First… forgiveness means not seven times, but seventy-seven times—that’s what Jesus said. If forgiveness is the starting point, maybe there’s still something worth holding onto. Still… it’s hard not to want justice too. Love without accountability feels incomplete. Maybe real healing isn’t about choosing one over the other—but learning how to hold both in tension: forgiveness that frees us, and justice that honors what was broken.
Yes, "seventy times seven" implies unconditional as I referred to it. And unconditional love, agapé, always sees the true value in everyone and that is always worth hanging on to.
So unconditional forgiveness is given in the hope that the person will be accountable, but we shouldn’t use justice as a condition to give it.
The tension lies between their choice to accept unconditional forgiveness and to take the journey to break any addiction that would cause them to sin again. For accepting unconditional forgiveness means they don’t want to do it again, but without doing the work to break addiction, their acceptance falls short.
Jesus said nothing about honoring what was lost with justice. Unconditional love is given so the person can learn to give it back. The courts are in place for justice to protect society but often fall short of working from righteous judgment, as Jesus told us to use. For righteous judgment, please see "How to Forgive a Murderer."
I hope you do. Agape combines the purity of love in the heart and clarity of wisdom in the mind. This is the mind of the heart working as one, something we easily lose touch with without knowledge.
Interesting…
First… forgiveness means not seven times, but seventy-seven times—that’s what Jesus said. If forgiveness is the starting point, maybe there’s still something worth holding onto. Still… it’s hard not to want justice too. Love without accountability feels incomplete. Maybe real healing isn’t about choosing one over the other—but learning how to hold both in tension: forgiveness that frees us, and justice that honors what was broken.
Yes, "seventy times seven" implies unconditional as I referred to it. And unconditional love, agapé, always sees the true value in everyone and that is always worth hanging on to.
So unconditional forgiveness is given in the hope that the person will be accountable, but we shouldn’t use justice as a condition to give it.
The tension lies between their choice to accept unconditional forgiveness and to take the journey to break any addiction that would cause them to sin again. For accepting unconditional forgiveness means they don’t want to do it again, but without doing the work to break addiction, their acceptance falls short.
Jesus said nothing about honoring what was lost with justice. Unconditional love is given so the person can learn to give it back. The courts are in place for justice to protect society but often fall short of working from righteous judgment, as Jesus told us to use. For righteous judgment, please see "How to Forgive a Murderer."
https://georgeallenbooks.substack.com/p/how-to-forgive-a-murderer?r=4pmgma
Quite a hard read. Got to get my head around a few things. Agape love is unconditional. All consuming. I will come back to this.
I hope you do. Agape combines the purity of love in the heart and clarity of wisdom in the mind. This is the mind of the heart working as one, something we easily lose touch with without knowledge.