Unforgivable?

Last night, we tackled a subject that is not only difficult for the teens in the group, but for me and many adults as well.

The forgiveness of sin.

More specifically, the forgiveness extended to abominable people. People that our society has written off or deemed beyond forgiveness. People like Jeffrey Dahmer whose sins/crimes include murder and cannibalism, to name a few.

The question posed was this: Can people like Dahmer, Hitler and Manson be offered the same forgiveness by God as you and I? After all, we are "normal" and they are not!

One of the teens spoke up with the right answer: Yes! He later followed up by stating that "people like that shouldn't be given" that same forgiveness.

Isn't that how we feel sometimes? Not everyone is as good as me or my friends. We should be offered something better. Our slate should be wiped fully clean while the others should still have tally sheets with some sins remaining. They don't deserve to be made white as snow!

Guess what, none of us do. The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We are all sinners in the same boat. God offers the same forgiveness to us all whether we cheat on a test or commit heinous crimes.

All we have to do is seek His offered forgiveness and do His will. Isn't that amazing?