Forgiveness issue

[DavidBlattner]

Brothers and Sisters:

When it comes to the legal systems in the world and their correlation to the Catholic faith. Would you say that due to our fall, we misjudge people?
Are we as Catholics to follow God’s commission through Paul in his Epistles to forgive everyone who has sinned against us since Paul states to be like Christ and to be Chaste and without blemish?
If we dont forgive others dues that make us a hypocrite due to this commission written in the Epistles?

This then makes punishment obsolete and unwarranted due to the fact we misjudge others right?

So, in reality we are then judged by our fallen natures and not by God directly of which we are to be judged by God and by God only right?

 

[Totterman]

Jesus,our Lords peace be whit You.
We live in a different world then those years when the Gospels wos written,and even then St.Paul urge us to obey the “sword of the justice”,wich means those who judged us in “eartlthy” crimes. All crimes are not against God,and all crimes are not against the legal system we go by today. Most of the sins are not crimes,and all crimes are,if we look very close,not a sin. But the legal systems of today goes their one way,and does not alway be the same as the Churchs wiew. As christians we are obligated to forgive,even if we cant always forget,but there are crimes that must be judged by an “earthly” court of law,and even if we get a guilty verdict from the court of law,we can be forgiven by God. If we do a crime that is a sin aswell as it is crime,we pay for our crime in front of a “earthly” court,and also are in a state of sin,looking at it as the Church do. Both crimes or sins can be forgiven,the crime whit spending time in jail,and the sin by confession,but when we do confess it is most importen to keep in mind that we are forgiven by Jesus,not by the priest,he is there as it is called “in Christi Persona”,he forgive us thru his right to do so by beeing a priest,and we are forgiven our sins only if we realy are sorry and want to never do it again. In both cases we are forgiven,but in a different way. And we need to know one thing,there is one sin we will never be forgiven,that is a sin against The Holy Spirit (Matt.12:32;Luk.12:10) and that is what Jesus said. But we should do our best in all cases thru out our life to live like we are told to by Jesus and what the Church teach us. I hope this ansver wos of some help. Blessings,Totterman

 

[Tietjen]

When it comes to the legal systems in the world and their correlation to the Catholic faith. Would you say that due to our fall, we misjudge people?

I would say that due to our fall, sin entered the world and people sin not only against God but against man. So, the fall caused sin in that aspect; however, we are not sinning if we judge another man’s actions as being wrong or sinful.

Are we as Catholics to follow God’s commission through Paul in his Epistles to forgive everyone who has sinned against us since Paul states to be like Christ and to be Chaste and without blemish?

Absolutely, however forgiving another human being does not mean that restitution is not called for. If my brother steals $10 from my wallet, and later confesses his sin to me and asks for forgiveness, I will indeed forgive him. Does that mean he is free to take the $10 and spend it or should he make restitution and repay the money he took?

If we dont forgive others dues that make us a hypocrite due to this commission written in the Epistles?

Again, forgiveness is one thing; restitution and justice is another. Forgiveness is not a “Get Out of Jail Free Card” to be used to circumvent criminal behavior. There are consequences both in this life and the next that deal with tempal punishment and repayment, EVEN when the offended party has forgiven the offender.

This then makes punishment obsolete and unwarranted due to the fact we misjudge others right?

No. Both God and man use punishment as a teaching method. Man is not to judge another man’s soul, but man may judge another man’s actions. If a small child bites another child, should the behavior be ignored thus promoting even great violence in the future or should the child be punished and taught that harming others is unacceptable?

So, in reality we are then judged by our fallen natures and not by God directly of which we are to be judged by God and by God only right?

If temporal punishments and/or civil & criminal punishments are not consequences for man to use, we do a great disservice to our fellow men because they will never have the opportunity to learn in this lifetime to avoid victimizing other people. When they leave this life, having never learned from their mistakes, will they be pleasing before God?