Friday, January 18, 2008

degrees of forgiveness

Every person alive has done evil
at one time or another
But who is to say
that one evil
is greater than the other
when they both leave wounds
and have a need for forgiveness 
Does forgiveness come in degrees
or is it all equal
Is my sin more deserving of 
forgiveness
or is yours
Only God can say
We both need it

3 comments:

catdriver said...

No one can say that one evil is lesser or greater in Gods eyes; however down here on earth, the reality is that evils do have different degrees. Wounds and pain are measured by God. Just as he has given the ability for some children to be healed by a mother’s kiss, others are only able to be repaired by God bringing them home; If you commit murder and then find religion in prison, you still won’t be let out. Do on to others as you would have them do on to you.

PJRockey said...

Your comment was very thoughtful and insightful. Evil does come in different degrees, but the question is really about forgiveness. Does it take more forgiveness for greater evil? - certainly it may be harder to forgive a greater evil, but having chosen to forgive, it is the same act as one would give for a lesser evil. Of course, if we did no evil, (intentional or otherwise) there would be no need for forgiveness.

catdriver said...

Yes forgiveness can be in different levels just as apologies and remorse can be. The other thing we need to ask is, is the forgiveness the same for one evil as it is for five of the same evils? If a person apologizes for their evils and are truly sorry, then forgiveness may be more likely to be found. However if a person apologizes and then continues with the same evil repeatedly and continues to apologize each time, than it shows that there is no remorse and the apologies to be hollow and meaningless, in which case the forgiveness is that much less likely. If someone hits you in the face once and then apologizes then you will more than likely forgive them. If they continue to hit you and apologize each time, not only are you not likely to forgive them, but you are going to watch for the next punch; then if it keeps happening you will put your arms up to guard your face and eventually hit back or run away. Do we ever apologize or forgive in advance for the next one that we know is coming? In addition, depending on the redundancy, patterns and destruction of the evils, it may be that they are a habit or addiction, and that a person may need help to see them and/or overcome them.