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Mouw writes:

"We human beings are sinners who have deeply offended our Maker. God, in turn, does not treat our rebellious ways lightly. The Christian message is that ultimately God had to send a Savior to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. The Son of God had to go to the Cross to settle the debt. And that very costly forgiveness requires much of us. Saying "I'm sorry" to God does not mean much unless we repentantly commit ourselves to live in obedience to God's will from here on."

Congrats on encapsulating the emptiness and hoplessness of Christianity into a single paragraph.

Todd Friel has by far the best explanation of repentance I've ever heard. The following words are his, not mine:

"Imagine we decide to take a roadtrip to Florida. I volunteer to drive because I've been to Florida before and I know the way. After quite a few hours, many more than it should take to get to Florida, we begin to see pine-trees and snow, and then we pass a sign that says, 'Canada 50 miles'. What is necessary to make you feel better? An apology? No, full repentance is necessary for you to feel better.

In order to correct the issue to a satisfactory level, the following steps must be taken:

1. Stop The Car - continuing to do wrong is the greatest insult
2. Acknowledge that I've been going the wrong way - Admission of Guilt
3. Apologize for doing wrong
4. Turn Around - Correct the problem
5. Don't Stop Until We Get There - Shows my true purpose of correction"

Those are Todd Friels words, and I think it is a perfect analogy. Those five steps are VITAL to the forgiveness of a wrong.

These work in the non-criminal wrongs. If we introduce a criminal act, such as larceny, then a punishment is required as well. Payment of a fine or jail term coupled with repentance will usually correct criminal behavior. The problem with our society is that an apology is enough to release a criminal.

An apology is only one step in five, and it is not a stand-alone step. When a person realizes this, then our forgiveness will not be thrown around willy-nilly. Elaine Pagels says we should forgive Judas Iscariot; this is because her understanding of Christianity is faulty. Judas has neither apologized for his actions nor shown any contrition on the matter. He is not asking for forgiveness and is not worthy of it.

How does repentance, apology, and forgiveness relate in the eternal realm as compared to the temporal realm? Very much the same, after all, God created the temporal realm in order that we can understand His eternal realm. Dr. Del Tackett is famous for saying that true philosophy will allign with true religion.

So we need to find out if we've committed a wrong. The mirror of the Law of God is our method of realizing if we need to repent or not. The most important commandment is that we should love God with all our heart, mind and soul. The second is like this, that we should love our neighbor as ourself. God has a heart for the downtrodden, meek, and outcasts. God has commanded that we take care of anyone lesser than us, and that always we should be striving for the holiness of God.

Many of us have fallen short in these arena's; especially me. In fact, instead of seeking and helping those in need, I've coveted wordly things and ensured my own selfish securities instead of ensuring those with less than me are taken care off. This is in direct contradiction and transgression of God's two most important laws.

Clearly I am guilty before a just and holy God. Repentance is due. God demands that in order to be forgiven I stop chasing after my own selfish purposes, acknowledge that I am wrong, apologize to God for purposefully avoiding giving money to the poor, begin to seek after God and His purposes, and finally not stop until it's over.

But because we are criminals in the sight of God, as evidenced by the proclamation that "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." A payment is due alongside of our repentance for our transgression. One of these transgressions is the act of lying. In the philosophical realm, we can see that lies cause death; because if you lie to your wife once, trust dies, if you continue to lie to her, love dies, and if you refuse to stop lying, the marriage dies. In the religious realm, we know that lying is a sin and sin has caused death; so much so that God has promised to throw all Liars into the Lake of Fire.

Our payment is due, and we should be doomed to pay it. But because we have a loving God, who is not willing that any should perish, He has given us the opportunity to be saved. The payment for our sins stands due, one that we can only pay with our deaths. But God came to our rescue by manifesthing Himself in the flesh as the man Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, where He lived a perfect sinless life, and willfully sacrificed Himself on the cross in our stead; then three days later He defeated death and rose from the grave.

The conditions have been fulfilled for forgiveness once a person has repented of their crimes against God, because their payment has been made in the atoning work of Christ on Calvary.

If you haven't been forgiven, repent and put your full trust in Jesus Christ to save you from the punishment you have earned; not only will He forgive you, but you will be born-again and God will create a new heart in you, and you will truly know that you will inherit the kingdom of Heaven.

It does make a difference whether the Rutgers players forgive Imus's words. But I'm not ready to concede that that one small group is the only ones hurt by his words. I work with 5-14 year olds, and it saddens me to see how some of the girls become quieter and more frightened as they get older. It would be nice to think that we've made all kinds of progress in encouraging girls to be smart and athletic, but hearing this kind of regressive attitude over and over on the air is a reflection of how far we have to go.

Yes, I know preteen girls never listened to Don Imus, but their fathers and uncles did, and the powerful in our society treated him approvingly, as one of their own.

The apology needs to come not only from Imus, but also from the rappers that the girls do listen to (don't any of those guys have sisters?) and from society as a whole. How can we criticize kids' entertainment choices when ours are just as egregious?