Jeremiah 3:15-17 - The blog of pastor.ctj

A letter to a friend who was in some distress a couple of years ago, unable to forgive themselves. How many of us find ourselves in that situation at some point in life... Hey Xxxx, just so you know from the outset, it’s 2 am, and I am writing with my Pastor hat on (figurative), and a nice glass of Shiraz (actual)… ☺ According to Wikipedia: Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, and/or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as: ' To grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offence or debt'. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives including forgiving themselves , in terms of the person forgiven and/or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In some contexts, forgiveness may be granted without any expectation o...

 I was asked by a sister why I am biased towards so-called 'Calvinism': I grew up in the United Methodist Church, stayed there until I was 23 and then spent 17 years in a non-denominational quasi-charismatic Evangelical church. I then wandered a bit before settling in at what was at the beginning (at least in name) a teen pregnancy program. It was there that I received the remainder of my pre-Pastoral preparatory training. A dear friend & brother in Christ introduced me to Reformed Theology,  a.k.a. the Doctrines of Grace,  a.k.a. Calvinism in 2007, shortly before we were to start the Fellowship. It completely renovated my thinking, changed my view of God to the Biblical one and in the process radically changed my life. Hence my bias. ... In retrospect I was ready then, ripe as it were for the introduction to Reformed Theology, because having lived through the death of my Son in 2001, and the resultant pain and struggle with my faith and practice, I had foun...