Forgiveness...what?

The problem with forgiveness is that people want it to be easy. If it's not easy they want nothing to do with it. Unfortunately forgiveness is never easy. Have you tried it? Then you know what I mean.

This is not the only problem we face with forgiveness though. We also have the issue of knowing what forgiveness is and what it's for. You think you know? I am here to tell you that you do not. In fact, I am here to tell the world that not only do we not know what forgiveness is, what it is for and just how difficult it is. We have totally lost forgiveness and replaced it with something else. Something that is truly NOT forgiveness. If you doubt me then check this out...

Forgiveness predates every single person living on the planet right now. You didn't invent it or discover it or evolve into it. It is an ancient idea that goes back in human history many many thousands of years. Yes that's what I said. THOUSANDS of years. So let's get away from the idea that you or I or any other "expert" who wrote a book or went to some very expensive and reputable learning institution somehow created the new improved version of forgiveness. Because that just is not true. In fact the exact opposite may be true. Those expert people may actually have damaged and mutilated forgiveness into something it was never intended for. All the while believing they would win the Nobel prize for doing it. Okay, I am sure it is at this point I need to say... I am not against experts or education. Quite the opposite. We need to learn and understand. However we need to be careful what conclusions we draw under the force of public pressure and a modern culture looking for NEW answers to old questions.

So we are not the creators of forgiveness. The origin of forgiveness in the history of our world goes back to a time when man was wrestling with the BIG questions of life. He wanted to know what the sparkly things were in the sky at night and if they would ever fall down on him. He marveled at the rain, the wind, fire, nature, woman, love, fear, death... It was near the beginning. Man looked to the heavens and found God or gods depending on your particular paradigm. What was discovered was man believed that God was not exactly pleased with what was going on down here. Long story short (and it is a fascinating story by the way) it was determined that in order for things to be made right between man and his God there would need to be a sacrifice. That's right, I said sacrifice. Something was gonna have to die! What happened then you ask? Well an expert would take the animal (we won't talk about the God's who required human sacrifice here) butcher it properly and offer a sort of bar-b-q sacrifice to God. Why would we do this you ask? to have forgiveness of course. Man believed that when the sacrifice was made that all of the "bad" or "wrong" things which had been done could be placed on the sacrifice. Then once the sacrifice was killed and offered to God those wrongs were gone... forgiven. What man really wanted was to be in a good relationship with his God who he believed ruled over everything. Really what it came down to was man finding a way to have reconciliation with his God. That when he had broken trust with God there was a way to do something that could make it right. That could grant man forgiveness for what he had done and bring reconciliation between the two; God and man.

Now I realize some people at this point would like to stop talking so much about God. You may have some idea about God that will not agree with the premise of this little story. Sorry about that. I am not particularly fond of stories about slavery either but I still acknowledge them as history. What I am telling you here is not religion as much as it is history. Even though told very loosely which I am sure will get me trouble with someone. We are going for concept here people and not necessarily empirical fact and detail. So are you still with me... ?  

What I hope you understand was that this concept was of utmost importance at one time in the mind of man. There were festivals and celebrations leading up to the time of sacrifice in man's history. It was much more central to who were as humans than it is now. Being right with the God of the universe had a very strong appeal to most everyone. People wanted forgiveness and people wanted reconciliation. Forgiveness is for reconciliation. That is why it exists. I know what you are thinking... that sounds hard. Damn right it sounds hard. In fact without the sacrifice part it was impossible. IMPOSSIBLE. Got it!?
So let me ask you. when you think about forgiveness today does the thought of 'sacrifice' and 'difficult but essential' even enter into your mind? Probably not. Do you wanna know why? Well I am going to have to save that for another blog post. Suffice it to say. We want it easy and we want it now and we want it with zero confrontation and if possible without having to speak to another human to get it.

You know what? I have an idea. I am going to set up an app. It will be called "Forgiveness 123" what you do is type in your 1. wrongdoing 2. your apology and 3. your request for forgiveness. Then you will get a reply text that says. "You are forgiven and everything is going to be just fine... have a nice day - sincerely the Universe or God or Jambi or Your Inner Self or the Light of Life" This way you can get forgiveness from whoever or whatever you think you need forgiveness from without even actually having to speak to the person who you hurt or wronged...would you like that... I bet you would. Hmmmm... I wonder if that would actually work? Well, stay tuned. I have a lot more to say about forgiveness and how we have completely lost it.


-MickGee