Essay about Journal Critique

II. Main Point 2. God tells us in 1 John 1: 9“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And again in 2 Corinthians 5:17“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.”

It is also vital to look at Wilson’s view on the practice of forgiveness and how if an individual decides to ignore it, it can place a road block in their process of change. She believes that God speaks about forgiveness for the following reasons:” (1) we are all sinners with whom to relate so we’ll need to become skillful forgivers (2) God makes forgiveness a centerpiece of our healing process because living in un-forgiveness is so much worse (Wilson, 2001).

Jesus Christ is a mystery. Understanding the entire teachings of the Christian faith requires a tolerant attitude and a open mind. To many followers, faith in the ability of Jesus to save and redeem is very important and offers a means to escape the evils of the world. The purpose of this essay is to examine the saving nature of Jesus Christ. This essay will examine key concepts related to saving grace such as atonement, reconciliation and the theological aspects associated with this concept. The essay will attempt to describe Jesus' saving nature as an inspired quality that rests within each individual while simultaneously expressing the divinity of existence and life.

In the book Rediscovering the Power of Repentance and Forgiveness, Dr. Leah Coulter seeks to challenge the conventional Christian approach to forgiveness. Conventional Christianity approaches forgiveness as a Christian duty, and, in many ways, this has been unfair to the victims who have almost been condemned for seeking justice rather than simply forgetting. She asks, "From an all too common Christian view, why must the weight and responsibility of forgiveness be placed on the sinned-against instead of the sinner's repentance?" (Coulter). Therefore, she focuses extensively on the idea of repentance and the duty of the sinner to repent. However, that is not to suggest that Coulter abandons the idea that forgiveness is a Christian imperative, but she attempts to place it within its Jewish context, and demonstrate how other facets of historical Judaism inform the practice of forgiveness and repentance.

“Those who use forgiveness in counseling because it helps people feel better often acknowledge the religious meaning of forgiveness” (McMinn, pg.

Next, McMinn (2007) acknowledges the Christian Theology perspective on confession. According to the author (2007), there are two kinds of relations to confession and Christian Theology, which are confession and the sacrament of penance and confession and Scripture. McMinn (2007) points out that the Christian church has constantly been engrossed in confession, but the way of confession has altered during the past two millennia (p 221). According to the author (2007), numerous Spiritual leaders, such as Saint Augustine and Saint Patrick writing of their confessions of faith and sin have severed as a partial foundation for scholasticism, which is a crusade that attempted to examine faith academically (211-212). As scholasticism grew thought out time it birth the doctrine and sacrament

In general, self-forgiveness is identified by a common ability to exhibit self-respect in spite of the acceptance of wrong-doing (Hall, J., Fincham, D., 2005). I never considered the distinction between interpersonal forgiveness and intrapersonal forgiveness. While they share many similarities, there is even greater evidence of the differences between the two. One significant difference involves the consequences of withholding forgiveness from self. It is likely that intrapersonal unforgiveness can be much more detrimental than interpersonal. Hall & Fincham state “ Self-forgiveness often entails a resolution to change” (2005). It is this process of acceptance of one’s own imperfections and sinful nature that catapults a desire for self-improvement and growth. This is a critical component of healing the soul and beginning the journey to spiritual and mental health. Also enlightening was the declaration that one can experience pseudo self forgiveness by failing to acknowledge any wrong doing and convincing him/herself that they are without fault. Finally, I was struck by the notion that self-forgiveness will typically

Asking for forgiveness and forgiving to many is the hardest thing to do but we must remember in the book of Matthew (18:21-22) Peter said to the Lord: “Lord if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” In this paper, the chosen case study will give the reader a better understanding of what forgiveness is to Jesus. Forgiveness is a big part of the Bible and if Jesus forgives us of our sins we too must learn to be as forgiving as him.

It is because of the ability is given to humanity be in communion with Christ that the atonement for sins can take place. Paul, the apostle, is writing to the saints who are at Ephesus he says in the Ephesians 1:7,”In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” Paul makes it clear it is through Jesus Christ and the shedding of his blood that redemption can take place. It is through this the processes of redemption that all who union with him on the cross will have the trespasses forgiven. Paul also introduces the aspect of grace. Titus 2:12 “Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” when God`s grace appeared it brought salvation to all men. It is important to know that God the Father is in His Son and his spirited and they are gifts from Him to all humanity. The only way for men to connect to God is to come through Jesus. While communing with Jesus, it is at that point that connection with God becomes

The central place that the cross plays in Christian soteriology does not perpetuates violence in society and in the christian community, but Violence does play a role in salvation. The cross is not only a case of celestial equity; it is a delineation of God 's affection that requires a human response. This paper is about how different models for atonement (what is accomplished on the cross) affect our understanding of human justice, particularly with regard to the punishment of crimes. Nonviolent elucidations of the atonement go against a large portion of the strands of reparation philosophy found in contemporary American churches. That is, in most American particularly reformed and outreaching evangelical assemblies, expiation has regularly been dealt with as synonymous with corrective substitution. The story of reparation told in these pulpits concentrates less on Jesus ' energy to free individuals from the stranglehold of corrupt frameworks and all the more on the route in which the cross puts an end to lawful blame and the outcomes of that blame before God. In its most restrictive and reductive details, punitive substitution thinks about all transgression as something like the transgressing against of God 's law. Damaging God 's law obliges compensation something that simple mortals can 't give a vast God. Hence, in God 's unending affection and kindness, the everlasting word incarnates as the man Jesus of Nazareth and, at the cross, persists through capital punishment

For Protestantism, the act of professing one’s sins to a priest for the Lord’s forgiveness – the Sacrament of Reconciliation – is a sacrament that is unnecessary and not instituted. Valid arguments are made in favour of avoiding confession. First most, only God can forgive sin; it is not man’s right to cleanse the eternal soul. Truthfully, God is truly the only one who can forgive us by his own authority of sin. The practise of forgiveness began through the Lord and should continue in an unique relationship between Him and his follower independently. Another objection to the practise is that it is a man-made explanation, not God’s teaching. In the bible, there is no teaching directly put forth on the idea that man can forgive sin. Rather interpretations have been made to institute the practise, though there is no proof in the infallible rule of faith (The Bible; Sola Scripture). As discussed, this act belongs to God and only God. For Protestants, there is no need to

Paul wrote that “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). The aforesaid quote not only proves and defines the meaning of atonement, but also reveals the warm heart of the gospel. The Lord has the power to help us through any of our trials, and is willing to forgive us, even after we have turned our back on him. Atonement reminds me of girl’s camp. We would make these beautiful golden fires. As the embers would burn we would sing hymns and the light that radiated from the fire was the spirit of our Heavenly Father, I could feel it. The New Testament has taught that we can’t just walk in our own light; we need to walk in the light of our Heavenly Father. When I think of the times where I have really felt the spirit, they are the moments when I have reverenced with the Lord and walked in his light. To do so, is not necessarily easy. However, Christ was a “propitiation” (Romans 3:25) and became a “curse for us” (Galatians 3:13) so that those “who sometimes were far off made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

If everything is interwoven as was said in class, and I believe it is, then as I look at atonement it is plainly a matter of reconciliation. I’ve never really understood why, but somehow the question of who is reconciled to whom was a big issue, one which P. P. Waldenstrom felt a strong need to respond to.

In his sermon, “The Repentance of Believers,” Wesley offers why he thinks believers need to experience repentance. The first crucial repentance is justification. Justification deals effectively with sin. A repentant sinner before God becomes justified through the merits of Christ imputed to them. Although, sin no longer rules rebirth Christians, it still resides in one’s life. He notes that, “a conviction of the sin which remains in our heart is one great branch of the repentance” (The Repentance of Believers, p.407). Wesley undoubtedly expresses that after experiencing pardon, and justification, believers still struggle with continuing pride, self-will in their hearts, even a will conflicting to the will of God. Here Wesley predicts that, even with a true believer in Christ one

“Accordingly reconciliation proceeds by doing away with sin, and the method of doing this was by the atoning death of Christ” (Morris 1965:250). What is being said, and the conclusion we have already come to, yet are just confirming, is that sin was our problem, God through Christ on the cross was our solution, this is our atonement, Christ’s death on the Cross, and this is our Gospel. “Moved by the perfection of His Holy love, God in Christ substituted himself for us sinners. That is the heart of the cross of Christ… What God in Christ has done through the cross is to rescue us, disclose Himself and overcome evil” (Stott 2006:195).