Quote from Speaking Christian

Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Power and How They Can Be Restored

by Marcus J. Borg

HarperOne, New York, New York, 2011.     248 pp.

"Like sin and because of sin, forgiveness is also a dominant theme in most understandings of Christianity. With good reason. Whenever sin is emphasized, forgiveness invariably is as well, for it is the antidote to the most common understanding of sin. Moreover, whenever Christians recite the Lord's Prayer, the best-known prayer in the world, forgiveness is mentioned. And petitioning God for forgiveness and mercy is part of most worship services.

Most often (invariably?) a primary emphasis on our need for forgiveness goes with a punitive image of God's character. God might punish us, indeed will punish us, in this life or the next, if we haven't sought and received forgiveness.

This notion was widespread in the world of my childhood, and I suspect it still is to some extent. I recall serious discussions about whether suicide was an unforgivable sin. The logic was that you can't repent if you're dead because you committed suicide. Suicide can't be forgiven. This logic was sometimes taken further. Suppose you didn't commit suicide, but nevertheless died with sins that hadn't been forgiven? If you died with unforgiven sins, might you go to hell?

I suspect that a majority of people today think this is a bit extreme. Would you really be eternally punished because of sins unforgiven since your last confession? But that possibility haunted the psyches of many and maybe most Christians for centuries. What happened if you died suddenly of illness or were killed and weren't in a state of grace, that is forgiveness? Being forgiven was the way into eternal life.

But what happens if we understand forgiveness in a different Christian framework -- one that does not emphasize the punitive character of God, but the gracious character of God? Suppose that God is gracious and forgiving, compassionate and loving, passionate about our transformation and the transformation of the world. Within this framework, this context, what does forgiveness mean? In our relationship to God? And in our relationship with people?"  (pp. 153-154)

-- quote submitted by Jennifer Knight

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