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  • B January 15 2023
April 5, 2018

Forgiveness
 
Forgiveness is a huge issue.  It has many implications for our lives.  Dr. Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day!
 
I read somewhere that the third week in February is International forgiveness week.  Isn’t that shortly after Valentine’s Day?  Interesting? Is there a connection?
In John 20:23, the risen Jesus tells his disciples, “If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
 
For many years the church has understood that verse in much the same way it understands Matthew 16:19…that we have the power of the “Keys” to forgive people or to hold their sins against them.
 
Withholding someone’s sins against them is not good for either person.  Much has been written and preached about the power of forgiveness in the lives of people and in the life of our communities. 
 
So, what was Jesus saying?
 
Here is one interesting, short explanation [from my study Bible]…
“God does not forgive people’s sins because we do, nor does he withhold forgiveness because we do.  Rather, those who proclaim the gospel are in effect forgiving or not forgiving sins, depending upon whether the hearers accept or reject Jesus Christ.”
 
More to come…. 
Pastor Mike

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