Editorial November 30, 1974 Issue

Forgiving the Wrongs People Do

Carl J. Welz

The human mind has a marvelous way of evading confrontation with its own failings. It doesn't merely gloss over them; it magnifies them. Finding the demands of the Christ too difficult, people make a show of judging others in a way that diverts attention from their own performances. St. Paul pointed to this tendency. Writing of the evils men and women do, he said, "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things."^{ Rom. 2:1;}

Christ Jesus evidently made this tendency a primary target in his effort to lift human thought to the reality of spiritual being. For example, in giving the part of the Lord's Prayer that says "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," Jesus added, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."^{ Matt. 6:12, 14, 15;} The New English Bible translates trespasses "the wrongs they have done."

Jesus preached and exemplified the only true standard for human behavior, the standard of perfection. What he taught mankind was Science. He lived the spiritual realities of God and man, and he demonstrated these realities, healing the sick, reforming the sinner, overcoming death. And he showed mankind the way to understand and demonstrate reality. Forgiving is an important step in this way.

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