| |
The Relationship between God and Man
by Rev. Nancy R. Burrell
One of the most significant ways God and man have an opportunity for nearness is related to the forgiveness of sin. According to St. Peter (True Gospel Revealed Anew by Jesus, Vol. II, pp. 153-154):
"God does not forgive by the mere act of pronouncing forgiveness or by any arbitrary and sudden blotting out of sins, and thereby removing the condition which creates the inharmony...there is no forgiveness until man makes the effort by struggling and succeeding in getting rid of these recollections; and such riddance can be obtained only by men realizing the fact that sin is only the effect of their having done those things, and thought those thoughts which are out of harmony with the will of God and the laws governing the creation of man...
"...yet true, sincere prayer to the Father for forgiveness will bring its answer, and affect, not the sin, but the soul and state of men, so that their will and appetites and desires may be influenced in such a way that they will receive and realize the fact of a wonderful help in changing these appetites and desires, and in turning their thoughts to those things that will enable them to remove from their recollections the acts and thoughts, which are the causes of the existence of their souls in a state of sin."
Divine Love, then, is God's instrument against sin--the spiritual law of compensation, which in Biblical language is As ye sow, so shall ye reap, notwithstanding:
"...there is a higher law that nullifies that law; and when love, this Divine Love comes into the soul of a mortal, the law of compensation is removed from the scope of its working, for love is the fulfilling of the law...It is waiting for the sinner as well as for the saint; and even though your sins be as scarlet they will be made white as wool...Only pray for this love and have faith, and you will get it." (Vol. II, p. 28).
