#bathsheeba

[redrcs]

Bathsheeba, drying her hair

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Archbishop Roberts, s.j. - Diary of Bathsheeba - Sands & Co. - 1970 (Thomas d'Esterre Roberts)

[opabiniart]

line art for my dnd satyr character, Bathsheeba, for the campaign I just started. she is clothed but I’m still playing with the design lol

[mysweetobsessionwithwords]

“It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.”- Bathsheeba Everdeen

— (Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd)

[dailyaudiobible]

9/7/2023 DAB Transcript pt3

Commentary continued:

And truth be told, there’s probably none of us that have reached these kinds of depths, very likely none of us have that level of power. David was the king, that's how he was able to perpetrate what he did. But he did have the power and to use the power for evil. And when he realized it, he realized he had been trying to cover up his sin by sinning even more. He tried to cover up one evil with a greater evil and cover-up that evil with a greater evil and it just kept getting worse, and now he's confronted with what he's done. And there is no way to cover it up. The only possible way is to fall in surrender and repentance and beg God to create a clean heart out of the dark blackness that he had created. So, this is a beautiful and poignant Psalm of repentance, and we should be familiar with. Like I said, we probably haven't reached these depths where we can have the power to do the kinds of things that David did and then even commit basically murder by proxy, murder by battle. Putting Uriah in a position where he would surely be killed. We probably don't have that kind of power, but we have power to create darkness, blackness. We have the power to do what we know is wrong and then take one evil and try to cover it up with a greater evil, only realizing that we are compounding things and creating a cage that we can't escape. Repentance is the only way forward. Repentance is all throughout the Bible. Repentance gets pounded, a lot, maybe even to the point that it becomes noneffective when we hear about it, or even cliché, but it is a constant and necessary part of the faith journey. Repenting means to change your mind. Like, that is literally what it means, to change your mind and go in a different direction. So, when we begin to realize that we’re compounding things, we can immediately realize we’re not going in the right direction. Repentance is required, we have to change our mind and go in a different direction. If we don't become familiar with repentance, then we keep compounding the problems and we will eventually destroy ourselves. So, let's take this opportunity as we move through Psalm 51 to look inside and invite the Holy Spirit. And if we remember, this was David's plea, take not your Holy Spirit from me. And so let's invite this same Holy Spirit within us to reveal to us the things that need to change. The ways in which we need to repent. Psalm 51 shows us a lot of things, including the posture of heart that within David, but it also reveals to us that there's nothing too horrible that we can't repent from, there isn't a dark blackness that cannot receive the light of truth. There's nothing that can't be restored if we’re willing to change. If we’re willing to repent. And as we know from reading through Second Samuel, David eventually married Bathsheeba, the baby that she was carrying, they lost the baby. Later, they had another child, his name was Solomon, and he would grow up to become the king of Israel. God will redeem anything that He touches. Let's not keep things off limits from His touch, those things are leading us in a way that we do not want to go.

[artist-denis]

Bathsheeba, Blue Background, 1899, Maurice Denis

Medium: oil,canvas

[choochooopicklepie]

6. 14. 20. 28.

6. Fun fact about you

a fun fact about me is that have REALLY crazy dreams. every time i think i will have a normal dream, my brain makes up something weird. since i remember most of my dreams very vividly, it is very much possible to make them into a blockbuster movie, here is an example so buckle up it's gonna be a bumpy one:

one time i had a dream where i was at some ancient university and a guy was possessed who started a curse. And the curse was that there will be problems after problems. Like a demon in the physical body of a little girl. And a woman who looked like Bathsheeba from The Conjuring. This was a really scary dream😂

And for some reason in this dream, every time i went outside it started pouring, it started raining so heavily that i couldn't stand outside for more than two seconds and had to come back in.

BUT here's where the story takes a turn because every time i got inside or got under a roof to protect myself from the rain, the curse started. The curse could only work if you're under a roof. So if you're under a roof you will face problems after problems (which was scary) and you had to face all these weird scary demons and what not. BUT if you went outside, the rain was too heavy like a thunderstorm and nobody can obviously survive that. You know what i mean😭 This dream was crazy but it has a lot of potential don't you think����

14. Last lie you told 🐻

last lie i told myself: i will sleep for just five more minutes after hitting the snooze button and ended up sleeping for like two more hours

20. Do you have or want any tattoos? 📜

you know that i don't have any tattoos but maybe i would like to have a tiny cute little tattoo maybe on my waist or my tummy or my thighs

and i'll only want the tattoo on one condition: if you will design it since you're a professional:3

28. Who is your (real life) hero? 🦊

my dad and my grandpa

[hollypunkers]

falling down the rabbit hole of “was i indoctrinated by a children’s show created by an extremist religious cult” was certainly not how i expected to spend my thursday morning but yet here we are! the bunny song pops into my head every once in a while and looking back... yikes. the wiki for these episodes are honestly terrifying when you think about what they’re /really/ trying to say.

Oh gosh yeah, there was big controversy about racist portrayals in the show which... like yeah, definitely. They purposefully make shows of literature classics and even other movies (some of the very first episodes were Grapes of Wrath and Giligan’s Island), using parody law so that parents can show their kids This Thing instead and keep the indoctrination going strong. Everyone involved from the beginning was very clear about using this show as a Christian alternative to modern, far too secular television like PBS (PBS in the 1990’s mind you, the original showrunners on the record lost their minds about PBS lately), the show has depicted a missionary going up to ‘helpless native people’ who are ‘so dumb they worship a stick’, did a rewrite of the David and Bathsheeba story turning her into a rubber duck and pretending murder didnt happen (my uncle wrote that one), plus The Aisle of Perpetual Tickling just... say they died and went to hell for fucks sake; and it has, since the beginning, had a merch partnership with Focus on the Family which is a documented alt-right evangelical Christian hate group, that supports other hate groups. Behind the Bastards recently did an episode on them if you want to know more about why they are evil. Focus on the Family is one of the organizations that Chik-Fil-A was lambasted for supporting awhile back.

The Silly Songs with Larry were all meant to not have any religious text in them (at least at first), so that kids would sing/share them with non-Christian friends to get them to watch the show. I mean, they did a good job with many of them, they are very catchy and definitely stick in your head long-term.

[therealcalicali]

author of the greatest literary works on this damn website,,, will we ever get a bathsheeba pt.2? dark!alfred has me reeling! 사랑아, 언제나! 🧸

OMG!😱 Thank you, sweetheart.❤😍❤ I'm mulling over a book two arc.

[buenoes7]

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#entanglement #david #bathsheeba @augustalsina @willsmith @jadapinkettsmith... THIS IS A SEASON TO LEARN... IF IT WILL CONTINUE? #strengthen YOUR #love #if it is real, don’t open doors for sin, lust, or wicked to make a place b/t you Andy our life... You have so many ways of god in your life, and you have many things that are not from and ok with God.... You know this... BEYOND THE CAMERAS... IF YOU CAN GET YOUR MIND BACK TO WHEN YOU WERE IN SUNDAY SCHOOL, on a good day, keep it there... The #univorn #openmarriage stuff is for the #wicked ... Please practice perfecting your 💗, I am rooting for you all, And really assess you’re life, as 3 individuals #bekind and #learn (at Ponce, Puerto Rico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CC6aCtjnjMN/?igshid=1m8yxcg0lc4yh

[theguyeveryonehates86-blog]

Part 1 of many

I am 32 married, house, car, two dogs, a job, fit, happy, healthy, friends, and family.

Until ...

One day in 2014, moments after I had asked for a divorce from husband, my world came crumbling down. I moved 1500 miles to the land of Minnesota where I have struggled to keep my head even close to the surface of being okay financially, mentally, and physically. Things progressed and I began to use drugs and liquor, In and out or rehab, living on the street, and taking advantage of the niceness of others if they would let me rent from them, especially if i would promise money, lose my job due to my depression and anxiety, spend my savings on drugs to masc my pain, and not have any money for rent.

2016(feb)- im single, living it up, drinking stuff, i was doing drugs, having sex for drugs, sex for places to sleep and then I got really sick. I go in to the doctor and i was diagnosed GohnaClamidyaSyphilAids. I hadnt been sexual with a wide variety of people, but it seemed wierd to have all to these at once. Thats the first time i kind of noticed the drugs and sex were a whole different ball game in minnesota...but things cleared up .....it took a while because im allergic to pennecilin, got my counts up, I went from and aids diagnosis to a undetectable viral load, healthy, but not happy.

I still had a hole inside me that was getting bigger. I was no longer using meth i wasnt talking to my druggin people, i was developing "friendships" in the sober community, i was maintaining a job, i had a car, living in a sober house, and that stupid depression started feeding off the guilt and shame from being used by those guys to be their host of all their std's, and I got weaker amd BAM BAM-Hit it. I hit the druhs hard... with the same guys who had most likely givwb ne the stds.this time......another STI. Whatever, im a slut, perdect at leqst Im being validated, and was fixed with a pill. Im not having the time of my life, I should be, Im in my early 30s. I get into rehab, I get "better" but now im not getting attention from guys around me. I am not dating, im not havung sex, im not communicating very well with the guys around me, im jusy becoming bitter, and passive agressive, and talking so negative about myself and others, it has to be my weight their weight, , my teether arent brite enough, i dont have a good enough job, i dont have new clothes, Im this, that, and the other thing, and when a guy did talk to mw(which i think was a bet from his friends cuz by this point im shrek amdbbn ive been used to look like a foolby guys in the pasr) i would start to play this game, i woukd flirt along with them, ask the right questions, pretend im interested im their dumb job or their cat matilda, or ur stuck in a bad relationship the passed two years...blah blah blah

I stopped caring and i was becoming a mean girl. Likejanice, and regina had a baby....

Sex, well since my extravaganza of all the stis, and my trust of guys plummeted, how do you get all of them at once, unless your being targeted is what i wqs thinking.

The drug world can get intense. A lot of lying, stealing, cheating, games, unless...They were only that way with me. I always kinda knew that these guys werent supportive of me like they were eachother. It didnt seem like they trusted me. I mean I didnt steal their drugs like their buddies dis, maybe i did in different ways, but nothong on purpose, I would get shorted on my bags, and i would get setup by them to look like a fool. I was not getting invited to the sex parties, and they would make snyde comments while i was naked like how small my penis was, or that my butt was too small, too much Bush, not enough bush, back hair, ass hair, no hair muscles are too small, too much fat, blah blah i would act too crazy when i shot up meth. I was now an outcast in the drug world, the sober world, the lgbtqia world, and im feeling more alone each and every day.blah blah blah poor me get off the drugs.

I feel like all of this has stemmed from my divorce. I had told my husband I was not attracted to him anymore, that I wished he had a bigger penis, I hated edward mya, i didnt like him following me and that I thought Bathsheeba was a fucking stupid name for a fucking stupid cat. I started giving him reasons too follow me, check in on me, track my phone, (which he still is im sure of it) Well, A reason.. Started "cheating" i found that meth and sex was a lot of fun...yes I am the villan in my own story but as hopefully you can see, it takes two to tango. In an attempt to have my own separate life with friends I would drink after work, my husband would get his pissy pants on, or jealous, or whatever and drive thru the parking lot lurking to see if I was there. One night I decided that ill let me fuck some strangers. #bathouse #guesswhowasthere

Anyway, he waited for me to come out of the bathhouse we had a talk, i asked for the divorce, it was a fairly pleasent divorce. He was already dating, i found my love in a needle things were just peachy.

[johnhardinsawyer]

We Would See Jesus

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

3 / 21 / 21 – Fifth Sunday in Lent

Psalm 51:1-12

John 12:20-33

“We Would See Jesus���

(A New and Right Spirit – Again and Again)

There is this song that used to be popular among church youth groups and college Christian fellowships.  I admit that I used to sing it a lot, back in the day.  I won’t sing the song right now, but the chorus goes like this:  

I want to know You,

I want to hear Your voice

I want to know You more.

I want to touch You,

I want to see Your face

I want to know You more.[1]

The song is catchy, and it carries a lot of meaning for some folks.  But, I admit that my friends and I used to make fun of songs like this and refer to them as “Jesus is My Boyfriend” music because they are like these catchy pop love songs to Jesus, and this song doesn’t even mention Jesus or God by name.  If you took the words out of context, it could literally be about somebody’s boyfriend or girlfriend.  

Now, I know that I shouldn’t give the song so much grief because I know that the song is really about God and that the songwriter was just trying to express something that many people feel, whether we recognize it or not:  a deep longing for God.  Basically, whoever sings the song is saying that they want to be close to God.  And, there’s nothing wrong with that.

We see this at play in both of today’s scripture readings.  In the reading from the Gospel of John.  Jesus has just entered the city of Jerusalem and some of his disciples come to tell him, “There are some people who want to see you.”  Now, Jesus is no stranger to people wanting to see him.  He has been followed by crowds of people throughout his ministry – people who want to see him, and touch him, and hear his voice.  But, in today’s reading, the people who want to see Jesus are from far away in Greece.

Jesus is not just a household name in Judea or Galilee anymore.  Folks are talking about him in foreign countries.  Word is spreading that God is up to something and there is something to this guy, Jesus.  This is good news for Jesus, because when he hears about these foreigners who have come to worship at the Jewish festival of the Passover and who want to see him, he says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (John 12:23)  In the original language, Jesus is saying that the time has come for the Son of Man to be “clothed in splendor.”[2]  This is an expression used by the early Christian martyrs.  People who were preparing to die believed they were bound for glory.  To our ears, I imagine that this might seem like a hard and strange thing for Jesus and these martyrs to say.

But, if you read the Gospel of John, you’ll see that a lot of hard and strange things are converging right here, at the same time.  Jesus has just raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, the Pharisees and priests of the Temple are plotting to have Jesus killed, and Jesus has just ridden into the city on a donkey with people waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna to the King! (12:13)  To top it all off, Jesus has his own agenda. . .  God’s own agenda – one that will involve Jesus’ death and resurrection.  So, as we look at today’s passage, we see Jesus filled with all of the emotions that all-of-the-above are eliciting in him.  In one moment, he is talking about his own death and calling his disciples to follow.  In the next moment, Jesus is telling them that his own “soul is troubled” (12:27) by it all.  And, in the next moment, Jesus is talking about judgment, and driving out “the ruler of this world,” (12:31) and being lifted up from the earth, and drawing all people to himself.  This is heavy stuff. . .  

Here are all of these people who want to see Jesus – not just the Greeks, but his own disciples, and the crowds of people who have gathered around him – not social distancing, in the least – crushing shoulder to shoulder in the narrow city streets.  They just want to be close to him, to see him, and hear his voice.  And what does Jesus do?  He talks about his own death – and ours, if we are willing to follow.  “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life,” (12:25) Jesus says.  As I said. . . this is heavy stuff. . .

Speaking of heavy stuff, I want to be clear about something:  when Jesus talks about “those who hate their life in this world,”  I know that this language might seem troubling.  At this very moment in the life of the world, there are far too many people who are struggling, mentally and emotionally with the pandemic, and finances, and family, and plenty of other things.  There are even those who are contemplating suicide.  So, I want to be clear, and say that this is not what Jesus is talking about when he talks about hating life.  And if you are contemplating harming yourself because there are things about your life that you hate, there are people like me – and so many others – who will stop and listen and help.  

Life is “one of the highest of God’s blessings.”[3]  And Jesus came so that we may have “life, and have it abundantly.” (10:10)  In other words, there is a way of life that Jesus offers us, again and again, that is different from the life that we see, and know, and are, perhaps, hating right now.  The life that Jesus offers is a new life lived in and with God. . .  a life that is lived apart from the violence and death and idolatry and pain and stresses of the world as we know it.  We don’t have to physically die to live this new kind of life, but there are some parts of us that are better left behind.

This is the new kind of life that we heard about in today’s reading from Psalm 51, which is a prayer for a new life.  Just so you know, these ancient words have a backstory.  You see, King David commits adultery with a woman named Bathsheeba and has Bathsheeba’s husband, Uriah, killed on the battlefield – left there to die on David’s orders.  David has done some bad, bad, bad things, and then he gets busted for what he has done, and he realizes the full and horrible extent of his actions, and just how far away he is from what God intends for him.[4]  David is ashamed, and he prays that God will take away his shame.  

Shame can be a powerful thing with horrific consequences, both if we do not acknowledge our own shame – ignoring the hurt that our sin causes – as well as if we give shame so much weight that it crushes our spirits and brings out the worst in us.  We saw shame play a major role in the horrific shootings in Atlanta this past week.  A young man, ashamed of his sexual desire and not knowing what to do about it because of the inadequate and incomplete explanations offered by his faith tradition killed eight people.[5]  The church – even our own denomination – has a lot of work to do on thoughtfully building a sexual ethic that moves beyond the shame-soaked “purity culture” in which the young murderer in Atlanta was steeped.[6]  Mix all of this young man’s shame with the complications of race and racism – the sin of seeing other people as less-than – and the idolatrous glorification of violence and firearms and it all proved to be all-too-deadly.  

The shame, and sin, and violence of “this world” is not what God intends for us.  Far from it!  Just as the world is filled with all the wrong things, though, the world is also crying out for something different – a different way of life, a different way of being and doing, a different future, if we’re willing to work for it. . .  even a different present, if we’re willing to not stand for the world as it is – a world where innocent people die needlessly in Atlanta and in so many other times and places – laid low by shame and sin and pointless violence.  Uriah lies dead on the battlefield, betrayed by David.  Jesus dies on a cross, put to death by those he came to save.  This is what happens in “this world,” as Jesus calls it.

Look, it is more than okay to not like the world as it is – to want a new and different life.  This is why Jesus offers us an alternative – an alternative for which King David prays in Psalm 51.  You see, this Psalm in which David’s shame is laid bare is a prayer of confession, but it is also a prayer of deep and holy hope in God’s steadfast love and abundant mercy, that David can somehow draw close to God again – that we, too, can draw close to God.  We see in this Psalm how David wants to be cleansed of a way of life that was self-centered and sinful and be given a new way of life – with a clean heart and new and right spirit, lived in God’s presence, filled with joy.[7]

It is this way of life that David is seeking and, in truth, what all of us are seeking, deep down.  Even the Greeks who come to Jerusalem and want to see Jesus are seeking the same thing.  But what the Greeks might not realize at the time, and what we so often forget is that just as human beings have a deep longing for God – whether they recognize that longing or not – the real gift that God offers us is the good news that no matter how deep our longing or what sin may be holding us back from fully drawing close to God, in Jesus Christ, God has already drawn close to us.  If we want to know, and see, and hear, and touch God, in Jesus Christ, God has already known and seen and heard and touched us.

Friends, if we would see Jesus, we would see him in the middle of the most difficult and dark and desolate places in our lives and in the life of the world, because this is “the world” where we live – the world into which Jesus came and continues to be, for us.  “I know how hard life can be,” Jesus tells us, “because I, too, have lived it.  I have seen and heard the suffering of all of God’s children,” Jesus tells us, “I know it because I have lived it.  I have touched the hurting and the hungry, those whose spirits cry out for peace and whose shame cries out for loving forgiveness,” Jesus tells us.  “And in my touch, there is healing, and wholeness, and new and abundant life.  I have thrown down the ruler of this world. . .  there is nothing separating you from me. . .  you don’t have to be ashamed anymore. . .  there is no limit to my love and the life I offer. . .  I am drawing all things – even you – into my loving embrace, arms spread wide on the cross.”

Friends, this is God’s greatest gift to us – not just the gift of the life that we have been given each and every day, even when it’s hard, but that Jesus has lived this life, too, and sees us and knows us and offers us a new and abundant life in each and every moment – the new and abundant life and fruitful that God calls us to use for good, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

May we, too, see and know Jesus.  And, in our seeing and knowing, may God restore, in us, the joy of salvation, and sustain our spirits in this life and the life into which Jesus leads.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

----------

[1] Andy Park, “In the Secret” © 1995, Mercy / Vineyard Publishing.  https://wordtoworship.com/song/1247.

[2] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 204.

[3] John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries – Vol. XVIII (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2009) 29.

[4] See 2 Samuel 11-12.

[5] https://religiondispatches.org/dont-discount-evangelicalism-as-a-factor-in-racist-murder-of-asian-spa-workers-in-georgia/?fbclid=IwAR1GNrcqETN2lFuCYKb7oitFuqQBmpeQazWfa-NQCJJQuTwJ3JgL7d81_zY.

[6] Some friends, B.E. and S.T. were discussing this on Facebook in the wake of the Atlanta shootings.

[7] See Psalm 51:10-12.

[bat-em-blr]

John 12:30-36 Who will you put your trust in Child of God? Man or God?

John 12:30-36 Who will you put your trust in Child of God? Man or God?

Who has never failed you? All human beings are subjected to being failures at some point in their leadership. David was a man after’s God’s own heart, but he failed – see

2 Samuel 11:1-4 Bathsheeba HE commits adultery

2 Samuel 11: 12-27 He commits murder – to cover up his sin.

2 Sam. 24:10-17 Power goes to his head, and he takes a census in violation of God’s command. Inhuman beings, ultimate…

[seekfirstme]

"David grew greater and greater, and the Lord, the God of Hosts, was with him." (2 Samuel 5: 10).

Monday 27 January 2020 in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Angela Merici (1474 - 1540), Virgin. Born in Italy, she founded the Ursuline Order, "the first women teaching order approved by the Church... St Angela believed that the formation of Christian women is society's greatest need." (Roman Missal).

The story of the life of David in the Bible could never adequately be likened to the stories of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in the history of the United States of America. It is much more. Our saint of today St Angela Merici was a trail blazer. The religious order she founded in 1535 is still serving women and the Church. Jerusalem that David founded about 3000 years ago is still standing. Why is David such a powerful personality in the Bible?

"I have found David my servant

and with my holy oil anointed him.

My hand shall always be with him

and my arm shall make him strong." (Psalm 89: 21 - 22).

David had a special anointing of God for his office. In spite of his adultery and murder of Uriah, husband of Bathsheeba, David never compromised the purity of the religion of Israel.

"My faithfulness and mercy will be with him; through my name his horn will be exalted." (Psalm 89: 25).

David understood profoundly his utter dependence on God. If God is for us, who can be against us. If God is with you, it is accomplished.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

[ncumenia-archived]

|| continuing from ☾ || || @ferrumdaemonium || «... What...?» A feeble answer slid out from her lips, holding even thighter the Darkin’s claws, now her forehead leaning on her fuzzy upper arm, rubbing against its bristly hair. The Lunari was still unsure of how to answer, react, help... She’d never experienced a thing like that before, and now she felt so helpless she limited herself to embrace Bastheeba in silence, cold tears now wetting her chest, mumbling something under her breath. «I wanna help, Bathsheeba... Ernye will help you remember who you are, and who I am to you! You’re not alone, not anymore! I’m here for you!» She grabbed courage with both of her hands, willing to help the Darkin recollect again her lost memories. Listening to her guts, the Lunari sat on the wet, fresh grass and beckoning the Darkin to do the same. Then, she pointed at the starry, silent and magnificent Targonian night sky, in order to help Bathsheeba during her recovery she had to start with simple things.  «I’ve always loved stargazing since I was a child, teaching other people how to recognize the most famous and ancient constellations of the sky. Do you... Love the stars as well, Batsheeba?»

[biblewordstudy]

1John 1:9 According to the Bible, when someone believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, that person's sins are forgiven. If that is so, should Christians continue to confess their post-salvation sins after believing in Christ? Some say that confession is unnecessary since all the believer's sins are forgiven already. What is the scriptural perspective? The Believer's Positional Forgiveness To the Christian, forgiveness means to be released or freed from the guilt of sins as a personal offense in a relationship. One of the results of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior is that God forgives the believer's sins that were an offense against Him. In this sense, forgiveness is granted once for all eternity. It is a positional truth like justification and redemption, which is why forgiveness is sometimes linked in the Scriptures with eternal salvation. In the Gospels, the positional aspect of forgiveness is seen by its contrast with eternal condemnation (Mark 3:28-29). Jesus and His death (blood) secures this remission of (release from) sin (Matt. 26:28). In this way He is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). He paid the ransom for all people (Matt. 20:28). Ransom implies release or freedom from the guilt of sin for all who receive it. Forgiveness is used in other salvation contexts in Acts (Acts 5:31; 13:38-39; 26:17-18). The Apostle Paul makes some definitive statements about the positional forgiveness that occurs at the time of justification. In Romans 4:5-7 he links forgiveness with justification through faith. Also, in Ephesians 1:7 Paul describes one of the benefits of being in Christ: "In Him [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." Similarly, in Colossians 2:13 he says, "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." In the surrounding context, it is clear that Paul is speaking of a benefit of the believer's new position and identity with Christ (Col. 2:11-12, 14). "Trespasses" is virtually synonymous with sins. The verb "having forgiven" is in the Greek aorist tense signifying a completed action. The action that is completed is the forgiveness of "all" sins, which includes even future sins because all the believer's sins were future when Jesus died on the cross. In two similarly worded passages, Paul argues that Christians should forgive one another because Christ has forgiven them (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13). The author of Hebrews also asserts positional forgiveness in Hebrews 10:17-18 by citing the result of the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:34 in terms of "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Clearly, all these passages show that those who have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior have had all their sins forgiven on the basis of Jesus' full and final payment on the cross. So why must Christians confess their sins? The Believer's Fellowship Forgiveness Christians must confess their sins so that they can experience the forgiveness that is theirs positionally. In other words, because of Jesus' death on the cross and one's faith in Him, sin's power to condemn is annulled forever, but it still has power to sever a believer's experience of fellowship with the Heavenly Father. The first is a judicial forgiveness, the latter a family forgiveness. Because of judicial forgiveness, the Christian has the privilege of enjoying fellowship or communion with God in the Christian walk, but this privilege can be abused or interrupted by sin. The believer's fellowship with God is the theme of First John (1 John 1:3-4; See GraceNotes no. 37, "Interpreting 1 John"). This fellowship depends on walking truthfully in the light of God's Word and God's will (1 John 1:5-8). As a believer walks in the light, sins become visible or apparent. When God brings these sins to mind and convicts the conscience, the believer can deny the truth about his or her sin or confess them to God. According to 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He if faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." To confess literally means "to say the same thing," thus "to acknowledge, to agree." Upon that honest confession, God forgives because He is "faithful" to His own character and His commitment to His children. He is also "just" because He has accepted His Son's payment for that sin. Because God is faithful and just, the believer's confession restores fellowship with God. Given the theme of fellowship, 1 John 1:9 is obviously intended for those who are saved, not the unsaved (note that John uses "we"!). John understood this principle well. His Gospel includes the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. In that account, when Peter tries to refuse washing, Jesus says, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean" (John 13:10). The reference to bathing and complete cleansing is a reference to positional forgiveness, but the washing of feet pictures the ongoing necessity of forgiveness and cleansing from sins committed as a Christian. King David also understood the principle of confessing sin to restore fellowship. After his sin with Bathsheeba and Uriah, he confesses his sin to restore fellowship with God (Ps. 32:5). Similarly, in Psalm 51, David confesses his sin to receive cleansing and to restore the joy of his fellowship with God. David's salvation was not the issue; his fellowship was. Jesus taught the principle of confession to restore fellowship with God and others in the familiar Lord's Prayer (better called the Disciples' Prayer). He taught that believers should pray "And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us" (Luke 11:4). Thus He taught the necessity of forgiveness to restore the believer's relationship vertically to God and horizontally to other people. There are many other passages where confession of sin is the basis for restoring fellowship in the divine or human relationships (Matt. 6:14-15; 18:21, 35; Luke 17:3-4; 2 Cor. 2:7, 10; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13). Simply put, confession restores fellowship in a relationship, whether divine or human. Conclusion There is no question that believers have the secure position of having all their sins forgiven on the basis of Jesus Christ's full payment on the cross. However, a believer's experience often contradicts his or her position. Sins committed after justification do not jeopardize the believer's positional forgiveness, but adversely affect the believer's enjoyment of that position and his or her fellowship with God. To restore the joy of fellowship, the believer is taught to confess sins to God who will forgive and cleanse from the guilt of those sins. An illustration may help. If a son offends his father, the father may agree to absorb the pain of the offense and forgive the son. In the father's eyes, the son is forgiven. However, to fully experience the father's forgiveness and enjoy fellowship in the relationship, the son must acknowledge (confess) his offense to his father. God is a Heavenly Father, a God of love and grace, who will always restore fellowship with those who seek forgiveness for their sins. #Theology #BibleStudy #Sin