Todd Hunter on the goal of forgiveness

Posted by Paul | Filed under uncategorised

Thanks to Jonny for pointing out the release of Todd Hunter’s new book Christianity Beyond Belief. You can get samples on the IVP site. The following quotes stood out for me, nicely joining up the thoughts rolling around my head this week…

I believe that in responding to Jesus, people do not merely receive forgiveness of sins so they can go to heaven. Rather, they are forgiven so they can begin a different kind of life, a cooperative relationship with God, a new and eternal kind of life right now (which ultimately includes heaven).
…
Far from trying to make forgiveness less important in the Christian story, my aim is to show that understanding sin in the context of God’s story is crucial to forming a new life, a cooperative friendship with God. I want us to see forgiveness as a starting line, a threshold to a new, fully human life. In my experience, forgiveness is often viewed as a finishing line, with a “whew” and a wipe of the brow while thinking I’m in. I have no quarrel with the notion that forgiveness gets us in. But I want to emphasize that it gets us into a new life story, not merely into heaven when we die.

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Permalink | February 28th, 2009

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