Can't God Just Forgive?: HeavenWord 7 - 0418

If God is God, why can't He just forgive those who repent without the mediation of Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die for us to be saved?

HeavenWord 7 is the daily 7-minute Christian devotional teaching series with Bible teacher David Servant that chronologically studies the New Testament. HeavenWord 7 will educate, challenge and inspire you!

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[edgarmorales]

From the standpoint of God, redemption is not necessary; everyone is already forgiven from on high.

Jesus' teachings on forgiveness is about forgiving ourselves and others, so that we can move on and not remain stuck in a pain of the past.

Jesus did not come to redeem humanity from Satan, that would required Jesus to annihilate Satan; who is perfectly designed to do what he does.

Even if Satan could be annihilated, Jesus would not annihilate what God created.

Jesus came to teach humanity how to free themselves, to teach humanity how to conquer Satan and return to Love.

Satan, through the voice in our head, tempts us to go against our divine nature; to go against Love.

Satan, through the voice in our head, tempts us to act selfishly and short-sightedly to do what is in his self-interest; rather than what is best for the whole to which we are intimately and inextricably connected.

When we go against the whole and harm others, we also harm ourselves.

Sin is like hitting ourselves, because we also suffer when we cause others to suffer.

This is one of humanity's primary lessons. Which is why: do unto others as you would have them do unto you, work so well as a guideline.

[crazyprayingmantis]

Your missing the conundrum here, when you say god can't break his own law thats fine, but god could of made any law he wanted to but he chose to make it that the only way to save us from his punishment was to sacrifice himself to himself as an attempt at fixing a mistake he made by leaving the gate open for evil to enter when he first created his whole twisted system.
Since god is supposed to be omniscient omnibenevolent and omnipotent he would of known exactly how to create a universe, people and a system where no one would need to be saved or forgiven, where pain didn't exist where there was no need to create a place of eternal punishment.
But he didn't! and you expect people to worship him for that?
Why would anyone worship someone for saving us from their very own punishment that that someone made up?
He could of just not created anything at all, we wouldn't know would we?

[cubedude]

so your saying its wrong of me to forgive someone without punishment?

[Jmconrad]

God may be able to forgive, but is it fair that you are off the hook for your trespasses? If you've done something wrong then you should humble yourself and apologize to the people you've hurt, and make yourself a better person for it. Not just sweep it under the rug.

[IngmarSweep]

I don't understand... Around 2:10 you say that God cannot just forgive "because that would be a violation of his character, his very nature".

But then, why does the Bible show us so many times that it IS God's very nature to "just forgive", on the sole and only condition that sinners repent? It's one of the core messages of Jonah, for example. It's only because the people of Nineveh repent, that God "repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them; and he dit it not".

Apparently, God does NOT "have to" punish someone, as Jonah says (in 4:2) "Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil."...

[manderbos]

Sure, if it is possible to make things right with others. by all means we should go for it. But one's sins are forgiven nonetheless. BUT that doesn't negate the consequences of the sins here on earth with others. If someone commits a crime, Christ can forgive, but the law does not, so that sin has conseqences here on earth, but not with God.