Morning meditation - Asking God to forgive in one big cop-out
October 13, 2007
It says in A Course In Miracles in Lesson 46 in the workbook,
"God does not forgive because He has never condemned. And there must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is the great need of this world, but that is because it is a world of illusions. Those who forgive are thus releasing themselves from illusions, while those who withhold forgiveness are binding themselves to them. As you condemn only yourself, so do you forgive only yourself."
Jesus says as they torture and execute Him, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." and, of course, they didn't know what they were doing. Oh, yes, I am sure that they thought they knew what they were doing just as we today persecute, attack, denigrate, accuse, judge, and condemn people all the time. We love to demonize our enemies and the news and politics and family life are full of such accusations, condemnations, and judgments, but supposing we, like Jesus, could say, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." "And, by the way, forgive me too forI know not what I am doing most of the time."
Of course, if we understood what the Course is saying, God can not forgive us because God never condemned us. It is we who must forgive ourselves and others. Why duck our responsibility, deny our power, cop out, and put it on God? It is irresponsible to create a God to project our responsibilities and capabilities onto. It is we ourselves who must forgive. Leave God out of it. God was never in on it in the first place. We shouldn't be asking God to do our work for us. Asking God to forgive is asking the impossible and is humanity's one big cop out. It starts with us. Have I forgiven anyone I am mad or upset with today?
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