What Jesus Said About Forgiveness预览

Forgiving God (1)

The concept of “forgiving God” sounds strange. And it is. It is, however, a way to explain how people feel about things that God did, didn’t do, or allowed in their lives. Many people have bitterness and resentment towards God in their hearts. One way it can described is to say that people feel offended by God’s behavior and how he treated them, and they think they cannot “forgive” God for what he did.

There are several reasons why people feel God offended them and acted wrongly and that his behavior and actions caused bitterness and resentment. In his excellent book Totally Forgiving God, RT Kendall mentions four.

1. God is not answering my prayers. God didn’t and is not helping me. People feel that God failed them when they needed him and didn’t do what they asked him to do. They know he is all-powerful, so why didn’t God change the situation, stop it from happening, or didn’t heal their child but let him die? Examples can be multiplied.

2. God is looking the other way when there is violence. Why doesn’t God intervene in situations of violence that are so rampant in the world? If he is God and almighty, why doesn’t he stop it? Sometimes, the offended person is a victim of such violence, and sometimes, it is just the clinical fact of violence against helpless people.

3. Having to endure injustice. Some experience painful situations of injustice. Why does God allow it? He says he is a God of justice and righteousness. So why doesn’t he stop acts of injustice against his children and others worldwide?

4. God’s tolerance for evil. There is much evil in the world. Why is God, in his holiness and righteousness, allowing this? And because people do not understand what he is doing or not doing, they reject God and “walk away”, often with the words: “I cannot believe and follow a God that allows evil to continue and let small children and helpless people suffer.”