Realization #06: God is an Essence that is all-Forgiving.
In addition to His all-loving nature, God is also the epitome of perfect, unconditional Forgiveness. Indeed, the two go hand-in-hand (or Heart-in-Heart, as it were) …
“And even when you were dead in your trespasses, God made you alive together with him when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it all to the cross” ~ Colossians 2:12-13
And this Truth is supported by simple, God-given common sense. Indeed, it is almost insulting to God to say that He intentionally created us as imperfect Beings* and yet still punishes some of us for the very mistakes essentially engineered by His own hand …
*There is no debate 1] that Love must be volitional to exist (no one can Love with a gun to his or her head; Love is by its very nature selfless — given freely or given not at all), 2] that our Salvation hinges upon our ability to choose Love over fear (see Matthew 5:48 & 1 John 4:18), and 3] that this Free Will makes us per se mistake-prone beings, almost guaranteed to err while living “in the flesh” …
More importantly for Christians, the Bible itself repeatedly notes that God is a God of Forgiveness, and that this Forgiveness is inclusive for all human beings regardless of the sins they might make …
“[God] is Kind to both the ungrateful and the sinful. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be Forgiven.” ~ Luke 6:36-37
In Truth, we are commanded to be “perfect” with our Love by loving our enemies – just as God Loves and forgives His enemies … “He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the Good, and sends rain on the Righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you Love only those who Love you, what reward do you have? … Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” ~ Matthew 5:45-48
Even the Apostle Paul, who sometimes used harsh words to describe his own opinion as to the nature of God’s Love, made it very clear that everyone who respects God by doing good is accepted by God … “I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who respects Him and does what is Right is acceptable to Him … Live in Peace, and the God of Love and Peace will be with You.” ~ Paul (in Acts 10:34-35 & 2 Corinthians 13:11)
This is reflected as well in Luke’s parable of the “Prodigal Son”, where the Father (representing God) forgives his sinful son before that son even has an opportunity to repent …
“So he set off and went to his Father. Yet while he was still far off, his Father saw him and was filled with Compassion; [His Father then] ran out and put his arms around the son and kissed him.” ~ Luke 15:20
Indeed, how can a just and fair God demand less of himself than he demands of us? (“Be Kind to one another; tenderhearted, forgiving one another — just as God has forgiven you.” ~ Ephesians 4:32). He tells us in the Bible that we must Love perfectly by forgiving even our enemies (see Matthew 5:48 et al) and He tells us that all punishment is fear-based and that therefore where there is punishment there is fear, and therefore also no perfection in Love (see 1 John 4:18) … As such, if the Bible is telling us the Truth, then God does not “guide” us with pain at all, much less punish us for our mistakes. Rather, when we experience pain in our lives, we can have complete faith that those difficulties were created by ourselves (as consequences of previous selfish choices – merely reaping what we have sown), and not sent to us by God as “lessons” or “tests” or forms of “discipline” …
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be Saved through him … The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son … I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to Save it.” ~ Jesus Christ (in John 3:17, John 5:22 & John 12:47)
;