AFTER VISITING THE LINKS ABOVE, WE INVITE YOU TO READ OUR WITNESS BELOW
Questions
1. So, what
is it that one must do to receive forgiveness of sins? From top to bottom of
the above listing, there are but two qualifications: repentance and
mercy.
Luke 24:
[47]
and [that] repentance for forgiveness of sins be
preached upon his name to all the nations—beginning from Jerusalem.
Luke 6:
[36]
Be becoming merciful, just as your father is
merciful.
[37]
And be not judging, and
you will not be judged. And be not condemning, and you will not be
condemned. Be releasing,
and you will be released. (see
footnote in FNT Luke 6 on "releasing" and "released" as they mean "forgiving" and "forgiven")
Matthew 6:
[
14]
For if you allow men their shortcomings, your
heavenly father will also allow you [yours].
[
15]
And if
you do not allow men [theirs], neither will your father allow [you] your
shortcomings.
Note:
The FNT translates using the word "allow" (RSV uses"forgive") and
"shortcomings" (RSV uses "trespasses") but for the purpose of this
paper, "allow" here refers to forgiveness.
Repentance and forgiveness of
sins go together so that one cannot get one without the other. This should be
obvious for, until one has repented, the sin continues! Until one has repented,
the attitude of sin remains the ruling force in the life of the sinner. The one
who has been offended should live in an attitude of forgiveness, as Jesus was
when he cried our from the cross:
Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do!
But that did not
accomplish their forgiveness. The offenders did not repent. The proof of this
is that their great city, Jerusalem, with its temple, were destroyed at the end
of that generation as Jesus had prophesied. It was for the Jewish nation
precisely what the offenders had demanded in their bloodthirsty rage that drove
them to crucify our Lord: His blood be on us
and on our children!
Be merciful and forgive! This
is the second qualification. He said not a single word about forgiveness being
dependent on the blood of a sacrifice, which is the central tenet of
Christianity. To the contrary, he specifically denied that the Father has an
interest in sacrifices of any kind whatsoever.
Matthew 9:
But go and learn what it means:
I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
For I did not come to call [the] just, but sinners.
2. Doesn't this apply
only to the children of the Father who have become His children by having
already trusted the blood of Jesus to cleanse them of sin?
Where do we
find anything that suggests such a distinction in the Word? Can't we hear him
when he speaks so plainly:
I desire mercy, and
not sacrifice?
There is no need
to muddle our minds with other things. This settles it for one and all. It is
by this Word that we are to be judged in the last day:
John 12:
[48] The [one] setting me aside and not receiving my words has [one] judging him: the
word that I spoke—that will judge him in the last day.
But some are
persistent, insisting that this applies only to "children of God who are covered by the
blood of Jesus."
3. Does it? Jesus spoke specifically to this
objection for all who can hear his simple and uncomplicated word:
Mark 3:
[
28]
Truly I say to you that all will be forgiven by the son of man, sins and
slanders, whatsoever they slander.
For those who call on other translations, such as the RSV, we have this:
RSV / Mark 3
[28] Truly I say to you that all will be forgiven by the son of man, sins and
slanders, whatsoever they slander.
28 "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies
they utter;
Do you suppose
this means only sons of men who are also sons of God? Can't be, because the Word
doesn't permit sons of God to also be sons of men:
Matt.23:
[9] And do not call [anyone] your father on the earth, for one is your father in the
heavens.
There is no way
around it. Look at the Parable of the Unmerciful
Servant . Do you see there that this is a parable about an unmerciful
son? No! It is a forgiveness that applies to a category that we must label
"Servants" in addition to "Sons."
This may raise a question in your mind
concerning the salvation of individual humans. Does this mean that a person can
be saved from sins without believing Jesus?
It is beyond the scope of
this paper to investigate this question. One can find further discussion on the
papers previously posted that deal with the subject of salvation, here, here, here, here and here. For our present
purposes, it is only necessary to state what is explained in the referenced
papers, that there are two categories of human beings alive in the flesh: the
dead and the living. Within the category of the living there are two sub
categories: the servants and the children. The servants are godly persons, both
ancient and modern, who have known God well enough to understand the need for
mercy and repentance of their sins and who have then repented without ever being
exposed to the Gospel. The children are those who have heard and received the
Gospel, to whom Jesus is their only Lord and Savior and Good Shepherd. The
category of the dead also consists of two sub categories, those for whom there
is hope, and the hopeless dead. The hope category consists of sinners who are
either candidates to qualify as either servants or children. The hopeless
category consists all who have heard the Gospel and have turned their hearts
against it. It is these we now proceed to discuss under the next
question.
4. What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the sin that has
no forgiveness?
The Holy Spirit has been sent into the world with the
commission to remind us of all that the Lord has said, and to teach us. The
Holy Spirit is to be identified with the Word, the Living Word of Truth uttered
by the Son of the Father, as we see in this utterance:
John 6:
[63] The spirit is the [one] making zoe-alive, the flesh profits nothing. The
words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are zoe-life.
So, when
one, on hearing, does not truly receive and believe the words of Jesus,
the words that I have
spoken, one has spurned and
offended the Holy Spirit. It is blasphemy, to charge the Holy Spirit with lies
by refusing to believe that one can be forgiven solely on the basis of
repentance and mercy. It is blasphemy to maintain, on the claimed basis of the
Word of God, that there is no forgiveness
without shedding of blood. This is the blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost. It has no forgiveness when committed by those who have heard the Words
of Jesus.
5. Aren't baptism, eucharist
and church membership required for forgiveness of sins?
Look at our
Lord's utterances above (found in the Forgiveness & Mercy links). Do you see Jesus making these to be conditions for
forgiveness?
Understanding Sin
One cannot fully understand forgiveness until one
understands sin so as to know when repentance is appropriate. One cannot
understand sin until one hears this
Word:
John 12:
[25]
The [one] philia-loving his psyche-life will lose it, and the [one]
hating his psyche-life in this world will guard it to zoe-life eternal.
The root of
all sin is this attitude that Jesus defined as the love of life in time. In the
final analysis, that is the only thing that bars the way into eternal life.
This comes to light when we understand the Father's only will for his children
is that we be with him in heaven. It follows that all who love life in this
world are transgressing the will of the Father, and therefore are living in sin. It is the root of all sin, and
one has not truly repented of sin until one has repented of the love of life
that fuels all sins. Examine the Great Principle of Jesus here.
The New Testament
word for sin means, literally, to miss the mark. All who love life in this
world are surely missing the mark!
Conclusion
The Christians
have to
bear a heavy responsibility due to
misleading the world by preaching a false gospel. They subscribe to the message
of the Epistle to the
Hebrews:
Heb.9
[22] And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law, and apart
from shedding of blood, forgiveness does not come to pass.
The only possible way that they can come to this
conclusion is through turning deaf ears to Jesus of Nazareth. This writer is
called, through this Web site, to urge on every one to open the deaf ears and,
by listening to Jesus and repenting of sin, to find forgiveness unto eternal
life and so show themselves to be members of his Little Flock:
John 10:
[26] but you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep.
[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,