What do you think about God's forgiveness?

Mr. Ed said:
Ok, perhaps not wisdom, how about Rowin & Martins Laugh in?
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big fan. sock it to 'em. remember all the celebs that they got to go on that show? I think John Wayne once did it. I was surprised that they all were good sports to do it...
 

JonSR77 said:
Thought I would share, since you are a Scot. My old gal, Ann, went to Catholic school. Got kicked out. Guess why? Got fed up with one of the dictator penguins and knocked that nun out, cold stone unconscious.

Just sharing the lesson I learned from this...never annoy a Scot.
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You've got quite a sense of humor. Tell us about yourself?
 
Here's a bit of wisdom, from a hero of mine...Trappist (Cistercian) monk Thomas Merton.

His poem, "The First Lesson of Man"


When Laurie's Dad was dying of cancer and had huge problems with appetite, we bought one of the fruitcakes that is sold by the Trappist monks down at Thomas Merton's old monastery.

Those things are BOURBON fruitcakes...I think they literally soak them in bourbon for a couple of months.

Only fruitcake I ever liked.

And was just about the only thing Laurie's Dad could get down. And he loved fruitcake.

Was a nice memory in the middle of misery. And the connection to Thomas Merton was, you know, quite beautiful.
 

Mr. Ed said:
You've got quite a sense of humor. Tell us about yourself?
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Yes, I am former stand-up comedian (1990s). I hope the jokes are just funny and not at all offensive. That's the very best night on stage. Not when you are "killing," but when you take people out of their day and just lift up the room...and it is like the entire audience and you are just at a party together, sharing a good time. That is the best moment on stage.

Like you are a the host of a party and everything worked out well.
 
JonSR77 said:
Yes, I am former stand-up comedian (1990s). I hope the jokes are just funny and not at all offensive. That's the very best night on stage. Not when you are "killing," but when you take people out of their day and just lift up the room...and it is like the entire audience and you are just at a party together, sharing a good time. That is the best moment on stage.

Like you are a the host of a party and everything worked out well.
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Where have you performed? Did you make living doing comedy or did you work other jobs?
 
Mr. Ed said:
Where have you performed? Did you make living doing comedy or did you work other jobs?
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I performed, mostly at local places in Jersey and some in NYC. No, never made a living at comedy. Was offered to write comedy lines for a major Hollywood animated film in 2007, but was too sick to get that done. Paul Colby, from The Bitter End, liked my work.

I came close to a lot of breaks. Even had an opportunity to take lunch with Bud Friedman.

Show biz is a complicated and difficult road. I had a lot of health problems, even back then...so that really limited what I could do.

My old acting teacher played John Candy's sister in Uncle Buck. She worked the system very well, made a full time living of it. Enormously talented actually. And even she had big problems.

My family is related to Harry Ritz and The Ritz Brothers. My Dad said that at the family gatherings, they were just as crazy as they were on screen. So, apparently, the wacky is coded right in the DNA.
 
Homeschoolie said:
Just one of many possible examples: the Mafia goes to confession and asks for forgiveness for murdering their competing mafia group but then turns around and does it again. And again and again....
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Are the Mafia your example of good Christians? I'll copy your eye roll.

:rolleyes: Try JonSR77's Thomas Merton, instead. When I had Covid and the library was closed, I ran out of things to read, so I borrowed my son's copy of Merton's "The Seven Story Mountain." It was worth getting Covid to discover that book.
 
Della said:
Are the Mafia your example of good Christians? I'll copy your eye roll.

:rolleyes: Try JonSR77's Thomas Merton, instead. When I had Covid and the library was closed, I ran out of things to read, so I borrowed my son's copy of Merton's "The Seven Story Mountain." It was worth getting Covid to discover that book.
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absolutely wonderful, wonderful, inspiring book.

My wife works for a major Catholic University. You know, the media just loves, loves, loves all the scandals and controversy. The priest community I know..they are always doing endless, incredible charity projects, all over the world. They go into war zones in Africa to help distribute food, live in poverty to do so. Incredible people.

And sure, in any large institution, there is going to be some corruption, some crazy people, some horrible people. But that is the fringe. The vast, vast majority of the force of the Catholic Church is endless charity and good deeds.

My wife worked with Sister Rose Thering...who, from the 1950s on, worked to end racism and anti-Semitism in particular. Just wonderful people.

They have a sister school in China. During the early days of COVID, my wife was involved in getting that school to help bring endless PPE here, when the shortages were extreme. It was distributed to the local police agencies.
 
senior chef said:
Hard for me to believe in a God that allows innocent little children to be abused and does not protect them.. Forget about forgiveness. I'd much rather see some protection of little children. But the Bible does not talk about that. In fact, the Bible says, "Spare the rod. Spoil the child". Seems to me that the Bible not only supports abuse of children, it actually encourages it.
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That's one of over 600 rules in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament we learn that Jesus came to soften those rules and lead us to put love above them whenever there's a conflict.

What did Jesus say about children? "If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

​

 
I can't conclude what the gathering is about. The conversation is as old as time. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It can not be resolved by logic, or faith. When faith and logic become positions to argue absolute truth, they become useless. Yet, both are innate instincts within us all...and neither does any harm. But, I am a firm advocate of separation of Church and State.
 
Capt Lightning said:
I would assert that forgiving someone who does not repent, is simply letting them 'get away with it'.
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Thank you for stating the truth. I Agree Totally. That was what I also said in my post, but that part was totally ignored in favor of attacking the Mafia example. My statement must have hit a trigger button for some of the Christians.
Homeschoolie said:
I think that actual, very real, tangible change in behavior, actions and attitude is important. Not asking some spirit being for forgiveness.
Just asking forgiveness accomplishes absolutely nothing.
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While I have never had problems with substance abuse myself, I have met a lot of folks in AA and NA. Our arts group did a show for their alcohol-free cafe once.

I have to say that engaging in conversation with these people, who were following the twelve steps of AA, was very very refreshing. They definitely believed in the concept of forgiveness and making amends.

I guess, you know, they had a kind of code or something. Anyway, you just felt that they interacted with you based on principle, not just some whim of feeling in the moment.
 
From 2 Corinthians 7:10 "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."

Worldly sorrow would be sorrow for getting caught, or a sorrow issued forth as a bandaid for a bad situation. It goes nowhere.
Godly sorrow is sorrow for one's sinful state and a desire to turn things around (repent), not for some sort of personal gain. True repentence leads to salvation, resulting in being made a new creation in Christ.
 
Paco Dennis said:
I can't conclude what the gathering is about. The conversation is as old as time. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It can not be resolved by logic, or faith. When faith and logic become positions to argue absolute truth, they become useless. Yet, both are innate instincts within us all...and neither does any harm. But, I am a firm advocate of separation of Church and State.
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Aron Ra, in the video you posted, is a larger than life Bigot. The content of his message was lost in his delivery. I didn't watch much of the video because he talks over people...a characteristic as irritating to listen to as fingernails on a chalkboard.

People like him are not interested in a discussion....they're too self centered. I think the young woman was well equipped to speak but his aggression was an assault on her from his soapbox. I was totally impressed with her self-control.

But I would never have cast my pearls to that swine. I guess you know how I feel about Aron Ra ☺️
 

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