Hope for the dying (which is everyone)--mercy times 490

"Jesus, how often shall I forgive? 70 times 7."

Proclaiming forgiveness for those who killed Him: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."

In Paul Zahl's latest book, "PZ's Panopticon," Zahl says that the primary word from God is mercy--and not just mercy to some--but mercy to all.  Zahl writes his book from the view of a person who is having a "near death" experience.  The thesis is: what do different religions have to say to a person who is near death?  With Christianity, the message is one word--mercy.

Zahl seeks to unearth this message from the 2000 years of subjugation, minimalization, obfuscation, and bastardization that this message has received from the Church and others  (These are my words, not Zahl's).  Zahl, as always, says it in a more compelling fashion than anyone else:

"Christianity seems almost 'tailor made' to be a help in time of need for people like our main character, near dead and spelling out a message of invincible pain.  But Christianity is often understood as the opposite of that.  In fact, so different has Christianity become in presentation from what it is in essence, that the contrast could almost make you believe in the existence of Satan. What?

To our near-dead victim of life, it is not likely that he has known Christianity to be anything other than the Grouch-Religion of the world.  He has probably been so shaped by the invisible force-field of attitudes and assumptions that surrounds him, that he has barely been able to give a hearing to Christianity in its core form, which is a religion of mercy and forgiveness.

I said "Satan" above--and I mean by that, something malicious, a dog in the manger, a "horse with no name (America)--because it becomes malice when a genuine possibility of help is actively prevented from getting to where it is needed.  It is like blocking the road to a fire so that the fire-engines can't get through...

The mercy intrinsic to the teachings of Christ is something that is there from the beginning to the end.  It is the crowning feature of what turned into the world's most populous religion.

For quite a few people, there is something upsetting about the 100%-with-no-exceptions forgiveness that Jesus talked about.  It is a feature that upsets conservatives.  But it also upsets liberals.  There is something in it to offend everybody.  Except the person who needs it at the time."

This is Ellis again--to all of my friends and, indeed, anyone reading this--May you know the 100% with-no-exceptions forgiveness that God has proclaimed through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of His only-begotten Son.