{"id":275,"date":"2020-10-30T20:26:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T00:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=275"},"modified":"2020-12-07T20:28:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T01:28:20","slug":"as-we-forgive-our-debtors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/30\/as-we-forgive-our-debtors\/","title":{"rendered":"As We Forgive Our Debtors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

That famous question presents what is called a causality dilemma.  We know that all chickens are hatched from eggs, and that all chicken eggs are laid by chickens.  So which is the cause and which is the effect?

Aristotle, writing four centuries before Christ, admitted he was stumped.  He concluded that the chicken-and-egg dilemma suggests an infinite regress.  We can never really know how everything started.

His fellow Greek philosopher Plutarch, writing about the time of Jesus, believed that our answer will be closely connected to the issue of cosmic origins.  Has everything always just \u201cbeen here,\u201d or did something or Someone start a chain reaction that has been proceeding ever since? 

Christian thinkers during the Middle Ages felt comfortable turning to the book of Genesis.  Which came first?  The chicken, of course.  God created chickens ex nihilo<\/em> (from nothing) and they soon began laying eggs.  Twentieth century Darwinists have flipped the script.  Evolution suggests that new species emerge from genetic mutations (reproduction malfunctions that produce desirable outcomes).  As Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it, \u201cWhich came first: the chicken or the egg?  The egg \u2013 laid by a bird that was not a chicken.\u201d

Then there\u2019s the six-year-old who said, \u201cThat\u2019s easy.  Eggs come first.  We have eggs for breakfast and chicken for dinner!\u201d 

The chicken-and-egg dilemma may be a stimulating topic for a late night bull session.  But things get downright serious when we start wrestling with Jesus\u2019 words about forgiveness in the Lord\u2019s Prayer:  And forgive us our sins <\/strong>[or debts or trespasses], as we forgive those who have sinned against us. <\/strong>

A great deal hinges on the word \u201cas.\u201d  Luke\u2019s version of the Lord\u2019s Prayer is usually translated, \u201cas we also\u201d or \u201cin proportion to\u201d how we forgive others (Luke 11:4). 

Our Master teaches us to ask God to forgive our sins \u2013 to restore the blankness of the blank page in our relationship with our heavenly Father.  This phrase rolls easily off our lips.  But then we get to the second phrase: as we also<\/em> or in proportion to<\/em> our willingness to offer the gift of that same blank page to all the jerks, ingrates, and monsters in our lives. 

Want to be scared this Halloween?  Consider the challenge of trying to pull that off. 

Is Jesus really telling us that our experience of God\u2019s forgiveness hinges on whether or not we are able or willing to forgive others?

Let\u2019s give these two phrases a chicken-and-egg analysis.  Phrase A states, \u201cForgive us our sins.\u201d  Phrase B declares, \u201cAs we forgive those who sin against us.\u201d  So which comes first?  Which is the cause and which is the effect?

If Phrase B comes first, we\u2019re all sunk. 

If Jesus is saying, \u201cGod will forgive you only if<\/em> you forgive others,\u201d then our own sins, realistically, will never be forgiven.  That\u2019s because most of us are lousy forgivers.  We are crippled by selective memories.  We nurse grudges and cling to wounded spirits.  In the ancient world, people who forgave others were considered fools.  Why not get even instead? 

If Phrase A (God\u2019s forgiveness) is something we have to earn by successfully pulling off Phrase B (forgiving others), we will always live in fear of falling short.  We will quickly come to the end of our own resources.   

But if Phrase A comes first, there is hope.

That would mean Jesus is saying, \u201cAsk God to forgive you \u2013 and he will \u2013 and you\u2019ll quickly discover a proportional ability to provide the gift of forgiveness to others.\u201d    

The psychological reality is that we cannot experience God\u2019s grace and mercy and remain hard-hearted toward others.  If we seriously open ourselves to God\u2019s love, we will no longer be the same person.

For that reason, unforgiveness becomes a kind of spiritual red flag.  Are you struggling with tearing up the \u201cdebt sheets\u201d of those who have hurt you?  Have you found yourself clenching your fists and grinding your teeth, saying, \u201cI can never forgive what she did,\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s impossible for me not to seek payback for the way he treated me\u201d?  Be careful.  That’s the danger zone.  You may need to seek the help of a pastor, counselor, or friend to deal with such deep-seated feelings.

And such feelings may represent something else: evidence that you yourself are struggling to receive God\u2019s forgiveness.  Maybe you think it\u2019s too good to be true.  Or it\u2019s reserved for other people \u2013 people who haven\u2019t screwed up their life the way you have.  Or you just can\u2019t shake the feeling that there\u2019s no free lunch, even in heaven: God can\u2019t possibly forgive you unless you get your act together first.

But that\u2019s why Jesus’ message is called the Good News. 

In the Bible\u2019s chicken-and-egg scenario, which comes first: God\u2019s freely-shared grace, or our ability to share grace with others? 

God and his grace come first.

Always. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? That famous question presents what is called a causality dilemma.  We know that all chickens are hatched from eggs, and that all chicken eggs are laid by chickens.  So which is the cause and which is the effect? Aristotle, writing four centuries before Christ, admitted he was stumped.  He concluded that the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-forgiveness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions\/277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}