On Forgiveness

Even God does not forgive the unrepentant

Adam posts less frequently than I do but his pieces can be interesting. And by interesting, of course, I mean, upside down. I mean he is Australian…

In any case, it is one of life’s joys to be able to discuss things with a friend in terms of proper argument and correct philosophy, which has nothing to do with losers like Nietzsche and Schopenhauer and so on.

His most recent piece is on forgiveness and worth a read.

But I do not generally agree with him. I think Adam often makes statements that are too broad and generic, a left-over of the Protestant Anglo-Saxon vibe all English speakers (well, ok, pretend-English speakers) are unfortunately subjected to, which tends to reduce all thinking to overtones of binaries.

Adam quotes theLord’s prayer Our father, but I think he comes to the wrong conclusion about forgiveness.

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

That second part? It’s not there for no reason.

If the edict was to simply forgive everyone then it would say that: Forgive everyone for everything, always.

Well, not even God does that.

God does not forgive the unrepentant sinners.

Can a pedophile enter Heaven? Yes… IF he actually truly repents (and as far as I’m concerned that is purely between him and God and at best I can only help arrange the meeting by seeing to it the laws are quickly changed back to burning them at the stake). But absent that repentance, then no. They cannot.

There is a further corollary.

Those who trespass against others.

So let me categorise the levels of forgiveness or non-forgiveness.

Trespasses against you personally. Repentant or unrepentant. Most of these can be forgiven I think. It is certainly possible to forgive people who do this and do not repent for it. I know I have done so at least. I think in this regard, it may be the case that you should try to forgive these kind of things. It may not always be possible, but when it is not, I would guesstimate that the flaw is in us as fallible human beings, not doctrinally.

Trespass against others. Repentant. I think technically, these should be forgiven, but since we:

a) are not God so we cannot know for certain the heart of the guilty, and,

b) certain crimes require punishment regardless,

our forgiveness should be assumed, just as their repentance is assumed, but the full punishment for the transgression must be paid for in whatever way is appropriate, be it punishment for a crime, a simple apology, etc. etc. and willingly, —eagerly, so, even— by the perpetrator. In other words, the transgressor acts and behaves as if he repented and we treat him as if he has. But this is all external forum stuff. Only God really knows if they truly repent, but in any case, as Catholics, we should not hold hatred in our heart for such people, though, of course, caution is permitted. Once again, we can see this reflected in the repentant heretic. A heretic clergyman may repent and it will be accepted, but he will never agin hold authority over anyone.

Trespass against others. Unrepentant. This is the category I feel we theologically cannot forgive. It is absolutely logical and of course, in keeping with Church doctrine. We do not allow heretics to carry on as if they are not heretics, after all. In fact it is our duty to keep them away from decent people and deprive them of all natural human kindness. The logic is the same for unrepentant trespassers. Justice demands they remain unforgiven until they make amends.

So, once again, it is important that as a Catholic, you really need to exercise that kilo or so of soft grey matter in your skull. God put it there for a reason, and it’s not to imitate a warm bowl of tapioca. It’s to figure things out logically, and sensibly, with reason and directed by the principles of divine law, which in human terms is really perhaps best exemplified in Roman Law, which differs vastly from the Anglo-Saxon twists and abominations that have done to it.

Principle first, then details modify the effect of the law on the transgressor. And past cases have zero impact on current ones.

So, sure, say a Hail Mary over the corpses of your enemies, but don’t worry about being kind to them while they live and continue to be unrepentant. And in closing, I am sure the Crusaders did pray Adam, for forgiveness of their sins, no doubt, and forgiveness of the people who trespassed against them personally, I am sure, but also for victory over the unrepentant pagans, and Satan-inspired heathens they fought against.