God's forgiveness vs the world's forgiveness

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OK, I am feeling really weird right now. I agreed to volunteer at an event this evening because I though it would be a good opportunity to network and stay in contact with other business people to help my career. Well… it totally slipped my mind and I rememberred I was suppose to be there after the event was over

So needless to say I feel stupid. I emailed the lady in charge and apologized. However… I would not blame her if the next time she needs volunteers, she refuses me. Also, there was a man I was suppose to work with that is very friendly and more than willing to help others in their career the best he can. Well… I don’t think I am in his good books either right now.

I know God loves me and will forgive me. I do plan on mentionning it in confession. I personally think it is a venial sin but I want to clear my conscious. However, this could have a negative consequence on my business reputation. (Although in all probability it will have minimal effect, it is a small world and one never knows when I will bump into someons again)

So… just curious but when God forgives us, that does not mean the worl will. Or… does it mean God will take care of us and although some people in the world will not forget, we will still be OK?

Another example comes to mind. Not that this ever happened to me but…let’s assume someone has a gambling problem and gambles their life savings away. If they repent and quit gambling, God will forgive. But that is NO guarantee they will ever be able to earn their life savings back. Is that where the part ‘give us our daily bread’ comes in and although perhaps not as well off as they use to be, God will still make sure they are warm, dry and fed?

CM

 

[bck4g37as]

Forgiveness is a word that is very vague – it means different things to different people. To some, it may mean being accepted after doing something abhorrent but apologising and meaning it. To others, it might mean acknowledging the person did wrong, and then distancing themselves to various degrees from either them or their behaviour.

But you are right about the concept in the sense because if God “forgives” you, it doesn’t mean others have to or will. In fact, it’s very arrogant to assume that they should, and unhealthy for you expectation-wise to assume that they would. Why? Imagine someone doing something that is completely unacceptable to you (saying mugging you), and then you having to accept the mugger as if he did nothing wrong, regardless if whether or not he changed his behaviour. The point is, he belongs in jail unless you determine it to be some kind of exception.

And yes, a gambling problem is an excellent example of this. If someone gambles away their debt, while God may still accept them (may being the keyword here) into his Heavenly Kingdom, the guy just blew all of his dough, and will have a tough time getting it back, assuming his life savings were significant.

 

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But you are right about the concept in the sense because if God “forgives” you, it doesn’t mean others have to or will. In fact, it’s very arrogant to assume that they should, and unhealthy for you expectation-wise to assume that they would.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they ‘should’ forgive me. Or more importantly, even if they did forgive me in their heart, I don’t think they ‘should’ trust me again.

It is just that I know I did wrong and I am not sure how to go about making it right. After all, apologies only go so far and I have this world to get through which means I need to hold down a job and keep good business contacts. So the point I am trying to make is how do I minimize the damage

 

[bck4g37as]

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think they ‘should’ forgive me. Or more importantly, even if they did forgive me in their heart, I don’t think they ‘should’ trust me again.

It is just that I know I did wrong and I am not sure how to go about making it right. After all, apologies only go so far and I have this world to get through which means I need to hold down a job and keep good business contacts. So the point I am trying to make is how do I minimize the damage

You’re trying to minimise the damage so they can accept you to some degree is what it looks like when you write in the same post that you don’t think they should trust you.

Which is it?

You ‘minimise’ the damage by moving on and doing something or a lot of somethings reputable without any kind of expectation of trust or acceptance, that is finding another route if there is one, and it doesn’t look like there is, meaning you’re going to have to accept your losses.