forgiveness | Doubting Believer

by revruss December 22, 2021

Faith Practices

Forgiveness vs Reconciliation (they’re not the same thing)

Christmas means celebrating, but also navigating difficult family relationships. Sometimes, our desire to be "good Christians" may cause us to handle these situations in less-than-healthy ways. To that end, I wanted to clarify the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hntFtBq3bUY If you will be navigating difficult relationships this Christmas, take radically good care of yourself. A few more things to remember: Self-care is not selfish.Other people's happiness is not your ...

by revruss August 25, 2021

Faith Practices

How Much Do You Know About Forgiveness?

Many moons ago, Don Henley sang about how the heart of the matter is forgiveness. He's not wrong, but just how much do you know about it? How'd you do? If you didn't get them all right, take some time to consider what you believe about forgiveness. Your health and well-being depend on it. Like so many things that Jesus tells us to do, it's not for his own good, ...

by revruss January 27, 2018

Unsolicited Opinions

Forgiveness is not a Mulligan

Over the last few days, I've been marinating in my own anger (something I really don't like doing and generally manage to avoid) over the statement Tony Perkins, head of the evangelical Family Research Council, made in response to the allegations that Trump paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 for her silence over their alleged affair. Perkins asserts that President Trump gets a "mulligan" for his behavior. Other prominent evangelicals claim ...

Bible Boot Camp , Faith Practices

Three Stages of Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-35 When I was about eight years old, I told my mother that I would not be attending Sunday School anymore. I said they just told the same stories over and over again, and that I had heard them all. Needless to say, I did not get out of Sunday School. This is one of those stories that seems to come up over and over again in the Bible...at least the ...

by revruss July 12, 2017

Pop Culture

The Theology of Kei$ha #thingsyoudidn’tthinkwereathing

I've was never a huge Kei$ha fan when she was at her peak. First of all, there's that dollar sign in her name (how substantive can you be when money is literally part of your name?). Then, there are the songs that made her famous, which celebrate and champion drunken debauchery. One night of drinking too much and dancing too hard and staying out too late can be celebratory and ...