How do you know forgiveness?

[chromatica]

how do you know that God forgives? and what is hell for if God forgives?

i go to confession. i believe that is where sins are forgiven. and i think for a while that they are. but then i get to thinking they aren’t really. so then i think why not do whatever anyway. and then i go back to telling myself to live a Christian life. just will power, like a diet. i suck at diets. how do you know that sins are forgiven?

and what about sins before baptism? i had no confession before baptism. then it was good i didn’t want to tell anyone my life. now i think that those sins are not forgiven.

i ask this once. kind of. to a deacon i know. he said that it is a sin to not know that God forgives. i am always sinning, no matter what. like there is no where to be that sin is not.

 

[chromatica]

maybe forget about it. there are no answers. i mean. my soul is a question and there is no answer. i ask lotsof questions inside myhead. there is no answer.

i do ok, i think. no doing of sin. i don’t want to add more. so i guess the end is the same.

i just can’t figure it out.

for a long time i kept asking why Jesus had to be on a cross.no one has the answer. this one someone said stop that it is just how God wants it.

 

[Crumpy]

A good testimony to forgiveness is in the prayer Jesus gave us. He taught us to pray, “…forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…”

He would not have said that if He did not mean it, that forgiveness was possible.
But, He’s teaching us to forgive others, too.

Yes, there is sin all around us, in our thoughts, words, and actions, and in what we fail to do.

In Hebrews, it says to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

A Lutheran minister by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book around 1937 called the Cost of Discipleship. Some non-Catholic and anti-Catholic stuff in there to be sure, but some good explanations, too.

He points out that when we are baptized we are like with Jesus on one side of the Grand Canyon, and everything else is on the other side. We act and relate to everything else through Jesus and because of Jesus. Everything is and should be different because we know Jesus Christ. Our temptations are different because we know that we have Jesus on our side and that He understands. Through Jesus we can control those temptations, instead of them controlling us.

I can write this to you not because of myself, but because of Jesus. And, you can receive it because of Him, not because of me. This shows that what may seem impossible is actually possible, if we open ourselves to it. He said, taste and see the goodness of the Lord. He said, repent and believe, not believe and repent. In other words, go to someplace different that you are used to, turn away from your sins and that will show you and help you to believe.

 

[chromatica]

A good testimony to forgiveness is in the prayer Jesus gave us. He taught us to pray, “…forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us…”

He would not have said that if He did not mean it, that forgiveness was possible.
But, He’s teaching us to forgive others, too.

Yes, there is sin all around us, in our thoughts, words, and actions, and in what we fail to do.

In Hebrews, it says to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

A Lutheran minister by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book around 1937 called the Cost of Discipleship. Some non-Catholic and anti-Catholic stuff in there to be sure, but some good explanations, too.

He points out that when we are baptized we are like with Jesus on one side of the Grand Canyon, and everything else is on the other side. We act and relate to everything else through Jesus and because of Jesus. Everything is and should be different because we know Jesus Christ. Our temptations are different because we know that we have Jesus on our side and that He understands. Through Jesus we can control those temptations, instead of them controlling us.

I can write this to you not because of myself, but because of Jesus. And, you can receive it because of Him, not because of me. This shows that what may seem impossible is actually possible, if we open ourselves to it. He said, taste and see the goodness of the Lord. He said, repent and believe, not believe and repent. In other words, go to someplace different that you are used to, turn away from your sins and that will show you and help you to believe.

then my question changes. how do you know Jesus? i mean, i did not know Jesus at all before. i read and listen to what people say. like this. and i believe a lot of things, about Jesus. i believe what you write.

but then i think i am believing in someone not real. i don’t know how to make what i believe stick. doubts all the time that my own head makes me believe things that aren’t real. this is from experience. i believe and find out what i believe are lies. i don’t know how to believe any more without watching for the lie to jump out from behind.

 

[redrosetea]

then my question changes. how do you know Jesus? i mean, i did not know Jesus at all before. i read and listen to what people say. like this. and i believe a lot of things, about Jesus. i believe what you write.

but then i think i am believing in someone not real. i don’t know how to make what i believe stick. doubts all the time that my own head makes me believe things that aren’t real. this is from experience. i believe and find out what i believe are lies. i don’t know how to believe any more without watching for the lie to jump out from behind.

Many people doubt at times…even some of them were Saints…You must ask God to increase your faith…Sins are forgiven if we are truly sorry…If we aren’t repentant they are not forgiven
If we do not forgive others our sins are not forgiven

 

[chromatica]

Many people doubt at times…even some of them were Saints…You must ask God to increase your faith…Sins are forgiven if we are truly sorry…If we aren’t repentant they are not forgiven
If we do not forgive others our sins are not forgiven

i ask God to keep me with Him, many times. especially when i doubt. i believe He does. i don’t know how, because i am the best at thinking too much.

someone asks what we would ask Jesus. i would never stop asking questions until He told me to be quiet. i like the scripture - be still and know I Am God.

i am sorry, when i repent. not sorry at all while sinning. too busy having too much fun. God doesn’t like fun is what i have noticed. be sorry and painful at all times. that is me. fun is how to get sorry and painful to take a vacation. God goes with them.

 

[redrosetea]

God doesn’t like sin, He doesn’t object to fun

Breaking the 10 commandments offends God…I can’t see how that can be fun?..Fun respects God and neighbor…Sin harms our relationship with God and nieghbor

 

[Epistemes]

then my question changes. how do you know Jesus? i mean, i did not know Jesus at all before. i read and listen to what people say. like this. and i believe a lot of things, about Jesus. i believe what you write.

but then i think i am believing in someone not real. i don’t know how to make what i believe stick. doubts all the time that my own head makes me believe things that aren’t real. this is from experience. i believe and find out what i believe are lies. i don’t know how to believe any more without watching for the lie to jump out from behind.

Read the Gospels. Read the Prophets - who point to the coming of Jesus. Read the Psalms - which express our deepest fears, concerns, and praises.

Also, I might recommend that you take time to just shut up. Please don’t take that the wrong way as I’m trying not to be rude to you, but seriously, just take time to sit down and not go rambling through all these thoughts which are only evidently only serving to confuse you. Just sit and come into direct contact with the God who is.

[EDIT: I should add that my priest told me to shut up once, and it has worked wonders for my spirituality.]

 

[chromatica]

God doesn’t like sin, He doesn’t object to fun

Breaking the 10 commandments offends God…I can’t see how that can be fun?..Fun respects God and neighbor…Sin harms our relationship with God and nieghbor

i think that if sin were not fun, people would not have a problem stopping their sin.

i know what you are saying. i guess i don’t know how to have fun without being offensive. and always worrying over being offensive. because i don’t know, like people know. i mean. some people just know what is sin and what is not. i don’t. ask me before i am Catholic, and i tell you nothing is sin. i have to think everything to death to know if it is fun without sin. sometimes i just want to stop thinking and have fun. then i think about it and know i get it all wrong. so next time i already know. good news then, i learn.

 

[chromatica]

Read the Gospels. Read the Prophets - who point to the coming of Jesus. Read the Psalms - which express our deepest fears, concerns, and praises.

Also, I might recommend that you take time to just shut up. Please don’t take that the wrong way as I’m trying not to be rude to you, but seriously, just take time to sit down and not go rambling through all these thoughts which are only evidently only serving to confuse you. Just sit and come into direct contact with the God who is.

[EDIT: I should add that my priest told me to shut up once, and it has worked wonders for my spirituality.]

i like you and your priest. i tell myself to shut up all the time. but then i start thinking again.

be still and know I Am God

if that were a commandment i would be in trouble.