Ano ang ibig sabihin ng humingi ng tawad sa Panginoon?

Lagi ba Niya tayong pinapatawad? Awtomatiko ba Niya tayong pinapatawad? Kung ginagawa Niya, bakit nagtatanong? At, talaga, ano ang ibig sabihin ng pagpapatawad Niya?

Tingnan natin kung ano ang sinasabi ng Bibliya tungkol dito.

Ang isang bagay ay sinabihan tayo na humingi ng kapatawaran sa Panginoon. Narito ang dalawang halimbawa ng mga sipi:

- "Kung magkagayo'y susunugin ng saserdote sa ibabaw ng dambana, ayon sa mga handog na pinaraan sa apoy sa Panginoon. Sa gayo'y tutubusin ng saserdote ang kaniyang kasalanan na kaniyang nagawa, at siya'y patatawarin." (Levitico 4:35)

- "Sa ganitong paraan, kung gayon, manalangin.... At patawarin mo kami sa aming mga utang, gaya ng pagpapatawad namin sa mga may utang sa amin.” (Mateo 6:9-12)

Pangalawa, medyo malinaw na dapat tayong magpatawad para mapatawad:

- "Sapagkat kung patatawarin ninyo ang mga tao sa kanilang mga kasalanan, patatawarin din kayo ng inyong Ama sa langit. Ngunit kung hindi ninyo patatawarin ang mga tao sa kanilang mga kasalanan, hindi rin patatawarin ng inyong Ama ang inyong mga kasalanan." (Mateo 6:14, 15)

- "At nagalit ang kaniyang panginoon, at ibinigay siya sa mga nagpapahirap hanggang sa mabayaran niya ang lahat ng nararapat sa kaniya. Gayon din ang gagawin sa inyo ng aking Ama sa langit kung ang bawat isa sa inyo, mula sa kanyang puso, ay hindi magpapatawad sa kanyang kapatid sa kanyang mga kasalanan.” (Mateo 18:34, 35)

- "Huwag humatol, at hindi ka hahatulan. Huwag mong hatulan, at hindi ka hahatulan. Magpatawad, at patatawarin ka." (Lucas 6:37)

Pangatlo, makikita natin na ang Panginoon ay handang magpatawad:

- "Sapagka't Ikaw, Panginoon, ay mabuti, at handang magpatawad, at sagana sa awa sa lahat ng tumatawag sa Iyo." (Salmo 86:5)

- "Kaya't sinasabi ko sa iyo, ang kaniyang mga kasalanan, na marami, ay pinatawad, sapagka't siya'y nagmahal ng lubos. Ngunit kung kanino pinatawad ng kaunti, kaunti rin ang nagmamahal." (Lucas 7:47)

- "At nang siya ay makapagsimulang magbayad, ay dinala sa kaniya ang isa na may utang sa kaniya ng sampung libong talento. At ang panginoon ng aliping iyon ay nahabag, pinalaya siya, at pinatawad ang utang." (Mateo 18:24, 27)

- "At nang dumating sila sa lugar na tinatawag na Kalbaryo, doon nila Siya ipinako sa krus, at ang mga kriminal, isa sa kanan at isa sa kaliwa. Pagkatapos ay sinabi ni Jesus, 'Ama, patawarin mo sila, sapagkat hindi nila alam ang kanilang ginagawa.'" (Lucas 23:33, 34)

Narito ang ilang bagong turo ng Simbahan na batay sa mga talatang ito ng Bibliya.

1. Ang Panginoon ay hindi nag-iingat ng isang ledger (na magandang balita para sa ating lahat!). Tingnan ang sipi na ito mula sa "True Christian Religion":

"Ang Panginoon, bilang kahabagan, ay nagpapatawad sa bawa't isa sa kaniyang mga kasalanan, at hindi hinahatulan kahit isa sa mga iyon laban sa isang tao. ay inalis); sapagkat nang tanungin ni Pedro kung ilang beses niya dapat patawarin ang kanyang mga pagkakasala sa kanyang kapatid, kung hanggang pitong beses, sinabi ng Panginoon: 'Hindi hanggang pitong ulit, sinasabi ko sa iyo, kundi hanggang pitumpu't pitong ulit,' (Mateo 18:21-22). Ano ang hindi gagawin ng Panginoon?" (Totoong Relihiyong Kristiyano 539)

2. Ang pagpapatawad ay isang proseso. Maaari mong isipin ito bilang isang loop. Mayroong dalawang yugto: "pagiging handang magpatawad" at isang "pagdating upang mapatawad". Ito ay mahusay na inilarawan sa mga sumusunod na sipi mula sa dalawa sa mga teolohikong gawa ni Swedenborg:

"Ang karamihan sa loob ng simbahan ay nag-iisip na ang kapatawaran ng mga kasalanan ay nagsasangkot ng pagpupunas at paghuhugas sa kanila, tulad ng pag-alis ng dumi sa pamamagitan ng tubig, at pagkatapos ng kapatawaran ang mga tao ay lumilibot na malinis at dalisay. pananampalataya lamang. Ngunit alamin na ang sitwasyon na may kapatawaran ng mga kasalanan ay ganap na naiiba mula doon. Bilang Awa mismo, ang Panginoon ay nagpapatawad sa lahat ng kanilang mga kasalanan. Gayunpaman, hindi sila mapapatawad maliban kung ang tao ay taimtim na nagsisi, umiiwas sa kasamaan , at pagkatapos nito ay namumuhay ng pananampalataya at pag-ibig sa kapwa, ginagawa ito hanggang sa katapusan ng kanyang buhay. Kapag nangyari ito, ang tao ay tumatanggap ng espirituwal na buhay mula sa Panginoon, na tinatawag na bagong buhay. Pagkatapos kapag kasama nitong bagong buhay ay tinitingnan niya ang kasamaan ng kanyang dating buhay, tumalikod sa kanila, at kinasusuklaman sila, ang kanyang mga kasamaan sa unang pagkakataon ay napatawad na. Sapagkat ang tao ay pinananatili na ngayon sa mga katotohanan at anyo ng kabutihan ng Panginoon at pinipigilan ang mga kasamaan. Ito ay nagpapakita kung ano ang kapatawaran ng mga kasalanan ay, at hindi ito maaaring mangyari sa loob ng isang oras, o sa loob ng isang taon." (Arcana Coelestia 9014:3)

"Ang isa pang pagkakamali ng kapanahunan ay ang pag-aakalang kapag ang mga kasalanan ay pinatawad na ang mga ito ay aalisin din.... Gayunpaman, kapag ang panukalang ito ay binaligtad, ito ay nagiging katotohanan, ibig sabihin na kapag ang mga kasalanan ay naalis na, ang mga ito ay pinatawad din. Sapagkat ang pagsisisi ay nauuna sa kapatawaran, at maliban sa pagsisisi ay walang kapatawaran.... Pinapatawad ng Panginoon ang lahat ng tao sa kanilang mga kasalanan. Hindi siya nag-aakusa o nagpaparatang. Ngunit hindi pa rin Niya maaalis ang mga kasalanang iyon maliban sa alinsunod sa mga batas ng Kanyang Banal na pangangalaga." (Banal na Patnubay 280)

3. Hindi natin kailangang manalangin para sa kapatawaran. (Teka, ano?) Ito ay kawili-wili. Sa Panalangin ng Panginoon, na itinuro ni Jesus, tayo ay nananalangin para sa kapatawaran. Ngunit basahin ang sipi na ito mula sa "True Christian Religion":

"Mayroong dalawang obligasyon sa isa pagkatapos ng pagsusuri sa sarili: panalangin at pagtatapat. Ang panalangin ay dapat na kahabagan ng Panginoon, bigyan ng kapangyarihang labanan ang kasamaan na pinagsisihan ng isa, at ibigay ang hilig at pagmamahal sa paggawa ng mabuti, dahil kung wala Siya ang isang tao ay hindi makakagawa ng anuman (Juan 15:5)…. May dalawang dahilan kung bakit hindi dapat ihandog sa Panginoon ang panalangin para sa kapatawaran ng mga kasalanan. Una, dahil ang mga kasalanan ay hindi napawi, ngunit inaalis; at ito ay nangyayari habang ang isa ay huminto sa kanila at nagsimula ng isang bagong buhay. Sapagkat mayroong hindi mabilang na pananabik na nakakabit tulad ng isang kumpol sa paligid ng bawat kasamaan; ang mga ito ay hindi maaaring alisin sa isang iglap, ngunit isa-isa lamang, habang ang isang tao ay nagpapahintulot sa kanyang sarili na mabago at muling buuin. Ang ikalawang dahilan ay dahil ang Panginoon, bilang awa mismo, ay nagpapatawad sa bawat isa sa kanyang mga kasalanan, at hindi hinahatulan kahit isa sa mga iyon laban sa isang tao." (Totoong Relihiyong Kristiyano 539)

Kaya, ano ang dapat nating ipagdasal? Ang punto ay medyo banayad. Ang nakikita ko sa talata sa itaas ay hindi natin kailangang manalangin para sa kapatawaran, per se, bilang bahagi ng proseso ng pagsisisi, dahil sa prosesong iyon ay nanalangin na tayo para sa awa at kapangyarihang gumawa ng mas mahusay. Ito ang mga bagay na talagang hinihiling natin kapag nananalangin tayo para sa kapatawaran. Ang paghingi sa Panginoon na patawarin tayo ay kumikilos ayon sa hitsura. Ito ay isang kapaki-pakinabang na ehersisyo, kaya naman iniutos ito ng Panginoon sa titik ng Salita, ngunit ang mas malalim na katotohanan ay hindi tayo kailanman naging anumang bagay kundi pinatawad sa Kanyang mga mata, at kung tayo ay talagang mapapatawad o hindi ay nasa atin na. , hindi Siya.

Summing up...

Ang pagiging pinatawad ng Diyos ay palaging may kinalaman sa isang aksyon sa ating bahagi. Sa Lumang Tipan, ang mga tao ay kinakailangang magsakripisyo. Sa Bagong Tipan, ginulat ni Jesus ang mga tao, itinuro na kailangan nilang magpatawad sa iba -- maraming beses. At ngayon dito, makikita natin na ang sarili nating (mahirap) na gawain ng pagsisisi ang kailangan din nating dalhin para maisara ang loop.

So the bottomline is that there are two levels of being forgiven by the Lord: ours and His. Lagi tayong pinapatawad ng Panginoon. (Kung tungkol sa Kanyang Mismo, hindi tayo kailanman napapatawad.) Ngunit hindi talaga tayo napapatawad hangga't hindi natin ginagawa ang ating bahagi sa proseso; iyon ang nagpapahintulot sa pagpapatawad na dumaloy sa paligid ng loop.

[Ang artikulong ito ay iniakma para gamitin dito mula sa isang presentasyon noong Nobyembre 2023 ni Rev. Jared Buss.]

278a. 2. Evils cannot be set aside unless they come to light. This does not mean that we have to act out our evils in order to bring them to light but that we need to look carefully not only at our actions but also at our thoughts, at what we would do if it were not for our fear of the laws and of ill repute. We need to look especially at which evils we see as permissible in our spirit and do not regard as sins, for eventually we do them. It is for this self-examination that we have been given discernment, a discernment separate from our volition, so that we can know, discern, and recognize what is good and what is evil. It is also so that we can see what the real nature of our volition is — that is, what we love and what we desire. It is to enable us to see this that our discernment has been given both higher and lower thought processes, both more inward and more outward thought processes. It is so that we can use the higher or more inward thoughts to see what our volition is up to in our lower or outer thoughts. We see this the way we see our face in a mirror; and when we see and recognize what a sin is, then if we want to and ask the Lord for help, we can stop intending it, abstain from it, and later act against it. If we cannot go through this process easily, we can still make it happen by trying to go through it so that finally we reject that evil and detest it. Then for the first time we actually sense and feel that evil is evil and good is good. This is what it means to examine ourselves, to see and acknowledge our evils, and to confess them and then refrain from them. However, there are so few who know that this is the essence of the Christian religion (because the only people who do so are ones who have charity and faith and are led by the Lord and do what is good in his strength) that I need to say something about the people who do not do this and still think that they are religious. They are (a) people who confess that they are guilty of all sins but do not look for any single sin in themselves; (b) people who for religious reasons do not bother to look; (c) people who for worldly reasons do not think about sins and therefore do not know what they are; (d) people who cherish their sins and therefore cannot know what they are. (e) In all these cases, the sins do not come to light and therefore cannot be set aside. (f) Finally, I need to expose a previously unrecognized reason why evils could not be set aside apart from this examination, this bringing to light, this recognition, this confession, and this resistance. 278b. These items need to be looked at one at a time, though, because they are the basic elements of the Christian religion on our part. (a) They are people who confess that they are guilty of all sins but do not look for any single sin in themselves. They say, "I am a sinner! I was born in sins; there is no soundness in me from head to toe! I am nothing but evil! Gracious God, look on me with favor, forgive me, purify me, save me, make me walk in purity, in the way of the righteous," and the like. Yet they do not look into themselves and therefore do not identify any particular evil; and no one who does not identify an evil can abstain from it, let alone fight against it. They think that they are clean and washed after these confessions when in fact they are unclean and unwashed from their heads to the soles of their feet. This blanket confession is nothing but a lullaby that leads finally to blindness. It is like some grand generalization with no details, which is actually nothing. [2] (b) They are people who for religious reasons do not bother to look. These are primarily people who separate charity from faith. They say to themselves, "Why should I ask whether something is evil or good? Why should I ask about evil when it does not damn me? Why should I ask about goodness when it does not save me? It is my faith alone, the faith that I have thought about and proclaimed with trust and confidence, that justifies me and purifies me from all sin; and once I have been justified I am whole in God's sight. Of course I am immersed in evil, but God wipes this away the moment it happens so that it is no longer present," and more of the same sort. Can anyone whose eyes are open fail to see that these are meaningless words, words that have no content because they have no worth in them? Anyone can think and talk like this, and can do so "with trust and confidence," when thinking about hell and eternal damnation. Do people like this want to know anything further, whether anything is really true or good? As to truth, they say, "What is truth other than whatever reinforces my faith?" As to goodness, they say, "What is good other than what I have because of my faith? In order to have it within me, though, I do not need to do it as though I were doing it myself, because that would be for credit, and good done for credit is not truly good." So they skip over the whole subject so completely that they do not know what evil is. What will they look for and see in themselves, then? What is their state but a fire of obsessions with evil that is confined within them, devouring the inner substance of their minds and destroying everything right up to the door? All they are doing is guarding the door so that no one can see the fire; but the door is opened after death, and then everyone can see. [3] (c) They are people who for worldly reasons do not think about sins and therefore do not know what they are. These are people who love the world above all and will not give a hearing to any truth that might deflect them from the false principles of their religion. They say to themselves, "What do I care about this? This is not the way I think." So they reject it as soon as they hear it; or if it does get through at all, they suppress it. They do much the same thing when they hear sermons, retaining only a few words and no substance. Since this is how they treat truths, they do not know what good is, since the two act in unison; and there is no way to identify evil on the basis of any good that is not based on truth. All they can do is call evil "good" by rationalizing it with their distortions. These are the people meant by the seeds that fell among thorns. The Lord said of them, "Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. These are people who hear the Word, but the cares of this world and the deceptiveness of riches choke the Word so that it becomes unfruitful" (Matthew 13:7, 22; Mark 4:7, 14 [4:7, 18, 19]; Luke 8:7, 14).

[4] (d) They are people who cherish their sins and therefore cannot know what they are. These are people who believe in God and worship him with the usual rituals and yet rationalize for themselves that some evil that is a sin is really not a sin. They camouflage it with disguises and cosmetics that conceal how grotesque it is; and once they have accomplished this they cherish it and make it their friend and constant companion.

I have said that these people believe in God because only people who believe in God are capable of regarding evil as sin: all sin is sin against God.

But some examples may make this clear. When people who are bent on profit make different kinds of cheating permissible by inventing rationalizations, they are saying that an evil is not a sin. People who rationalize taking vengeance on their enemies are doing the same thing, as are people who rationalize plundering people who are not their enemies in times of war.

[5] (e) In these cases, the sins do not come to light and therefore cannot be set aside. Any evil that is not brought to light feeds on itself. It is like fire in wood buried in ashes. It is like poison in a wound that has not been lanced; for any evil that is shut away keeps growing and growing until everything has been brought to an end. So to prevent any evil from being shut away, we are allowed to think in favor of God and against God, in favor of the holy practices of the church or against them, without being punished for it in this world.

The Lord speaks of this in Isaiah:

From the soles of the feet to the head there is no soundness; there is wound and scar and fresh beating, not squeezed out or bound up or anointed with oil. Wash yourselves, purify yourselves. Take away the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Stop doing evil, learn to do good. Then if your sins have been like scarlet, they will be white as snow; if they have been ruddy as a purple robe, they will be like wool. If you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. (Isaiah 1:6, 16, 18, 20)

"Being devoured by the sword" means being destroyed by our malicious distortions.

[6] (f) There is a previously unrecognized reason why evils could not be set aside apart from this examination, this bringing to light, this recognition, this confession, and this resistance. I have already mentioned [62, 65, 217] that heaven overall is arranged in communities according to [people's desires for what is good, and that hell overall is arranged in communities according to] desires for what is evil that are opposite to those desires for what is good. As to our spirits, each of us is in some community — in a heavenly one when our good desires are in control, and in a hellish one when our evil desires are in control. We are unaware of this while we are living in this world, but in spirit that is where we are. We could not go on living otherwise, and that is how the Lord is guiding us.

If we are in a hellish community, the only way the Lord can lead us out is under the laws of his divine providence. One of them says that we must see that we are there, must want to get out, and must ourselves make an effort with what seems to be our own strength. We can do this while we are in this world but not after death. Then we stay forever in the community we joined in this world. This is why we need to examine ourselves, see and acknowledge our sins, repent, and remain constant for the rest of our lives.

I could support this with enough experience to warrant complete belief, but this is not the place to bring in proofs from experience.