Forgiveness

It is only recently that I have discovered the power of forgiveness and how God’s Love has been extended to cover the sins of our enemies. Some would even regard this ‘leniency’ as a betrayal of God’s Law and His ‘obvious’ demand for righteousness. What irks some religious leaders is the apparent assertion that they too should embrace this philosophy, which entails letting go of their trusted values, as they see it as an invitation for chaos and moral anarchy. The truth is that the real need for forgiveness often happens when you (or your closest loved ones) appear in the moral cross-hairs of religious or social codes of conduct that are arbitrarily used to define good and evil; this scenario can also arise after you inadvertently request the truth and plea to God to be made more wholesome. Those of us who made such appeals were expecting to undergo some mild readjustments, such as being semi-pampered in some spiritual beauty parlour; we did not imagine having to endure the seemingly brutal treatment that actually follows such an entreaty.

We foolishly assume we can step into other people's shoes and experience their plight and thus make condescending comments to explain the accused’s ethical aberrations. Even ‘humane’ judgement as practiced by the most liberal of social reformers is flawed because they regard themselves as purely objective, immune to their own experiences, which could in turn colour their thinking. To ‘love our enemies’ involves recognising that we too are flawed and have possibly committed similar misdemeanours and thereby we ought instead, to be looking for ways to forgive the accused AND act as their advocate, utilising the most powerful of defences namely that of the Good News – the forgiveness of ALL sins. It is, however, true that even such a stout defence will not withstand the ultimate betrayal, that of despising the Holy Spirit, the greatest gift bestowed on mankind. Such an insight is hidden from most of us, for the horror that that entails will almost certainly shake us to our very core.