For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.
Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord. But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”

• 2 Peter 2:4-22

Let death take my enemies by surprise;
    let them go down alive to the realm of the dead,
    for evil finds lodging among them.
As for me, I call to God,
    and the Lord saves me.
Evening, morning and noon
    I cry out in distress,
    and he hears my voice.
He rescues me unharmed
    from the battle waged against me,
    even though many oppose me.
God, who is enthroned from of old,
    who does not change—
he will hear them and humble them,
    because they have no fear of God.

• Psalm 55:15-19

“The demand that God should forgive such a man while he remains what he is, is based on a confusion be­ tween condoning and forgiving. To condone an evil is simply to ignore it, to treat it as if it were good. But forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: and a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.”

• C.S. Lewis, Preparing for Easter (from The Problem of Pain, chapter “Hell”)

Boilerplate

First, the concept of Lent is the preparation for what is to come, the anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  But in some denominations, the entire time from Advent, the anticipation of Christ’s coming (remembrance of His birth but preparation for His return) to Easter (Christ’s resurrection from the dead)…  This bracket of time is a celebration of the entire life of Jesus Christ on earth.  Christ’s conception to His ascension and on to the Holy Spirit coming upon the Apostles at Pentecost can be presented and celebrated from early December until Pentecost Sunday.

Many denominations only focus on Christmas and Easter, or maybe the entirety of Holy Week from Palm Sunday to Easter, and then may or may not focus on Pentecost.

But for those that recognize Lent, the Lenten season in many denominations has an element of fasting.  Sadly, this is done as Jesus teaches us not to do.  They make a big deal out of it when we should do it in private, something just between us and God.  But that tradition stems from the forty days of fasting that Jesus did in the wilderness after His baptism and before His ministry started.  The Lenten season is kicked off on Ash Wednesday.  And after forty days, we reach Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.  The concept of ashes is symbolized by at least one denomination having a cross painted on their forehead in ashes, sometimes from burning the palm fronds from the previous Palm Sunday the year before.  Again, that draws attention to the fact that they have started their fast.  But they are also announcing that they are Christians.  There is good and bad there.

So, when we are in the Lenten season, what should we focus on?  It depends.  We should focus on Jesus, but we might want to focus on our service to God.  What can we do better?  How can we spread the Gospel?  From Conception to Pentecost…  His mission was completed on earth, but He left us with something to do.

As for the Lewis book, it comes from a compilation of Lewis’ writings, edited by Zachry Kincaid.  In the book, there is a devotion, of sorts, from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, the Lenten Season.  Each devotion contains suggested Scriptures and a writing of C.S. Lewis.

I am going to use my free time posts, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday afternoons (EDST) to correspond with that day’s devotion in the book.

Discussion

This quote from C.S. Lewis was from The Problem of Pain, the chapter entitled “Hell”.  The quote follows a single paragraph that is three pages long, in my printing.  It speaks of a despicable man who was unrepentant and would never forgive any fault.

This reminds me of the holocaust survivor who was asked to go to a hospital.  A guard from a concentration camp was dying and he wanted to confess his sins. The Jew went to the hospital, and he refused to give the guard absolution for his sins.  He could not because the guard had not harmed him personally.  The Jew walked away while the guard died.

I have heard a sermon on this concept.  Odd, how so many good sermons have gone in one ear and out the other while this rotten sermon has stuck.  The world says, for forgiveness to be effective:  The sinner must confess.  The sinner must repent.  And the wronged person must accept the request for forgiveness.  All of this must happen to truly have forgiveness.  There is no room for a proxy to confess and repent.  There is no room for a proxy to accept the confession and offer forgiveness.  End of story.

The only problem is that the whole set of rules, which I have heard through various sources, thus not one delusional preacher, totally misses the entire concept of God’s Love and God’s Grace.  I believe in the “no proxy” part regarding the confessor and repenter, except that Jesus was the proxy on the cross.  We have so many people these days apologizing for someone else’s sins, someone else who had died 150 years ago.  Balderdash!  That is political pandering that no one accepts anyway.  But if friends of mine were hurt by someone, I can forgive the person in part since I was hurt due to my friends being hurt.  Okay, maybe you are cold hearted and when your “friends” hurt, you feel nothing, but…

What does God want?  If we belong to Him, He has forgiven and forgotten (at least removed from His sight) all our sins.  If we forget one of the 10 billion of our sins, God does not care that we failed to list that one when we confess.  It is good for “us” to remember and confess and purge that sin from our lives, but God has already turned a blind eye to it.

God does not wish for anyone to go to Hell, but being Holy, we cannot be in His presence with sin in our lives, thus the complete removal of our sin by the cleansing blood of Christ.  Thus, those who do not wish to have a relationship with God will get their wish by being cast into the lake of fire for eternal torment, but hey – they will never be bothered by God again.  These people go to Hell based on their wishes.  They just do not know what they are wishing for at that point.

So, why did Jesus say that we would not be forgiven if we did not forgive others?

Why did the religious leaders and Pharisees get so upset with Jesus?  Why ask?  I just asked why Jesus told us to forgive.  These religious experts, who knew nothing about God’s Grace and who God is, were angry with Jesus because He said that He could forgive sin.  But now, Jesus is telling us to forgive others or we cannot be forgiven.  How?  Those that do not get it came up with the silly balderdash rules that I mentioned earlier.  But those that get it, see that God is willing and able to grant Grace to all who will earnestly come to Him.

In forgiving others, we are being like Jesus, the nature of God.  We are flipping the Pharisee argument on its head.  We must, by being like God, forgive.  We must have a nature within us that forgives, for if we do not, we are standing in judgment of that other person.  That lifts us to God’s level, and God does not like arrogance.  Thus, we must remain humble and do what God allows.  He only allows one thing – that we forgive.

God does not give a flying rat’s backside about whether the other person accepts our forgiveness when it comes to us.  We simply forgive whether that person is repentant or not.  That unrepentant part of the formula is God’s part, and we have no authority to deal with that.

Now, if the laws say one person goes to the death chamber and another goes to prison for the rest of his life, that is earthly justice that God even placed in Levitical Law.  But as for what is in our heart, we must forgive and never hold a grudge, because that is outside our purview.

Forgiving and being forgiven, per C.S. Lewis, are opposite sides of the same coin, but that transaction is between us and God.  If we have wronged someone and it is within our ability to make it right, God expects us to do so. Zachaeus is God’s example in Scripture.  He paid back fourfold what he had taken.  But in the parable of the person in debt who was forgiven his debt and then acted cruelly for the payment of a small debt…  He was turned over to the jailor to pay every penny, a debt that was impossible to pay.

Forgiveness is not being a pushover, but we must have the heart of Jesus.  We must be humble and forgive whether they accept that forgiveness or not.  Then Jesus promises that our sins will be forgiven, knowing that we could never pay for that debt.  It is what is in our heart.

The manmade process of forgiveness is balderdash.

God wants a relationship with us where we are like Him, willing to forgive others, and knowing that not forgiving (or holding grudges) is not an option God gives us.  Thus, when the fence with the wronged person is not mended due to the other person’s unrepentance, that is for God to deal with, not us.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.