my engagement in conversation with issues and concerns related to my vocation as a seminary lecturer. Opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my personal views and do not represent the official position of the seminary
Thursday 16 August 2007
To Sin Is To Know Forgiveness?
A student and friend in the seminary asked my take on this: "To sin is to know forgiveness."
wow, hedonese, "To sin is to know sin/" very chim-lah
Kar Yong, "To forgive is to know forgiveness."
It makes sense to me because we can truly understand, experience and know forgiveness if we have to forgive someone or something that had caused us great pain, hurts and scars. To forgive is not natural. It is costly and goes against our sense of justice (demanding revenge). It's like what Henri Nouwen describes as a 'wounded healer'.
I think that's not quite right. After all, not all sin is automatically forgiven right? Give for instance, Judas (the one who betrayed Jesus). I don't know, Jesus may have forgiven him, but he killed himself because of guilt, and hence I don't think he experienced forgiveness.
(In contrast Peter sinned by denouncing Jesus but experienced forgiveness).
Or to put it dryly. The quote just means, " If we sin, then we will experience forgiveness." It is by no means the same as "If we experience forgiveness, then we had (have) sinned," which is what ionstorm is talking about.
Kar Yong's quote is basically the more correct one.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us
If we learn to forgive others we will better understand the wonderful grace of God through the forgiveness we have received and also the reality of the depth and width of the sins we have been forgiven.
Thanks, folks, for the conribution. This is greatly appreciated.
I think for me, without forgiving, one will probably never truly experience the grace of forgiveness. It is in forgiving that we catch a glimpse of what it means for God to forgive us.
7 comments:
I think that would be referring to forgiveness from the perspective of a recipient, not a giver.
If you don't sin in the first place, you don't have to be forgiven, therefore you will never know what it is like to be forgiven.
"To sin is to know sin"?? :D
wow, hedonese, "To sin is to know sin/" very chim-lah
Kar Yong,
"To forgive is to know forgiveness."
It makes sense to me because we can truly understand, experience and know forgiveness if we have to forgive someone or something that had caused us great pain, hurts and scars. To forgive is not natural. It is costly and goes against our sense of justice (demanding revenge). It's like what Henri Nouwen describes as a 'wounded healer'.
"To sin is to know forgiveness"
I think that's not quite right. After all, not all sin is automatically forgiven right? Give for instance, Judas (the one who betrayed Jesus). I don't know, Jesus may have forgiven him, but he killed himself because of guilt, and hence I don't think he experienced forgiveness.
(In contrast Peter sinned by denouncing Jesus but experienced forgiveness).
Or to put it dryly. The quote just means,
" If we sin, then we will experience forgiveness."
It is by no means the same as "If we experience forgiveness, then we had (have) sinned," which is what ionstorm is talking about.
Kar Yong's quote is basically the more correct one.
U-liang's "If we sin, then we will experience forgiveness" about sums up the quote, very much like Paul's Romans 6:1.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us
If we learn to forgive others we will better understand the wonderful grace of God through the forgiveness we have received and also the reality of the depth and width of the sins we have been forgiven.
Thanks, folks, for the conribution. This is greatly appreciated.
I think for me, without forgiving, one will probably never truly experience the grace of forgiveness. It is in forgiving that we catch a glimpse of what it means for God to forgive us.
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