Wednesday Bible Study: The Forgiveness Scam

Psalm 32 introduces an idea we haven ' t really seen explicitly in the Hebrew Bible until now -- or if we have I missed it. That is the idea that we are all sinners but if we confess our sins to God we can be forgiven. ( " Maskil " means something like " wise, " in other words this is intended to be instructive.) The psalm is important in both Jewish and Christian liturgy. In some Jewish traditions it is recited on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and verse 8 is recited as part of the Foundation of Repentance on Rosh Hashanah. Paul refers to verses 1 and 2 in Romans 4, in asserting a central doctrine of Christian theology, salvation by faith, and the entire psalm is traditionally recited at Vespers once a month in Catholic monasteries, and at Mattins on Ash Wednesday in the Anglican church.Personally, as a realist, I am far more interested that people do what ' s right in the first place, rather than the idea that it ' s perfectly okay to sin as long as you ask forgiveness. What ' s the point of distinguishing right from wrong otherwise? Psalm 33 has God literally sitting on a throne in the sky, looking down on the earth, which is apparently a flat disk since he can see the whole thing. Verse 12 is often cited as a justification for Christian nationalism.32 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,    whose sin is covered.2 Blessed is the man to whom theLord imputes no iniquity,    and in whose spirit there is no de...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs