[boatbums]

Forgiveness of sins is not just. Quite the opposite. It is unjust because it is merciful. Christianity is not a belief in justice - it is a belief in mercy. We Catholics and Orthodox pray Oh, God, we pray that you have mercy on us, a sinner. We do not pray that God takes His Justice upon us. That would be a bad thing for us, and would sentence all of humanity in with the lord of this world in the end.

I'm sorry you don't like how that verse was worded in I John 1:9, but I'll quote it again for you:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

Again with the torturing of words! ;o)

God showed us mercy for the very reason that he took the justice we deserved when Jesus died in our place. Christ TOOK our justice upon himself so that we might be made the "righteousness of God in Christ". That is mercy AND grace, my friend. We do not get what we deserve and do not deserve what we get.

[MarkBsnr]

Forgiveness of sins is not just. Quite the opposite. It is unjust because it is merciful. Christianity is not a belief in justice - it is a belief in mercy. We Catholics and Orthodox pray Oh, God, we pray that you have mercy on us, a sinner. We do not pray that God takes His Justice upon us. That would be a bad thing for us, and would sentence all of humanity in with the lord of this world in the end.

I'm sorry you don't like how that verse was worded in I John 1:9, but I'll quote it again for you:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

Again with the torturing of words! ;o)

God showed us mercy for the very reason that he took the justice we deserved when Jesus died in our place. Christ TOOK our justice upon himself so that we might be made the "righteousness of God in Christ". That is mercy AND grace, my friend. We do not get what we deserve and do not deserve what we get.

The only possible way to interpret this is to say that God is faithful and just to the promises that He made to us. He knows that we are all unfaithful and we all sin. Justice in the arena of Judgement would be to consign us all as a job lot to the lord of this world, wash His hands of us and start over with a new batch. No, He has promised us mercy if we fulfill certain conditions. This is one of the biggest contentions here on the RF. Many people here say that there are no conditions, in spite of the preponderance, indeed, the very weight of the Gospels (and Paul...) that very much in depth say otherwise. Mercy is a polar opposite of Justice, by the way.