Category Archives: God

(A theological reflection in 2 parts) Washed up on the shores of heaven Part 1: We live and move and breathe within the grace of God In a recent sermon, I made this comment: “Somewhere at the centre of our souls – something that we cannot see, but that God can, is a drop ofContinue reading “Washed up on the shores of heaven. (Part 1)”

On forgiveness Part 9: The nature of God is forgiveness Why should God be so keen on forgiveness? He has no need of it for himself. Therefore, it is something that he does because he knows we need it. In this respect, it is exactly in tune with – an intrinsic part of – hisContinue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 9)”

On forgiveness Part 8: Forgiveness is a freely-given generous gift; it is not self-seeking I am still a little troubled by the motivation of us “forgiving in order to be forgiven”. It must be a good thing to do this, but it sounds substandard, in that our focus could be completely on ourselves, rather thanContinue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 8)”

On forgiveness Part 7: God’s forgiveness and God’s judgement go hand in hand Do we now have a problem for the Christian? We are aiming to be the sort of people who have the grace to forgive others. Yet we seem to be in the position of passing a condemning judgement. Is this compatible withContinue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 7)”

On forgiveness Part 6: The essence of giving forgiveness is not letting the harm done to you have any impact in your future dealing with the person who hurt you, but true judgement is still truth I think this is probably the essence of forgiveness. Whether you draw the incident to mind regularly, almost never,Continue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 6)”

On forgiveness Part 5: The start of forgiveness is letting go of hurt – but needs to be much more than that What about giving forgiveness? I recognise that this is said rather too glibly –  certainly, I do. I suppose that means that I approve of the idea of forgiveness, but, in practice, IContinue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 5)”

On forgiveness Part 4: Only God can mend the damage done when we do wrong Thus, the forgiveness we seek is a restoration of our relationship with God. I think that, from God’s point of view, our relationship with him can never be broken, but from our point of view, we experience our sins asContinue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 4)”

On forgiveness Part 3: Forgiveness is an action of immense weight The key “trump card” (if that isn’t too mundane a term) that Christians can play is to appeal to what was done in order to open up the possibility of forgiveness – and much more than forgiveness, to create the avenue for redemption, salvationContinue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 3)”

On forgiveness Part 2: The heart of forgiveness is restoring our relationship with God – not seeking to be “let-off” for our mistakes What is it, then, that we are doing when we forgive – and, indeed, when we seek forgiveness? Let’s deal with seeking forgiveness first, as I think that is easier. As withContinue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 2)”

(A theological reflection in 9 (rather long) parts) On forgiveness Part 1: True righteousness is complementary with forgiveness; self-righteousness is the opposite of forgiveness In my recent thoughts on the inadequacies of secularism, particularly in comparison to religion, I touched on the importance of forgiveness, and I would like to now explore this more. Firstly,Continue reading “On forgiveness. (Part 1)”