Yo, Christians! Forgive and forget what Jane Fonda did

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
This one is aimed at those who claim to be Christians, those who want to be Christians and those, like me, who are trying to get to that point. If you are not in these categories, this blog does not apply to you.

To briefly ‘splain, I am not yet what I consider to be a Christian. I’d like to be. I am working toward that. YMMV

So, moving along. Jane Fonda has formally apologized for her actions during the Vietnam War. 

As expected, this is not going over well with a lot of people. Some ‘Nam vets are protesting. Others are also protesting. It’s gonna take a long time for the pain that war caused to go away, if it every does. Parts of our nation are still fighting one war that formally ended 150 years ago.

One vet said, “Forgive is one thing. Forget is another.”

The Christian Bible says otherwise. To forgive is to eliminate. If it has not been eliminated, there is no true forgiveness. To ‘splain:

Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Some translations use the word “sins” in place of debt and “who have sinned against us” in the place of debtors.

Jesus gave the Lord’s prayer as the template for Christians to pray. In it, He instructs Christians to seek forgiveness from God based on how the Christians forgive others.

Think on that for a moment. Do you want to be forgiven completely? Do you want it wiped out? Do you want it eliminated? “Yes,” say those who believe in what the Bible has to say.

So what does the Bible have to say about it?

Matthew 6:14-15 - For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Good enough. Forgive to be forgiven. Excellent.

So, how does God forgive? Hebrews 8:12 - For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. This is said several times in several ways in the Bible.

God forgets. If the One who created everything forgets, then what He forgot cannot exist any more except as fiction. If God forgets, it does not exist. If it does not exist, God can’t bring it up later. God can’t point to it and say “AHA! This is what you did.” It is gone.

It has to be gone. If the sin still exists, then God must acknowledge it. If God says the sin exists, He must deal with it. He deals with it by holding us accountable. “For the wages of sin is death.”

Do you want God to forgive and forget or just forgive and bring it up later?

God is clear: to forgive is to eliminate. If it has not been eliminated, there is no true forgiveness.

Under Jesus’ template prayer, we ask God to apply the same standards to us as we apply our fellow humans, “as we also have forgiven.”

To forgive is to eliminate. If it has not been eliminated, there is no true forgiveness.
Jesus said people have a choice, even where Jane Fonda is concerned. Forgive and forget and it can never be brought up again. Forgive and keep bringing it up again and again. That’s not true forgiveness. How would you react if God treated you that way?
Jane Fonda made a mistake, She apologized. If you are Christian, it’s time to forgive. If you can’t forgive, then God is not going to forgive you. If you can’t forgive Jane Fonda, how can God forgive you?

Dunno about you, but I have enough to worry about on my own. I don’t need to carry the burden of what someone else did.

Forgive. Forget. Move on. If you can't forget, then her mistake stills exists and you try to hold her accountable. How will you react if God treats you the same way? If you can’t forgive and forget, then how can Jesus’ sacrifice apply to you?

How do you want to be treated?