Is there a limit to God's forgiveness?

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What happens, then? Do you die from something before your next Confession? Do you do the rest invalidly? Are absolutions ineffective for that reason and/or because you’ve been pardoned for too many sins, but you don’t know that? Do you accept a life of committing that sin, and kind of get to enjoy it, at least on the outside, having despaired of ever being right, again, like Darth Vader almost did, before saving his son? Have any saints or approved apparently-heavenly messages explain those passages? Thank you!

I know it’s almost taboo to speak of such things as a limit to God’s pardoning in most parishes today, and I’m sure certainly not even a topic amongst Protestants, but it’s right in Scripture and plain as day, as a Facebook friend posted:

God, as the Apostle says, “will have all men to be saved” – I Tim. 2:4; but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. I intend to show in this discourse that when sins reach a certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive.
  1. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine and other fathers, teach, that as God according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight” – Wis. 11:21 has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which He will give him, so He has also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more.
    Wednesday at 1:37am · Like
Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin" – Eccl. 5:5. Say not then, O sinner: “As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me this one if I commit it.” Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another place. “The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, He may punish them in the fullness of sins” – II. Mac. 6:14. God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. “Thou hast sealed up my offenses as it were in a bag” – Job 14:17. Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them, that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, He may take vengeance on them. “Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe” Joel 3:13.
 
God’s forgiveness continues as long as a person lives, so long as they honestly repent, with trust in God’s mercy but without presumption, with the intention to avoid sin in the present and future.

Saint Therese of Lisieux and Doctor of the Church wrote:

“If the greatest sinner should repent at the moment of his death, and draw his last breath in an act of love, neither the many graces he had abused, nor the multiplied crimes he had committed, would stand in his way. Our Lord would see nothing, count nothing, but the sinner’s last prayer, and without delay He would receive him into the arms of His mercy.” (Saint Therese of Lisieux)
 
Let’s cut that question down a bit:

Is there a limit to God?

The answer is “no”.

If there is no limit to God, it follows that there is no limit to His forgiveness.

If you need proof of this, look to the cross.
 
foolishmortal said:
What happens, then? Do you die from something before your next Confession? Do you do the rest invalidly? Are absolutions ineffective for that reason and/or because you’ve been pardoned for too many sins, but you don’t know that? Do you accept a life of committing that sin, and kind of get to enjoy it, at least on the outside, having despaired of ever being right, again, like Darth Vader almost did, before saving his son? Have any saints or approved apparently-heavenly messages explain those passages? Thank you!

I know it’s almost taboo to speak of such things as a limit to God’s pardoning in most parishes today, and I’m sure certainly not even a topic amongst Protestants, but it’s right in Scripture and plain as day, as a Facebook friend posted:

God, as the Apostle says, “will have all men to be saved” – I Tim. 2:4; but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. I intend to show in this discourse that when sins reach a certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive.
  1. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine and other fathers, teach, that as God according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight” – Wis. 11:21 has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which He will give him, so He has also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more.
    Wednesday at 1:37am · Like
Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin" – Eccl. 5:5. Say not then, O sinner: “As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me this one if I commit it.” Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another place. “The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, He may punish them in the fullness of sins” – II. Mac. 6:14. God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. “Thou hast sealed up my offenses as it were in a bag” – Job 14:17. Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them, that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, He may take vengeance on them. “Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe” Joel 3:13.
Click to expand...
Before, I used to care about these things…Now, I dont care less.


  1. *]God is Who loves me most.
    *]Christ gave His life for me.
    *]Chirst is a just Judge.
    *]I must do my best to follow Christ’s footsteps.

    As for the rest, I try to be good and I put myself into God’s Hands. Period.
 
Is there? I hope not,and I am sure that I am right. If not,I am going to a hot place.
 
Pfaffenhoffen said:
Before, I used to care about these things…Now, I dont care less.


  1. *]God is Who loves me most.
    *]Christ gave His life for me.
    *]Chirst is a just Judge.
    *]I must do my best to follow Christ’s footsteps.

    As for the rest, I try to be good and I put myself into God’s Hands. Period.
Click to expand...

  1. This is a good answer.

    One must wonder WHY a person, any person, seeks the boundaries of God’s forgiveness.
    Better to focus on the Love of God and seek to become one in that Love.

    Peace
    James
 
My opinion on this would be meaningles, but I often wonder whether not hearing about the “Wages of Sin” more often during Homilies is setting some Catholics up for “trouble” due to a false notion of Forgiveness? Using my Parish as an example, 5000 members, 15 minutes of Confesional time each Saturday, hardly anyone not in line for Communion. Do we still have a firm knowledge of “the four last things”? Are most Catholics oblivious to the Churches requirement for Confession, Penance and Absolution?
Whether or not there is a limit to sins forgiven, have we as a people forgotten about sin in general?
 
Dirt said:
My opinion on this would be meaningles, but I often wonder whether not hearing about the “Wages of Sin” more often during Homilies is setting some Catholics up for “trouble” due to a false notion of Forgiveness? Using my Parish as an example, 5000 members, 15 minutes of Confesional time each Saturday, hardly anyone not in line for Communion. Do we still have a firm knowledge of “the four last things”? Are most Catholics oblivious to the Churches requirement for Confession, Penance and Absolution?
Whether or not there is a limit to sins forgiven, have we as a people forgotten about sin in general?
Click to expand...
Well - either your fears here are well founded or you live in a very Holy and Blessed Parish…😃

In all seriousness, I think there is truth in this.

One of the things that came out of Vat II was a desire to frame the faith in more “positive” and more “joyful” ways. Certainly a laudable undertaking for the Faith should be joy filled. However, in the rush to implement this, the proverbial “pendulum” has swung too far and has resulted in the problem you mention here.

Fortunately, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit through JP II and now Ben XVI the pendulum is beginning to swing back a bit. Having the new Catechism, liberalizing the use of the EF, reigning in some of the teaching and liturgical abuses and the blessings of serious and energized converts and reverts are all contributing to this change.
Of course it took 40 + years to get to this place - so I expect the swing back will take at least as long.

Peace
James
 
Short answer: No.

Long answer: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

There is nothing God will not pardon us of if we are truly repentant.
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church does not speak of God refusing forgiveness of sin after a certain number.
The Catechism has the imprimatur of the Pope.

Read what the Catechism teaches regarding Confession is found here:
scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c2a4.htm

1446 Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as "the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace."47

1468 "The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship."73 Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation "is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation."74 Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true “spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.75

1496 The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are:
  • reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace;
  • reconciliation with the Church;
  • remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins;
  • remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin;
  • peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation;
  • an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.
From the Catholic Encyclopedia
newadvent.org/cathen/11618c.htm

“Penance is a sacrament of the New Law instituted by Christ in which forgiveness of sins committed after baptism is granted through the priest’s absolution to those who with true sorrow confess their sins and promise to satisfy for the same. It is called a “sacrament” not simply a function or ceremony, because it is an outward sign instituted by Christ to impart grace to the soul. …”…

It is not true that for the Catholic the mere “telling of one’s sins” suffices to obtain their forgiveness. Without sincere sorrow and purpose of amendment, confession avails nothing, the pronouncement of absolution is of no effect, and the guilt of the sinner is greater than before. …

The reconciliation of the sinner with God has as a further consequence the revival of those merits which he had obtained before committing grievous sin. Good works performed in the state of grace deserve a reward from God, but this is forfeited by mortal sin, so that if the sinner should die unforgiven his good deeds avail him nothing. So long as he remains in sin, he is incapable of meriting: even works which are good in themselves are, in his case, worthless: they cannot revive, because they never were alive. But once his sin is cancelled by penance, he regains not only the state of grace but also the entire store of merit which had, before his sin, been placed to his credit. On this point theologians are practically unanimous: the only hindrance to obtaining reward is sin, and when this is removed, the former title, so to speak, is revalidated."

My words: The bolded section answers a question whether or not forgiveness of sin 'runs out". When a person makes a valid Confession, they are restored fully to grace, not a lesser state of grace than before the sin.
 
Pope John Paul 2’s encyclical :RECONCILIATIO ET PAENITENTIA (On Reconciliation And Penance)
Pope John Paul II
To the Bishops, Clergy and Faithful on the Mission of the Church Today

ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2RECON.HTM

“It is a certainty reaffirmed with particular vigor both by the Council of Trent[173] and by the Second Vatican Council: “Those who approach the Sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s Mercy for the offenses committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example and by prayer works for their conversion”.[174] And as an essential element of faith concerning the value and purpose of Penance it must be reaffirmed that our Savior Jesus Christ instituted in his Church the Sacrament of Penance so that the faithful who have fallen into sin after Baptism might receive grace and be reconciled with God.[175]”…

It is an act of honesty and courage. It is an act of entrusting oneself, beyond sin, to the mercy that forgives.[188]…

“And the saving power of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus is also imparted to the penitent as the “mercy stronger than sin and offense”, as I defined it in my Encyclical Dives in Misericordia. God is always the one who is principally offended by sin " tibi soli peccavi!” and God alone can forgive. Hence the absolution that the priest, the minister of forgiveness, though himself a sinner, grants to the penitent, is the effective sign of the intervention of the Father in every absolution and the sign of the “resurrection” from " spiritual death " which is renewed each time that the Sacrament of Penance is administered. Only faith can give us certainty that at that moment every sin is forgiven and blotted out by the mysterious intervention of the Savior."

*I could research further, but In the phrases that I have bolded it is clear that God’s mercy stronger than sin and offense" and with genuine repentance and desire for amendment, God’s mercy is complete within every Confession. *
 
JRKH said:
This is a good answer.

One must wonder WHY a person, any person, seeks the boundaries of God’s forgiveness.
Better to focus on the Love of God and seek to become one in that Love.

Peace
James
Click to expand...
The answer is simple: God’s Forgiveness is infinite+God’s Justice is infinite= ???
How to harmonize one with the other?
How can I, a small ant, understand a whale? Better give up.
I put the ship on God’s Hands and try to get a good sleep. I know that He will pilot it to a nice Harbor.
If He punishes me, it is because I deserve, if He praises me it is because I He gave His Blood for Me.
 
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