Archive for the 'Forgiveness' Category

Page 5 of 19

A Chris Brauns Forgiveness Webinar at Peacemakers

Published on May 18, 2010 in Forgiveness. 1 Comment

On May 25th I will be doing a free online webinar on forgiveness.  Space is limited. 

Chris Brauns, a keynote speaker  for our 2010 Peacemaker Conference and pastor of The Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley, IL will be doing a live webinar on Tuesday, May 25th starting at 9:00am Mountain Time. Chris is visiting our staff as part of our staff retreat, and  it is our privilege to have him available for a webinar.

Chris will be taking the audience through a “forgiveness quiz” and will expound upon some common misconceptions about forgiveness. This thought-provoking webinar will help you dig deeper on the topic of forgiveness (and help you prepare for the 2010 Peacemaker Conference on forgiveness).

Visit Peacemakers for more information.

Are bitterness and unforgiveness the same thing?

Published on May 14, 2010 in Forgiveness. 1 Comment

I am looking forward to being part of Peacemaker’s National Conference in the Fall.  Anticipating the focus of the conference, Ken Sande reflects about the relationship between bitterness and forgiveness.

I was asked recently whether bitterness and unforgiveness were, in essence, the same thing.

It’s a good question, and here’s where I come down:  Although they are closely connected, I don’t think they are the same thing.

Unforgiveness is a choice to withhold forgiveness. This choice is often driven by or overflows as bitterness, but unforgiveness can aggravate or trigger other sinful and negative emotions and actions as well, such as anger, hatred, revenge, slander, etc.

In most biblical texts, bitterness is typically associated with grief, disappointment, hate and anger. It often conveys the spite that harbors resentment and keeps a score of wrongs.

The rest here.

Unpacking Forgiveness on the Debbie Chavez Show

Published on April 29, 2010 in Forgiveness. 3 Comments

Yesterday, Debbie Chavez interviewed me live on her radio show about Unpacking Forgiveness.  The interview begins at about the 5:30 mark. Listen here.

A.B. Candeday: “Being forgiving doesn’t always mean being forgiving”

Published on April 15, 2010 in Forgiveness. 12 Comments

One of the distinctions I made in Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds was that while we should always have an attitude of forgiveness, this doesn’t mean that we should always forgive.  A discussion has been taking place over at the Desiring God blog about this very point.  A.B. Caneday is quoted as saying:

If we tell others, "I forgive your sin" even though they refuse to acknowledge their sin, we remove the very incentive the gospel places upon them to confess their sins and to seek forgiveness. If we take preemptive action by granting forgiveness of sin to those who do not repent, on what basis could the church ever follow the procedures of Matthew 18:15-17?

There is a proper biblical or gospel order. We are to imitate God. God forgives the sins of those who repent (cf. 1 John 1:9). Likewise, we must always grant forgiveness to those who repent (cf. Luke 17:3).

In Mark 11:25 Jesus calls us to be forgiving. Scripture requires us to distinguish between being forgiving, which is the virtue of always being ready and eager to forgive, and the act of forgiving, which is the actual remission of the sin done against us. Thus, as God is always forgiving, which means that he is eager and desirous to forgive, and as God forgives those who repent, so godliness/Christlikeness is to be and to do the same.

Here to read more.

You can read Caneday’s article, A Biblical Primer and Grammar on Forgiveness of Sin.

See also, others on conditional forgiveness and, Didn’t Jesus pray, “Father forgive them.”

Molly Friesen of Peacemakers on Forgiveness

Published on March 29, 2010 in Forgiveness. 0 Comments

Because I’ve Been Forgiven: Molly from Peacemaker Ministries on Vimeo.

A prayer for those in the midst of conflict

Published on February 25, 2010 in Forgiveness and Recommended Reading. 0 Comments

If you are in the midst of a conflict, Molly Friesen has posted an excellent prayer on the Peacemakers web site. 

Maybe if you are in the midst of a conflict, you could print this out, get on your knees and pray through it.  (If you are really environmentally conscious, rather than printing it out, kneel next to your computer).

The prayer is from The Peacemaker written by Ken Sande.  I highly recommend this book as well as the other resources available in their resource store.

On pages 84-85 of The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict , Ken Sande explores what it means to obey Paul’s command to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Phi. 4:4), even when we are in the midst of conflict.  He asks, “What on earth is there to rejoice about when you are involved in a dispute?  If you open your eyes and think about God’s lavish goodness to you, here is the kind of joyful worship you could offer to him, even in the midst of the worst conflict:”

Oh Lord, you are so amazingly good to me! You sent your only Son to die for my sins, including those I have committed in this conflict. Because of Jesus I am forgiven, and my name is written in the Book of Life! You do not treat me as I deserve, but you are patient, kind, gentle, and forgiving with me. Please help me to do the same to others.

In your great mercy, you are also kind to my opponent. Although he has wronged me repeatedly, you hold out your forgiveness to him as you do to me. Even if he and I never reconcile in this life, which I still hope we will, you have already done the work to reconcile us forever in heaven. This conflict is so insignificant compared to the wonderful hope we have in you!

This conflict is so small compared to the many other things you are watching over at this moment, yet you still want to walk beside me as I seek to resolve it.

Read more here.

See also, Four Promises Christians Make When They Forgive and The Gospel is at the Heart of Peacemaking

Tim Keller on the Shack

Published on February 21, 2010 in Forgiveness. 1 Comment

There’s a good chance you’ve read The Shack.  Read Pastor Tim Keller’s thoughts about it here.

C.J. Mahaney on Cravings and Conflict

Published on February 4, 2010 in Forgiveness and Preaching. 0 Comments

Some of the wisest thoughts I have heard on conflict were from C.J. Mahaney.  Indeed, I included this quote in Unpacking Forgiveness. 

In fact, it is with great confidence that I can predict: You will face relational conflict in your future. Not only your distant future, but your immediate future. . . For as sinners living in a fallen world, conflict is inevitable and in fact, is heading your way right now. You can count on it.

If you go over to Reformation 21, you can read this article.

Or, click here to him sharing similar thoughts in 7.5 minutes.

Do you ever fear you’ve committed the unpardonable sin?

Published on February 2, 2010 in Forgiveness. 0 Comments

A forgiveness question that comes up often is whether or not there is an unforgiveable sin. Ed Welch answers the question thoroughly and responsibly in this article.

The Unpardonable Sin

by Ed Welch

With all the attention being given to addictions and lusts, the scrupulous among us can feel neglected. But, just as there is an addict within us all, so is there a legalist who feels guilty and never able to measure up. Here is something for the legalist within.

Pound-for-pound, the passage on the unpardonable sin can deliver the most guilt in all Scripture.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew12:32)

That’s enough to catch the attention of both the libertine and the scrupulous. I wonder how many of us prefer to skip over this one. Like Kennedy’s assassination or 9/11, we can remember the day we first encountered this troubling passage. Most of us were able to move on and focus on other more conscience-soothing Scripture. But there remains a question every time we encounter Matthew 12-"Is it I?"

For others, this passage has become sticky, perhaps haunting. "Is it I?" is no longer a question but a confession, "It is I." If there is any doubt, merely reading the passage can invite a fleeting thought that says something nasty about the Holy Spirit. There it is: if you didn’t do the unpardonable sin before, you just did it now. Sure, you didn’t mean it – or did you? It seems a bit more like a common response to, "Don’t think about pink elephants." The elephant magically appears. Either way, the blasphemous thought emerged and you feel doomed.

The list of those haunted by this fear is a long one.

The popular consolation offered by well-meaning friends is well-known: if you think you committed the unpardonable sin and feel miserable about it, you didn’t. Since you feel bad about it, you are not guilty of it, so don’t worry. Only those who couldn’t care less about it are the potentially guilty. That response actually makes good sense in the larger context of the passage. The problem is that it is effective for those who are only temporarily tripped up by it and probably would have moved on anyway. For those who are deeply troubled, the advice at least needs more substance.

So what do we do with this rogue passage? Here is some background.

Read the rest here.

HT: JT

Al Mohler Reflects on the Best-Selling Shack

Published on February 2, 2010 in Doctrine, Forgiveness and suffering. 2 Comments

If you’re one of the millions of people who have read The Shack, or, if you’re thinking of reading it, you can benefit from reading Al Mohler’s interaction with it. 

The publishing world sees very few books reach blockbuster status, but William Paul Young’s The Shack has now exceeded even that. The book, at first self-published by Young and two friends, has now sold more than 10 million copies and has been translated into over thirty languages. It is now one of the best-selling paperback books of all time, and its readers are enthusiastic.

According to Young, the book was originally written for his own children. In essence, it can be described as a narrative theodicy — an attempt to answer the question of evil and the character of God by means of a story. In this story, the main character is grieving the brutal kidnapping and murder of his seven-year-old daughter when he receives what turns out to be a summons from God to meet him in the very shack where the man’s daughter had been murdered.

In the shack, "Mack" meets the divine Trinity as "Papa," an African-American woman; Jesus, a Jewish carpenter; and "Sarayu," an Asian woman who is revealed to be the Holy Spirit. The book is mainly a series of dialogues between Mack , Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu. Those conversations reveal God to be very different than the God of the Bible. "Papa" is absolutely non-judgmental, and seems most determined to affirm that all humanity is already redeemed.

The theology of The Shack is not incidental to the story. Indeed, at most points the narrative seems mainly to serve as a structure for the dialogues.

Read the rest here.