forgiveness

Parent: Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes Series

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Chapter 9: "Charity"

We touched on Charity in chapter 7, Forgiveness, but this chapter goes deeper.

The modern meaning of 'Charity' is given to the poor, or 'alms.' The original meaning was much wider, and giving to the poor was a part of Charity. Charity is a 'state of the will.'

Charity means 'Love, in the Christian sense'. But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.

Parent: Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes Series

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Chapter 8: "The Great Sin"

I now come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

Parent: Mere Christianity: Leaders' Notes Series

Buy a copy of Mere Christianity from Amazon.com

Chapter 7: "Forgiveness"

[Editor's note: this is one of the best treatments of forgiveness I've ever seen. I highly recommend John Eldridge's discussion in Wild At Heart to compliment the material that Lewis presents. Lewis gives us a complete 'why' for forgiveness, but Eldredge presents a fantastic 'how to' forgive.]

"Every one says forgiveness is a lovily idea, until they have something to forgive...."

"I did not invent it. And there, right in the middle of it, I find, 'Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us.' There is no slightest suggestion that we are offered forgiveness on any other terms. Is is made perfectly clear that if we do not forgive we shall not be forgiven. there are no two ways about it. What are we to do?"

• Start simple:
  • for give your sister, brother, wife, husband, parents, children, classmates or roommates for something they have done or said in the last week. (that should keep us busy for a little while.)
  • try to understand what loving our neighbor as yourself means. how do we love ourselves?

Disagreeing with someone you love over something that's important to you is the hardest thing. It's often the thing that causes friction in families and churches. If we, as Christians, can learn how to disagree in love, we can learn from those disagreements. We need to learn that there's a big, important difference between 'unity' and 'uniformity.' We are called to unity -- not uniformity. That means we are going to disagree, and that's a good thing!

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Forgiveness. Probably the central tenant of Christian behavior. One of the things Jesus talked most about, and gave instructions most about. He also modeled it for us, perfectly (i.e. on the cross). Also, interestingly enough, one of the least practiced behaviors among Christians.... Now, ain't that sumthin'?

As usual, this is not an exhaustive conversation. There is, however, a HOWTO Forgive embedded in there! (No, it's not a "do it yourself," or "forgiveness for dummies" kind of thing... but it oughta work for anyone who listens to this show.)