Forgiveness

The Means to Salvation

Jesus taught that all of us hold within us the power
of Forgiveness. He also taught that as we learn to Forgive
and extend that gift to our brothers, we give ourselves
the same gift that he gave to us.

But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. Matthew 9:6-8

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me,and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:21-22

Jesus taught that the Kingdom of Heaven
lies within. He also said that he was in the Father,
and that the Father was in him.

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come,he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:20-21

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 4:17

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
John 14:10-11

He taught us that Christ dwells within us.
We are not separate from God or Christ.
We are not separate from each other.
Such is the law of Love.

And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. John 17:11

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 14:18-21

The Way to Eternal Peace, Happiness and Joy is the Way to
the Kingdom of Heaven within.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments,and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. John 15:10-11

Jesus spoke to us of the beam in our eye the blocks our vision and
distorts our view. Another word for this block is 'judgment'.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Matthew 7:1-6

As we judge others, we are judged. Jesus came not to judge
the world, but to teach Forgiveness. He did this only
by being a demonstration of perfect Love.

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary,
there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.Luke 23:33-34

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down,and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Luke 6:37-38

He did not ask us to profess in his name by word.
He asked us to be a demonstration of the Love of Christ.
Only this is a true Witness.

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose,the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Luke 6:47-49

Jesus knows the Truth about You.

You are the light of the world...

When you give your heart and mind to God for Christ,
you will also know the Truth about yourself
and about your brother.

Jesus taught that the highest commandment is that we give to God the loyalty of our minds. The commandment Jesus taught was to Love each other with the Love of Christ. This is to obey the first commandment perfectly.No one can serve two masters. Love and judgment cannot exist together.

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this,Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.John 13:34

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Matthew 6:24

The Way out of judgment, the Way to Heaven is through Forgiveness.

...forgive, and ye shall be forgiven...

Jesus taught not that sin deserved punishment, or that punishment is justified. He taught us to look beyond our limited thinking, to go beyond what the body's eyes see... to see with the eyes of Christ. 'Let thine eye be single' means to see without judgment.

The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light;but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Luke 11:34

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.But I say unto you,Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good,and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48

Only Forgiveness, the giving up of all judgment, allows
us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

What is forgiveness?

Forgiveness is not pity, which but seeks to pardon what it thinks to be the truth. Good cannot be returned for evil, for forgiveness does not first establish sin and then forgive it. Who can say and mean, "My brother, you have injured me, and yet, because I am the better of the two, I pardon you my hurt". His pardon and your hurt cannot exist together. One denies the other and must make it false. This twisted view of what forgiveness means is easily corrected, when you can accept the fact that pardon is not asked for what is true. It must be limited to what is false. It is irrelevant to everything except misperceptions.. Truth is God's creation, and to pardon that is meaningless. All truth belongs to Him, reflects His laws and radiates His Love. Does this need pardon? How can you forgive the sinless and eternally benign?

To forgive is merely to remember only the loving thoughts you gave in the past, and those that were given you. All the rest must be forgotten. Forgiveness is a selective remembering, based not on your selection. For the greivances you would make immortal are "enemies" of reality. Be willing to forgive the Son of God for what he did not do. The greivances are the witnesses you bring with you to demonstrate he did what he did not. Because you bring them, you will hear them. Those who believe in them do not understand the purpose that they serve or how they came to mind at all. They represent the evil that you think was done to you. You keep them only to exchange pain for itself, hoping that their witness will enable you to think guiltily of another and not harm yourself, but this cannot be.

Forgiveness is the healing of the perception of separation from God and from Christ. Correct perception of your brother is necessary, because God's creations have chosen to see themselves as separate. What God creates has no separate parts and is not divisible. You were created as Spirit by your loving Creator. Spirit knows God completely, as God knows his own creation. That is its miraculous power. The fact that each one has this power to know God completely is a condition entirely alien to the world's thinking. The world believes that if anyone has everything, there is nothing left. But God's miracles are as total as His Thoughts because they are His Thoughts.

What is forgiveness but a willingness that truth be true? What can remain unhealed and broken from God's Love, which holds all things within Itself? There is no sin. And every miracle is possible the instant that you, the Son of God, perceive your wishes and the Will of God are one. In the face of your fear of forgiveness, which the Holy Spirit perceives as clearly as He knows forgiveness is release, He will teach you to remember that forgiveness is not loss, but your salvation. And that in complete forgiveness, in which you recognize that there is nothing to forgive, you are absolved completely. The unforgiving mind must learn through your forgiveness that it has been saved from hell. And as you teach salvation, you will learn. Yet all your teaching and your learning will be not of you, but of the Teacher Who was given you to show the way to you.

Do nothing, then, and let forgiveness show you what to do, through Him Who is your Guide, your Savior and Protector, strong in hope, and certain of your ultimate success. He has forgiven you already, for such is His function, given Him by God. Now must you share His function, and forgive whom He has saved, whose sinlessness He sees, and whom He honors as the Son of God.

What is judgment?

It is any thought that God's creation can be anything but innocent and whole. It is any thought that sense can be made of a world of chaos, fear, death and sickness. It is believing that you can create yourself as you wish to be, instead of how God created you. It is the belief that you can be effected by anything outside of your own Holy Mind.

When you feel tired, it is because you have judged yourself as capable of being tired. When you laugh at someone, it is because you have judged him as unworthy. When you laugh at yourself you must laugh at others, if only because you cannot tolerate the idea of being more unworthy than they are. Judgment is tiring because it is essentially disheartening. You are not really capable of being tired, but you are very capable of wearying yourself. The strain of constant judgment is virtually intolerable. It is curious that an ability so debilitating would be so deeply cherished. Yet if you wish to be the author of reality, you will insist on holding on to judgment. You will also regard judgment with fear, believing that it will someday be used against you. This belief can exist only to the extent that you believe in the efficacy of judgment as a weapon of defense for your own authority.

Remember how many times you thought you knew all the "facts" you needed for judgment, and how wrong you were? Is there anyone who has not had this experience? Would you know how many times you merely thought you were right, without ever realizing you were wrong? Why would you choose such an arbitrary basis for decision-making? Wisdom is not judgment; it is the relinquishment of judgment. Make then but one more judgment. It is this: There is Someone with you Whose judgment is perfect. He does know all the facts; past, present and to come. He does know all the effects of His judgment on everyone and everything involved in any way. And He is wholly fair to everyone, for there is no distortion in His perception.

What about the last judgment?

The Last Judgment is generally thought of as a procedure undertaken by God. Actually it will be undertaken by all our brothers with Jesus' help. It is a final healing rather than a meting out of punishment, however much you may think that punishment is deserved. Punishment is a concept totally opposed to right-mindedness [Love], and the aim of the Last Judgment is to restore right-mindedness to you. The Last Judgment might be called a process of right evaluation. It simply means that everyone will finally come to understand what is worthy [what has value] and what is not.

Salvation is God's justice. It restores to your awareness the wholeness of the fragments you perceive as broken off and separate. And it is this that overcomes the fear of death. For separate fragments must decay and die, but wholeness is immortal. It remains forever and forever like its Creator, being one with Him. God's Judgment is His justice, a Judgment wholly lacking in condemnation; an evaluation based entirely on love. It is you who have projected your own injustice, giving God the lens of warped perception through which you look. Now it belongs to Him and not to you. You are afraid of Him, and do not understand that you fear Christ within your eternal self.

No one can escape God's final judgment. Who could flee forever from the truth. But the final judgment will not come until it is no longer associated with fear. One day each one will welcome it, and on that very day it will be given him. He will hear his sinlessness proclaimed around and around the world, setting it free as God's final judgment on him is received. This is the judgment in which salvation lies. This is the judgment that will set him free. This is the judgment in which all things are freed with him. Time pauses as eternity comes near, and silence lies across the world that everyone may hear this Judgment of the Son of God: Holy are you, eternal, free and whole, at peace forever in the Heart of God.

How can we learn to forgive, as Jesus taught?

True forgiveness arises from a mind that is ready for it, through a sense of true humility. In order to be ready for forgiveness you must accept your dark thoughts and give them over to the Holy Spirit as soon as they come into your awareness. This is a continuous prayr, that there be light instead of darkness. The escape from dark thoughts involves two steps: First, the acknowledgment that your private thoughts cannot be hidden. This step usually entails fear. This step entails fear because you are afraid these thoughts indicate that you are deserving of punishment. The second step is to acknowledgment that there are no private thoughts that you want to hide even if you could. The latter brings escape from fear. When you have become willing to hide nothing, you will not only be willing to enter into communion but will also understand true forgiveness. To learn forgiveness will require a maturity of desire and thought. You must be willing to admit that you have chosen wrongly if you value your justification for anger over extending the Peace of God. This you may not want to accept; you are the one who suffers most.

Does everyone deserve forgiveness?

You deserve forgiveness. True forgiveness sees that there is no difference between you and your brother. What you believe about his worth, you believe about yourself. It would be arrogant to believe that your judgment could be more true than that of God's. God has already given his final Judgment over his creation. What God creates remains as he created it for all eternity. If you have not heard God's proclamation of the innocence and perfection of his creation, you have indeed been listening to other voices. Jesus taught that what you give, you receive. If you believe that you are worthy of forgiveness, then you would offer that to yourself by offering it to the world you see. You need only to forgive yourself for believing wrongly about what you are.

What does it mean to be 'born again'?

Rebirth is a rebirth of the mind; the renewing of your mind when you take on the vision of the Holy Spirit will make all things new. The dead return to life. The blind regain their vision. Flesh is born of flesh, but Spirit is born of Spirit. God creates only like himself and that is how he created you. Being born again may also be thought of as remembering this very fact. You think that you can create yourself, but God created you and this has never changed. What he creates is eternal invulnerable and unchangeable. The world and all things in it and of it will all pass away, but what God creates is beyond space or time. Being born again into the Spirit, you will remember that your creation is your salvation.

To be born again is to let the past go, and look without condemnation upon the present. Time can release as well as imprison. The miracle of forgiveness enables you to see your brother without his past, and so perceive him as born again. His errors are all past, and by perceiving him without them you are releasing him. Judgment and condemnation are behind you, and unless you bring them with you, you will see that you are free of them. Look lovingly upon the present, for it holds the only things that are forever true. The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Does judgment have some value?

Judgment, like other devices by which guilt is maintained, is totally misunderstood by the world. It is actually confused with wisdom, and substitutes for truth. As the world uses the term, an individual is capable of "good" and "bad" judgment, and his education aims at strengthening the former and minimizing the latter. There is, however, considerable confusion about what these categories mean. What is "good" judgment to one is "bad" judgment to another. Further, even the same person classifies the same action as showing "good" judgment at one time and "bad" judgment at another time. Nor can any consistent criteria for determining what these categories are be really taught. At any time the student may disagree with what his would-be teacher says about them, and the teacher himself may well be inconsistent in what he believes. "Good" judgment, in these terms, does not mean anything. No more does "bad". Your mind, when given to the Holy Spirit's care, can unite with you in shining away fear, releasing the strength of God into everything you think and do. Do not settle for anything less than this, and refuse to accept anything but this as your goal. Watch your mind carefully for any beliefs that hinder its accomplishment, and step away from them. Judge how well you have done this by your own feelings, for this is the one right use of judgment.

What does forgiveness have to do with eternity or Heaven?

Nothing, but at the same time, everything. Nothing can effect heaven or eternity. Nothing that God creates can ever change, be changed or fade away. Heaven is beyond all things that are temporal, that have a beginning and an end. God is the Alpha and the Omega as are all things that he creates. What he created has been with him and always will be. As Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.“ Time cannot be put on God or his creation, for God knows only of eternity. What God creates is created whole, and can not be measured in increments or divided into fragments. Forgiveness is the key to recognizing that which is timeless. Forgiveness is a clearing of the mind, a renewing and a rebirth that makes all things new. Heaven and eternity are beyond time and space, as is the mind that is in you which was created by God. All thoughts that are not of him is that which needs forgiveness. You have never felt peaceful and angry together, and you have never been at ease while condemning. A peaceful state cannot coexist with one that would deny it altogether. Whenever you are tempted to undertake a useless journey that would lead away from light, remember what you really want, and say: The Holy Spirit leads me unto Christ, and where else would I go? What need have I but to awake in Him?

For He says:
"In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you."
( Corinthians 6:2 )

Now is the time of salvation, for now is the release from the endless stretches of time. Reach out to all your brothers, and touch them with the touch of Christ. Your connection with them is a timeless union, unbroken because it is wholly shared. In your forgiveness is God's guiltless Son risen to the light. There is no darkness in him anywhere, for he is whole. You may seem to delude yourself with fearful imaginings, but this need not be. Call all your brothers to witness to your wholeness, see and forgive what never was. God is calling you to join with him Now. Your voice has a part in the song of forgiveness, the hymn of Joy and thanksgiving for the perfection of your eternal self. Joy is the experience of a mind accepting it’s unified purpose, and a unified purpose is only of God. When your forgive yourself or your brother for what did not happen your awareness is unified in God. Believe you can interfere with His purpose, and you need salvation. You have condemned yourself, but condemnation is not of God. Therefore it is not true. No more are any of its seeming results. When you see a brother as guilty, you are condemning him because you have condemned yourself. Yet if all condemnation is unreal, and it must be unreal since it is fear, then it can have no results. The Holy Spirit will teach you how to see yourself without condemnation, by learning how to look on everything without it. Condemnation will then not be real to you, and all your errors will be forgiven.

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