forgiveness and mercy

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 2: How can a just God not revoke gifts and callings of bad people—yet care for his own reputation?

Ian Johnson July 11, 2023 3 Comments

Linked text to accompany the second in a series of videos about God’s gifts and callings for people, which he sometimes gives to notorious evildoers who clearly did not earn them. How can this be fair or just? It has to do with his plan for the whole cosmos.

Eternity, forgiveness and mercy, God is light, God is Love, God was never our enemy, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, Merit, patience, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom of the Heavens, The Problem of Evil, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity, To see God's glory

callings, fair, fairness, gifts, God's justice, justice, merit, notorious wrongdoers

Our Father–The One in the Heavens: God with Us in the Lord’s Prayer

Ian Johnson January 10, 2023 2 Comments

Recognition of the heavens all around us and of the imperatives used in the Lord Prayer, Jesus’ model for our prayers, transforms it into a very radical and dangerous prayer. In it, we are actually commanding the immediate manifestation of God’s increasing rule in our present existence and on Earth.

Desire to have our own way, Forgive as we forgive, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's sovereignty, Immanence, In prayer, Omnipresence, Promises, Rejecting God, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, Sin, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom is all around us, The Kingdom of the Heavens, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

Disciples' Prayer, God is all around us, heaven, Immanence, immanent, Kingdom of the heavens, Lord's Prayer, omnipresent, Our Father, present life, the heavens

The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit

Ian Johnson December 8, 2022 3 Comments

When Jesus says that he has chosen us to bear fruit that will last, the fruit he has in mind is the fruit of the Spirit–that is, the work the Holy Spirit does within us as we yield to him to make us like Christ. It is not our work, our “fruits,” at all–it is all his work.

Changed treatment of each other, Complex unity, Compulsory Christianity, Emotions, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Human Rationality, patience, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, To be in his image, To bear fruit, To live in unity

bearing fruit, Fruit of the Spirit, fruitbearing, God's work, Holy Spirit

Repentance Series Index

Ian Johnson October 23, 2022 0 Comments

An index to the series of blog articles on the subject of repentance.

An abuse of God's image, Confession of Sin, Consequences, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, forgiveness and mercy, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, patience, refusal to repent, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Repentance, self-serving worship, Sin, Sins versus sin, The Problem of Evil, To live in unity, What is sin?

forgiveness, rebellion, repent, repentance, sin, sins, unforgiveness

Anger

Ian Johnson October 12, 2022 0 Comments

I write this post to myself. I was once a very angry man. But I believed I now had anger under control. More recently, I’m not so sure. Manipulative people and manipulative institutions both deliberately goad the anger of those they want to control–anger is a great motivator. The media, celebrities, politicians, organizations and advertisers do the same thing. Other people, though, habitually but unconsciously manipulate by continually rehearsing their angry reveries for others to hear, wishing either to bring their hearers into their angry world or to intimidate by fear of what they might do in anger. And I am weak to all of these ploys. So I present the following study, which consists only of quotations from Scripture about human anger, its causes and antidote.

Changed treatment of each other, Conversation with others, Desire to have our own way, Divisions in the Church, Emotions, Forgive as we forgive, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Free will, God is Love, God's purpose for us, His Children, Human Rationality, Injustice and Lawsuits, Language and Speech, patience, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity

anger, angry, arguments, bitterness, contention, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, discord, gossip, lies, Love, lying, mercy, peace, reconcile, reconciliation, root of bitterness, strife, temper, tongue, whispering, wrath

Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6

Ian Johnson September 10, 2022 3 Comments

Hebrews 6:1-6 has nothing to do with losing our salvation through sinful acts. Instead, it teaches that we must repent from our rebellion and from our own dead works as a way of becoming acceptable to God. Further, when we do sometimes fall back into relying on our own works, we cannot repent of this in our own power. God must provide both the initiative and the power.

Confession and Repentance, forgiveness and mercy, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Losing salvation, Pride in accomplishments as our own, refusal to repent, Repentance, Repentance versus Remorse, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Salvation, self-serving worship, Sin, Sins versus sin, What is sin?

character flaws, dead works, failure, faith, falling away, God's initiative, losing salvation, not of faith, our works, repentance, sin, sins, weakness, works

Godly sorrow and repentance which leads to salvation, 2 Corinthians 7:8-10

Ian Johnson March 27, 2022 2 Comments

In Corinth, Godly sorrow over a letter Paul regretted writing led the members of the church to a zeal to put away their sins which is the definition of repentance. After that repentance, they were told to accept back among themselves even those who had lapsed into the “worst” sins, but had repented.

A God who Speaks, Changed treatment of each other, Consequences, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, judgment, Repentance, Repentance in community, Repentance versus Remorse, Restoration of God's Image, Sin, Through the church, Victory

acceptance, Corinthians, deliverance, godly sorrow, Grief, immorality, Paul, reconciliation, regret, remorse, repent, repentance, salvation, sin, sinner

Self-righteousness, idolatry of self, repentance and an unrepentant heart in Romans 2

Ian Johnson March 20, 2022 2 Comments

Romans 2:4-5 is a warning aimed not at the wicked world, but at the self-righteous–even believers–who harshly judge others while forgetting that it was the kindness of God that led them to repentance.

A God who Speaks, Consequences, Forgetting God, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's Other Attributes, idolatry, judgment, patience, refusal to repent, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Repentance, reprobation, Sin, through his creation, Truth and Falsehood, What is sin?

denying God, God, hypocrisy, hypocrite, indignation, kindness, knowing God, patience, refusing to know God, repent, repentance, self-righteous, self-righteousness, unrepentant, wrath

Repentance and Earthly Consequences: the Consequences of David’s Sins–including Jesus

Ian Johnson December 22, 2021 2 Comments

Though God forgave David his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, this sin had a traceable chain of earthly consequences which extends to the present and which includes the death of Christ on the cross.

Consequences, Discipline or Correction, forgiveness and mercy, God Never Stopped Speaking, God's sovereignty, Prophecy, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Repentance, Repentance versus Remorse, Sin, The Problem of Evil, Through his enemies, Trusting sight over God's words

Absalom, Adonijah, Amnon, Asa, Bathsheba, consequences, consequences of sins, cross, forgiveness, Israel, Jeconiah, Jehoiachin, Jeroboam, Jesus, Josiah, Judah, King David, Nathan, Rehoboam, sin, Solomon, Uriah

God Rejected King Saul, But Declared King David a Man After His Own Heart. Didn’t God Get this Backwards?

Ian Johnson November 14, 2021 7 Comments

God rejected King Saul, a bungler who made a few mistakes trying to do God’s will, his own way. But he accepted King David, a rapist and murderer, forgave him two unforgivable sins, promised him an eternal kingdom, called him a man after his own heart–and put him in Jesus’ lineage! Didn’t God get this backwards? NO!!

Confession and Repentance, Desire to have our own way, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's rationality, Leaving Our First Love, Peril of Seeking Power, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Repentance, Repentance versus Remorse, Sin, Sins versus sin, Social control and statecraft, The Problem of Evil, Trusting sight over God's words, What is sin?

after my own heart, forgive, forgiveness, King David, King Saul, man after God's own heart, rejection, remorse, repent, repentance, sin, sin vs sins, sins, unforgiveable

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 2: How can a just God not revoke gifts and callings of bad people—yet care for his own reputation?

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Our Father–The One in the Heavens: God with Us in the Lord’s Prayer

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The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit

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Repentance Series Index

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Anger

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Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6

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Godly sorrow and repentance which leads to salvation, 2 Corinthians 7:8-10

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Self-righteousness, idolatry of self, repentance and an unrepentant heart in Romans 2

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Repentance and Earthly Consequences: the Consequences of David’s Sins–including Jesus

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God Rejected King Saul, But Declared King David a Man After His Own Heart. Didn’t God Get this Backwards?

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