{"id":7904,"date":"2026-02-06T20:06:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7904"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:11:28","slug":"tgfi-volume-541-what-forgiveness-takes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/02\/06\/tgfi-volume-541-what-forgiveness-takes","title":{"rendered":"TGFI, Volume 541: What Forgiveness Takes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass it my way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Forgiveness Always Involves the Absorption of a Debt<\/a> (J. D. Greear, blog): \u201c\u2026if you get jealous of me and start slandering me and really hurt my reputation in the eyes of others, it can be hard to see where the \u2018debt\u2019 is. But it\u2019s there. Watch this: Let\u2019s say that after you\u2019ve maligned me, but before<\/em> I launched my counterattack, you came to me and said you were sorry. And I was feeling magnanimous, so I forgave you. In that moment, what has happened? In forgiving you, I\u2019m saying, \u2018I\u2019m not going to punish you or pay you back for what you did. I\u2019m not going to take vengeance on you or seek retaliation; I\u2019m not going to go out and ruin your reputation, and I\u2019m not even going to stay mad at you for the hurt you caused me. I am going to absorb the consequences of your sin<\/em>.\u2019 You can\u2019t see the financial damage, but the damage is just as real. And someone is still paying for it. Forgiveness always involves the absorption of a debt. The sacrifice of a lamb pictures how God would himself absorb the cost for our sin. But catch this, that only makes sense if God himself is somehow pictured in the lamb\u2014otherwise, killing a lamb in our place is random and cruel.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Nearly 40% of Stanford undergraduates claim they\u2019re disabled. I\u2019m one of them<\/a> (Elsa Johnson, The Times): \u201cThe gaming even extends to our meals. Stanford requires most undergraduates living on campus to purchase a meal plan, which costs $7,944 for the 2025\u201326 academic year. But students can get exempted if they claim a religious dietary restriction that the college kitchens cannot accommodate. And so, some students I know claim to be devout members of the Jain faith, which rejects any food that may cause harm to all living creatures \u2014 including small insects and root vegetables. The students I know who claim to be Jain (but aren\u2019t) spend their meal money at Whole Foods instead and enjoy freshly made salads and other yummy dishes, while the rest of us are stuck with college meals, like burgers made partly from \u2018mushroom mix\u2019.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. New Research Confirms Jesus\u2019s Miracles<\/a> (T.C. Schmidt, The Gospel Coalition): \u201cThe implications are clear: Josephus fully acknowledged Jesus\u2019s miraculous deeds, as other ancient non-Christians did. And this comes from a man raised in first-century Jerusalem, a man who knew those involved in Jesus\u2019s trial, a man who went on to become one of the finest historians the ancient world ever produced. He was also perfectly ready to deny the miraculous\u2014he laughed at the idea of certain wizards casting spells on him when he served as a general, and he unmasked false prophets and charlatans when writing his books of history\u2014but in the case of Jesus, he didn\u2019t claim his miracles were false, or exaggerations, or the stuff of legends. While Josephus wasn\u2019t sure of the source for Jesus\u2019s supernatural deeds, he was sure they happened.\u201d