Forgiveness: It's Universal

The most beautiful and seductive words are sometime tainted, then painted. You may look at these words and think the same, but I implore you to read further. I will provide a link or citation to what I am talking about and I will give my interpretation on this and it may seem uncommon to you or even foreign. Take my words, research for yourself, and realize it is never about US. I chose the name of this blog "Uncommon Sense" because what is so common about sense anyway? It seems it has gone by the way-side and we have lost sight of what is important. Peace.

How can one be at peace with themselves if they cannot be at peace with others? Before you agree, stop and ask yourself WHY you are agreeing. If you are agreeing because you feel like you have been wronged, who hasn't? Are you retaliating in any way? If so, how are you any different than the ones you think should BE more peaceful?

The things I will be posting are not necessarily my beliefs but beliefs of some of you. While incorporating my beliefs, this is just as much a journey for me as it is for you. I want to find nirvana. I want to find peace. I want to find understanding and it starts with...... forgiveness.

Whether we tackle forgiveness from a religious standpoint or a purely logical standpoint, the end goal and result will be the same. I will throw in scripture from religious material, quotes, opinions, and by the time this is complete, maybe we can agree that forgiveness is the first step to a brighter future. Do you actually enjoy carrying around all of those chips on your shoulder? Do you wake up each morning and find a new wrinkle because of the worries you have ultimately placed on yourself? That's right. No one else made you worry. No one else made you get upset. If you are at peace with yourself, you will not ever let another's opinion or mind-set rule you. He who angers you--conquers you. (Elizabeth Kenny)

The Importance of Forgiving Others



A Study of Matthew 18:21-35

By Harold S. Martin

A Bible Helps Booklet No. 375

The word forgive is used 109 times in our English Bible. Forgiveness means ceasing to feel resentment for wrongs and offenses done toward us. It includes pardon and the restoration of broken relationships. Forgiveness is the act of renouncing anger and ill feelings against others.

The greatest forgiveness of all-is an act of God, by which He releases sinners from judgment, and frees us from the divine penalty levied because of our sins. But forgiveness is also a human act toward one's fellow human beings. God's forgiveness, because of the death of Christ in our behalf, is to become an incentive for us to forgive others who offend us.

The rule of revenge is still practiced in some societies. Getting even does not always involve using a gun; sometimes revenge means taking people to court. Sometimes getting even involves doing to others as they have done to us. That is retaliation. One tee-shirt had these words imprinted on it: "I don't get mad; I just get even." Others insist that those who have wronged them must make things right-or they will suffer the consequences. One man says, "I'll never forgive that woman-not to my dying day." But remember: one who seeks to get even with another, makes himself even with the enemy.

All of us are familiar with feuding relatives or neighbors - who, because of some real (or imagined) offense, refuse to have anything to do with each other. Some hold grudges, even to the day they die - apparently without considering how their lack of forgiveness affects their lives, and the lives of those around them. Think of all the misery that results in our communities (and sometimes in our churches) from disputes and quarrels and lawsuits over matters that are trifling, compared with the way each one of us has offended God.

In Matthew 18, Peter had learned from his traveling with Jesus that it is important to forgive - but surely, he reasoned, there must be a limit to how often we forgive! How long must one keep on forgiving? Jesus had just been talking about one brother sinning against another (in verse 15 of Matthew 18). Now, Peter asks whether forgiving such offenses seven times is sufficient.

The Scripture for the study in this article is Matthew 18:21-35. In verse 21, Peter had a question about the frequency of forgiveness. He said to Jesus, "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?" Forgiveness is one of the highest of human virtues, because it reflects the character of God. God has freely forgiven us, and He expects us to be quick to forgive others. Jesus taught that Christian compassion forgives - over, and over, and over again.

The Torah describes Yom Kippur by saying (Vayikra 16:30): "For on that day he will make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before G-d." Yom Kippur, the Torah is telling us, is a day on which atonement will indeed come. However, the Kotzker Rebbe explained this passage in another fashion..... Did you think I would only quote the Christian Bible? I told you, it's UNIVERSAL!

The Noble Qur'an 3:103, 105And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allâh (i.e. this Qur'ân), and be not divided among yourselves, and remember Allâh's Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islâmic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allâh makes His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided.

...And be not as those who divided and differed among themselves after the clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment.

Again, FORGIVENESS is universal. Let's look at atheism and see what their thoughts are:

If anything, it might be argued that the concept of forgiveness has much more significance for atheists than for some religious theists and some Christians. After all, Christians ultimately only need to be forgiven by their god — and according to them, their god will forgive absolutely anything with just a single requirement, which is to accept Jesus Christ. Christians also believe that, in the end, their mistakes will be fixed or made up for by their god. There is nothing they can do which would thwart their god's plan for humanity and the universe, and that's what's ultimately important.
For atheists, though, there are no gods to seek forgiveness from and certainly no gods who will fix any mistakes. For atheists, the only forgiveness that can exist must come from the people around us and from ourselves. Atheists can't presume that if some god forgives them, then it doesn't matter what others around them think because we humans are all that really count in the end. --Austin Cline

http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismatheistsmorals/a/AtheistsForgive.htm

Romans 2:1-5

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things.

Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

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The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” --Ghandi

These following words are NOT my own..... but if you believe them, let the meaning soak in.

Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed by thy name..
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done... on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors...
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil..
For thine is the kingdom, the power, the glory, forever... amen.

Last Words

Religion aside, how can you expect to find peace while harboring resentment? Will a banging gavel bring forth peace? If it does, you are not looking for peace. You are looking to get even. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." (Ghandi)....

Matthew 18:9
And if your eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Would you pluck your own eye out? Probably not. Then why would you take from another person?

I know, it makes absolutely no sense to live and let live.... guess that is why it's "uncommon sense."

Peace. Pun Intended.