Essay: Is There Forgiveness without Repentance?
Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Stephen Kaufman, M.D., Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

Essay: Is There Forgiveness without Repentance?

Last essay, I discussed how Christians who participate directly in animal abuse or indirectly by sponsoring factory farming and other forms of mistreatment of God’s animals must choose between two positions. Either they are enemies of God or they believe that God is violent and cruel. Would a God who endorses cruelty to animals also forgive our sins?
 
I don’t think so. Such a God would be malevolent, in which case I would not expect such a God to be merciful. I think the Bible offers insights. John the Baptist preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).  Similarly, in Luke’s Gospel, after the Resurrection, Jesus tells his followers “repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his [Jesus’] name to all nations” (Luke 24:47). Forgiveness of sins is integrally linked with repentance. If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.
 
Repentance is more than saying one is sorry, which itself is rarely done by meat-eaters. Repentance involves striving to avoid sin in the future. We might all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but our faith teaches that we can be confident of God’s forgiveness if we try to follow Christ’s example of perfect love and devotion to God’s will.

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Go on to: How Animal Abuse Undermines Social Justice Movements
Return to: Reflection on the Lectionary, Table of Contents

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