What The Dictionary Says About Forgiveness

When you are writing posts for a blog on forgiveness you always have your eyes roaming for some subject matter! I use a lot of internet free tools and one of them is http://www.thefreedictionary.com/. Today I thought I would look up the word forgiveness and this is what I found...



1. To excuse for a fault or an offense; pardon.

2. To renounce anger or resentment against.

3. To absolve from payment of (a debt, for example).

Now I think those are all pretty good definitions for forgiveness but the one that jazzes me the most is number 3. To absolve from payment! That is the one definition that best captures the Bible's definition of forgiveness. To be sure there are consequences for our sins here on Earth. Drunkeness and immorality can wreck your physical and emotional health and most any sin has some effect at some level. But the ultimate payment, before the throne of God, is absolved or done away with for those who place their faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8 (KJV)

¹There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The word "condemnation" κατάκριμα katakrima means "damnatory sentence". There is no damnation for those who simply trust what Christ did on the cross to be sufficient payment for their sins! This is the very thing that makes Christianity unique and superior to all other religions. There is no karma, no uncertainty about the future. Christ saves and forgives us to the uttermost, to the end of the road. Why live another day under a damnatory sentence? Come to Jesus! See the short video in the right sidebar "How To Be Forgiven In Three Minutes".

Sorry Roger Simon, But Jesus Forgives And Forgets Our Sins

I found this article in the Chicago Sun Times...click here.
Roger Simon wrote the article and I view it as another liberal trying to smear a Republican candidate for president so I take these things with a grain of salt. Roger is probably a slippery little liberal himself but I'm not here to make judgements which Roger is definitely doing in his assessment of Newt Gingrich.
The article is titled "Sins Forgiven, Not Forgotten?". He points to Newt's past transgressions and says that it is fair for all of us to hold these transgressions against Newt and that these "sins" are the reason Newt should not be a serious candidate for our lands highest office.
First, let me say that we all need to be very careful about dwelling on other peoples shortcomings since the Bible declares "there are none righteous, no not one" and "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God". Second, I don't like Roger's title. You see, the truth of the matter is that God through Jesus Christ forgives sin and forgets sin. That is something that human beings cannot do. We may have the power and the obligation to forgive but we do not have the capacity to forget.

Heb 8:12
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Heb 10:17
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

I like good news, don't you? That my friends is good news! I have heard Newt Gingrich say that he has sought God's forgiveness and I'm not going to doubt him. That is between him and the Lord, and if he has sought God's forgiveness through Christ then God has forgotten his sins.
So much for Roger Simon and Newt. Let's talk about you...have you been forgiven or are your sins still in God's record books?  Are you struggling with guilt? Trust in what Jesus did on the cross to be sufficient payment for your sins. Believe in Jesus and God will forgive all your sins and forget all your sins! Watch the little video in the right side bar of this site...How To Be Forgiven In 3 Minutes. Come to Christ today.

Santorum: A Forgiven Man And A Loving Dad

Today I wanted share a story I read about Rick Santorum, I found this on NPR's site...http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/01/30/146105024/santorum-familys-trisomy-18-saga-casts-spotlight-on-sad-condition
Santorum's little 3 year old daughter has a disease that she acquired in the womb called trisomy 18. It is a disease involving the 18th chromosome in the human DNA. This defect kills nearly all children who develope it and it causes severe disabilities one of them being great difficulty in swallowing. This inability to swallow effectively results in numerous cases of aspiration pneumonia. His daughter, Bella, had a serious case of pneumonia last week and that is the reason that Santorum wasn't down in Florida campaigning. I just want to say that I'm a huge admirer of Rick Santorum because of his fierce pro-life stance and Bella is a living testimony to Rick's pro-life convictions. You see, most women find out about trisomy 18 before the baby is born and most women abort  the child. Yes, you heard me, I said child not "fetus". The Bible refers to babies developing in the womb as "children".

Genesis 25

²¹And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

 ²²And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. 

Of course the "children" within Rebekah were Jacob and Esau and they were not referred to as a fetus or an embryo...they were children. Our murderous culture bristles at these kinds of comments but I would rather God be true and every man a liar. Thank God for men like Rick Santorum who didn't cast off a human life because it was flawed. And thank God the Father that He didn't cast off the whole of mankind because we were flawed in our very DNA with the defect of sin. All have sinned and there are none righteous no not one! I am so glad that He didn't dispose of me but He sent a Saviour, Christ the Lord! You might disagree with my pro life view but I don't think you can disagree with the fact that you are a hopeless sinner. Time is running out, His coming draws nigh and your death draws near. Have you been Saved? Are you forgiven? Check out the little video in the right sidebar and let me know if you trusted Christ as your Saviour.