Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Date: February 15, 2019 04:31PM
i am sorry and so sorry that i disagree with most of the posts regarding forgiveness. i fail to see where in the scriptures that one forgiving another is prefaced on the transgressor confessing to their fault and taking aims to right their wrong. the onus does not lie with the one to be forgiven but rather the forgiver, completely irrespective of the perpetator's need/desire to be forgiven.
i do not believe in divine justice, i do believe in temporal justice. i used to believe in turning the other cheek; no longer do i do because, essentially, there will always be predators and i'd be a complete fool to turn a cheek to a predator. would i forgive hargrave? absolutely not, apart from his confessing his evils and divesting all his financial gains in some whatever fashion to those whom he has robbed, not only of $ but of soul, spirit and trust. isn't forgiveness somewhat conceptual rather than practical? and from what i have been reading from recent posts is that many or most suggest the practical application of forgiveness is based on the perpetrator's acknowledgement of wrong-doings as opposed to a carte blanche you are forgiven for all, a get out of jail free pass.
seems to me, given the present givens, gary hargrave will walk away, eventually, completely free from any essence of accountability, whether material or ethereal. rick holbrook never will need face the music that should be playing. they are free, cabambo. so where does that leave the rest of you?
well frankly, you are stuck, unlike myself. i wish that he meet his due in a temporal system of justice, which seems unlikely, not in some heavenly tribunal . methinks, most of you, the merry of the merries (i.e., christian adherents) are stuck with the unpleasant demands of your faith to forgive when it is seemingly not forgiveable, to let god be god, that vengeance is god's, that when hargrave walks past peter to face his eternal judgement and god is pondering (doesn't take long in hargrave's case) "what do i do with this, another frigging asshole who deceived my people for his own gain, dumped his wonderful wife and beautiful children in exchange for some shit pussy" (yes,god can be, at times, a potty-mouth) "and this fucker is supposed to be representing ME, GOD, what the goddamed fuck is going on" (yes, on occasion god has been known to have anger issues and also get a bit pissy and also uses his name in vain on occasion). so god is looking over gary's file and abuptly stops and then notes "i let this shit pussy marilyn get past the pearly gates, jesus (sorry, son), well shithiolah, i failed in my due diligence, must of been doing sudoku. well i know i've immense responsibilities but i too do need some downtime. so where was i, where were we, court recorder where are you? goddamnit (pardon myself). please court reporter stay away from that journalist, he's only 2 agendas, to get in your pants and into my mind. (son, where is my ritalin?). mr. hargrave, due to your trangresions levied against my faithful i hereby sentence you to hell or hades or the underworld" (god embraces diversity), but before that i am not too sure i am "comfortable" with standard procedure. i know, i know, sort of arbitrary gary but frankly there is something about you that really pisses me off. and i had this problem with job a long time ago but we got the celestial union to negotiate, and as you and many others know, we got things worked out. well gary, sorry your moral compass is too short of my good, moral pal job. i am sort of sorry but not really, so before i send you to the fire and brimestone environs, the universe (my boss) has allowed me 2 passes for every 12 million years to do what i wish. i must be an egoist, but i'm cutting loose with my first pass. mr. hargrave, before my sending you to perdition, which is my only choice based on similar judgements passed rendered, there is something about you that really pisses me off (noted again, my therapist, aalagogala has brought to my attention some of my anger issues, e.g., the noah issue). frankly, i despise how you have used multiples of people, i despise your pursuit of earthly riches while disguised in my service and mostly i despise how you subjugated those whom yearned for a greater truth, vastly beyond the temporal realities, the temporal truths, the temporal justice for the divine. you piece of shit, mr. hargrave, you cloaked yourself in my robes and made a mockery of my divinity (ok others, i'm really working on my ego trip, give me a few months/years). so hargrave, before i send you to the land of nashing teeth and eternal fire, which i usually do with your like, i gotta throw some spice into the mix; after all, i am god and sort of wrestle with anger issues, especially when my name and reputation is put on the line. geez, where was i? attention deficit you challenge, well screw you, i've much on the plate. you worry about your finances and the politics. oops, the hargrave thing. do i let hargrave off just because he is the typical asshole. can't do that, he is the atypical asshole, sort of (others have previously done the same). so before i send him to hell and all its attendant jollies i will employ these jollies- i will stick firecrackers in his ears lighted with a bunsen burner, i will stuff 9 cherrybombs in a watermelon up his ass and turn his new trophy wife into a nefertari mummy".
that's my sense about forgiveness but then i am not a christian, i do not turn the other cheek nor do i accept forgiveness from perpetrators absent of full restitution. life is so full of puzzles