The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1963-05-03
To Be For give"
Lesson for May S

Why is it that when a sermon
or Sunday school lesson is to
be on the subject of Forgive
ness. or anything connected with
it. the Bible passage selected is
nearly always from the Old
Testament and not the New?
The answer is obvious: the Old
Testament, and especially the
book of Psalms. has the clear
est and most moving account Of
God S forgiveness, and especial
ly the experience of being for
given, that can be found in the
Bible.
This fact alone suggests much.
It means, for example, that for
giveneSS is not something pc
culiar to our own religion. All
religions desire a forgiving God; ;
the difference between these and
Christianity is not that people
in other religions don't care
whether they are forgiven or
not, but that they do not under
stand. as followers of Chris t
know, what kind of God it is
who forgives, and why He for
gives at all.
Two MISUNDERSTANDING
The forgiveness of God can
be misunderstood in m a n y
ways. Let us glance at two of
them. One is to suppose that He
is a sort of vast forgivlng ma
chine. This is the age of auto
nation, when everything works
by pushbuttonS. When the cleo
. trio power goes off, a switch I'M
touched by human hands will
put your house on n h r
power line. When the plane in
which YOU are flying starts to
Slide down, the automatic pilot
will bring it right back up again.
Some people think God is like
this rgiving automatically
some would say even before a
man repentS. Others think of re-
pentance as a sort of automatic
switch: the minute a man says
I'm sorry" out comes forgive
ness from heaven like cand y
from a machine. But it isn't like
that at all. Another mistake is
to suppose that God S forgive
ness is sort of reward, as if
God said. after all, that sinner
is a pretty good man - above
the average, in fact. Such good
ness deserves some recognition
so am going TO reward him
by forgiving him. 1t isn't like
that either. To be forgiven is a
gift Of God.
II Did Not Hide
The poet who wrote Psalm 81
knew from experience something
very important. He had tried for
time that old dodge, pretend
ing to himself that he had not
sinned at all Nothing could be
more utterly absurd, when you
think of it, than trying to hide
away from God. Nothing can be
more impossible than to pretend
it never happened. Nobody can
90 off and Shut a door behind
him and fancy that God will
get no nearer than that door.
modern psychiatry agrees with
the ancient psalniSt that I'M
admitted sin. hidden guilt, is ac-
tually serious menace to
health. Psalm 1878 and 4 dc
scribe a sick man. Doctors can
not cure such a case. The pa
tient himself has the key to the
cure. and this poet found it. II
acknowledged" he says. II did
not hide" Il will confess"
Love Surrounds Him.
Forgiveness is a kind Of mira
n In
forgiveness is no GOOD if the
forgiven is determined never to
forget. But how can God forget?
Further-and this is something
that perhaps even angels may
not understand the question,
Why should God forgive at all?
Has no final answer that leaves
us without further questions.
Would it not be simpler for God
TO start all over again with some
other race. race that could not
keep patching up human beings
when he does not have to?
The truth is. God does much
better than patch people up. He
makes them over. The forgive
ness of God has a strange quail
ty about it. Ordinary forgiveness
leaves offenders about as they
We're. God S forgiveness does
something wonderful to the sin
ner. Read over this 32nd Psalm
again and again. What sort of
man is this who speaks with
such profound enthusiasm about
being forgiven? He does not
sound in the least like man
who relolces that his slate has