We are not the church.

Just got another reminder that in the so-called church we have the idea that we can forgive someone in our hearts without actually doing anything about it.  That we can say “I forgive you.  Now go away and die.”

What if God forgave us like that?  What if God held forgiveness and reconciliation to be two different things?  Jesus would die for us, and we would still go to Hell!

“As you forgive, so you will be forgiven,” Jesus said.  The pastors in the Lutheran church like to say that this means “God’s forgiveness causes us to be forgiven.”

THAT IS NOT WHAT JESUS SAID!

Yeah, unforgiveness is not the unforgivable sin, at least if we are right in saying the unforgivable sin is persisting in unbelief.

But there is a difference between, “I can’t bring myself to be reconciled to my brother, so I beg for God’s forgiveness for…