossible logical position to take because a man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher, rather he would be seriously mentally deranged. This is the decision point for those who believe He truly was who He said He was. It comes down to Jesus being mentally deranged or the son of God showing us truth about all that is in the real of the human soul. Remember, Jesus claimed that He was with the Father from the beginning. For some Jesus would be in the same category as someone in a mental institution to say such a thing or else it is the truth, but I believe intensely there is no room for a middle ground position.

Beyond His teachings is that which demands a decision as to just who Jesus was. So it comes to the inescapable choice that either this man was and is the revealed Son Of God or else He was a brilliant mad man. We in our God given freedom can shut Him out as being an utter fool, or worse, ignore Him. Or we can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and our God. In our God given free will, we have the responsibility to make our choice either way.

This does not allow us the patronizing position of passing Him off as a great human teacher among the great human teachers in our human history. He did not leave that choice open to us, and I believe that He did not intend to do so. As the disciple John wrote: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…..In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:1-2.

Therefore Jesus is the light in our darkness, the light of the world, the light that lights the path to our salvation -- or He isn’t. It is at this point that I have to believe that He is, and I will seek to do so as long as I have breath, while recognizing that each of us has to make his or her own choice.

This position of faith I have outlined comes from the Biblical record as I read it. My back ground is one year of engineering, and three years of Bible, and an effort to read it in its original language, two years Psychology, Seminary at Emory and Drew.

Now comes the confession. Being out of step with every recognized biblical scholar I studied under is hard if not painful. You will read the authorities which say that the gospels were all written quite late. The two thirds of the New Testament is made up of the epistles written by Paul and are without question written before 68 A. D. I feel that every one of the churches Paul established wanted to know more about this one called Jesus as they adopted the Christian faith. This is why I believe the gospels were and had to be written at an earlier date than is commonly recognized.

My problem is that if Jesus was born 4 B.C., and died and rose from the dead in or about 29 A.D and then forty one years later came the total and complete end, the absolute destruction of the center of Judaism, i.e., Jerusalem, the temple, priesthood, sacrificial system and all males over 17 years of age put to the sword. In my view these items would make this a massive world changing for the history of the Jewish nation. Those who were left alive were made into non persons as slaves as Josephus writes. For this not to be referenced or made mention is beyond my understanding of human nature. The earliest fragment of John’s gospel known is a copy of a copy, P 52, and is dated 125 A.D. Therefore John had to be written before this date. Sinaiticus Vaticanus is just a little later but some of its scattered writings may be earlier.

In spite of those who are the acknowledged scholars, I believe that what is written in the Gospels is an eye witness detailed account written down for new believers. Paul’s missionary journeys resulted in the conversion of both Jew and non Jew but they all wanted to know more about who Jesus was. I take the Gospel and Epistles at face value, as I do their testimony of who and what Jesus was, mostly for myself because they paid with their lives for what they believed to be true about Him.