The Problem with Forgiving Yourself (Part 2)

by Bruce Mills

In our last post, we examined the commonly held view that those who are struggling with guilt over some past sin need to learn to forgive themselves, and we noted that such a viewpoint is never found in Scripture.  Rather, the Bible discusses vertical forgiveness (God forgiving man) and horizontal forgiveness (a man forgiving another), but the concept of forgiving oneself is not found anywhere in the Scriptures.

We also discussed two reasons why some individuals may struggle with a seeming inability to forgive themselves and the remedy for those problems.  We will now continue with a discussion of this matter and look at three more reasons why some individuals can’t seem to overcome guilt and only focus on self-forgiveness.

3.  The person who says, “I just can’t forgive myself,” may be venting his regrets for failing to achieve a certain cherished desire.

In essence, this individual is saying, “I had the opportunity to get something I really wanted, but I threw it all away!  I can’t forgive myself.”  The desire may have been to get rich, be married, receive the approval of their boss, have children who respect them, or even to see a dying relative come to faith in Christ. 

So the individual will say, “Because of my sin, I’ve blown it…” And they add something such as, “I lost my money in a bad investment,” or “I embarrassed my boyfriend and he broke up with me,” or “I made a mistake that lost a big account for our company,” or “I was still afraid to speak up for Christ to my dad and now he’s gone.”  And then they add, “And now I can’t forgive myself for squandering the opportunity to get what I always wanted.  I was that close to being happy and I blew it!”

This person is behaving as though he or she could control the world and guarantee getting what they want.  When their desires are thwarted, the result is self-reproach and a lingering case of “if only I had…”  This individual is blind to his underlying urge to control his own happiness.

Such an individual needs to hold up the mirror of Scripture and see the deceptiveness and power of his ruling desires.  It is nothing more than idolatry.  He has decided that his desire to have whatever “thing” he wants is so important that he can’t be happy without it, and when that takes place, he has created an idol of the heart.  What he needs to do is recognize it as idolatry, confess it as sin, turn from it, and begin to cultivate a relationship with God that sees Him as sovereignly causing all things—including what he believes are bad things—to work together for good in his life (Rom. 8:28).

4. The person who says, “I just can’t forgive myself,” may be trying to establish his own standards of righteousness.

In this case, the statement “I can’t forgive myself” is equivalent to saying, “I haven’t lived up to my own perfect standards” or “I haven’t lived up to other people’s expectations.”  This individual’s longing for self-forgiveness arises from his failure to measure up to his own standards of performance, his own image of how good he is or ought to be.

In essence such an individual has proudly erected his own law or even embraced someone else’s law.  He is chasing not only “a righteousness of [his] own” (Phil. 3:7-9) but a righteousness of his own against a standard of his own.  But the Bible tells us that God is the only One we must please.  His law must be our sole standard of self-measurement.

Advocates of “self-forgiveness” rightly observe our tendency to criticize ourselves and the fact that this is a problem.  But the answer is not self-forgiveness; rather, it is to stop our God-playing propensity to erect and obey our own laws.

For example, the person who can’t forgive himself when he makes a mistake on the job has erected an unbiblical standard: “I must be a perfect worker.”  He is playing God by rejecting God’s law and establishing his own.  Yes, we are to be hard workers who strive for excellence.  But we are not to place a false standard upon ourselves which replaces God as the only sovereign qualified to rule over our lives.  Similarly, the woman who can’t forgive herself because, in her words, “If only I had persuaded my husband to go to the doctor, he wouldn’t have died,” is assuming God’s role.

5.  The person who says, “I just can’t forgive myself,” may have ascended to the throne of judgment and declared himself to be his own judge.

In this case the expression “I can’t forgive myself” is the equivalent of “I’m the one in the role of judge and I will dispense forgiveness as I decide.”  Such a person has convened the court, rendered a guilty verdict upon himself, and now believes that he must grant the needed pardon!  But the Bible declares that God alone is both judge and forgiver, as well as penalty-bearer for those in Christ!

This role issue is important.  What is the person actually saying when he speaks of forgiving himself?  Has “he” sinned against his “self,” or has his “self” sinned against “him”?  Who is the “he” who forgives his “self”?  And who is the judge who determines that guilt even exists?  This whole notion of self-forgiveness proposes that one individual as the offender, judge, and forgiver.  The only Person who can stand in all three of those roles is Jesus Christ.  So when someone else does it, he or she is playing God.  They are usurping Christ’s role.  It is very important that this person look away from self and to Christ alone as the only judge and forgiver.

In conclusion, what do we say then when someone says to us, “I just can’t forgive myself?”  First, we should recognize that he or she has a true problem of guilt.  We should take that statement seriously and respond to that person compassionately.  But we must help them see that they have mislabeled their problem and how the Bible provides the only accurate, helpful diagnosis and solution.

When the person who is struggling with guilt begins to understand the depth of God’s love and grace, grasping the fact that God alone is in sovereign control over the circumstances of our lives, and only He retains the right to both judge and forgive us, that individual will begin to see that their thinking patterns which require self-forgiveness are unnecessary, self-centered idols of the heart.  He can then confess and forsake his sin, with an understanding that God retains absolute authority as both righteous judge and gracious forgiver, making self-forgiveness an unneeded concept.

The Problem with Forgiving Yourself (Part 1)

by Bruce Mills

I recently came across a great article written many years ago in The Journal of Biblical Counseling titled “I Just Can’t Forgive Myself”: A Biblical Alternative to Self-Forgiveness.  The author is Robert D. Jones who was, at the time the article was written, a pastor in Hurricane, West Virginia.  I thought the article was so thought provoking that I decided to write a two part article which is based upon and adapted from that article.

I think this is a particularly relevant topic because it is not uncommon these days in evangelical circles to hear about Christians who are struggling with guilt over a particular sin from their past, and well-meaning friends, counselors, or even their pastors will say these words: “You just need to learn to forgive yourself.”  Unfortunately, the question that most Christians never ask is, “Is such a concept biblical?”  If we say that we believe that the Scriptures are the final and sufficient authority for all faith and practice, we need to ask that question about every suggestion, recommendation, and supposed answer that we encounter in life.  The biblical Christian—the serious follower of Jesus Christ and His Word—is never content to drift in the wind and waves of the world’s philosophy.  He hungers to know what God says about this and every other matter.  Nothing less satisfies.

What does the Bible say about forgiving yourself?  It may surprise you to hear that it says nothing about it!  You can search the Word of God from cover to cover and you will not find the concept of self-forgiveness taught anywhere in it—not by direct statement, not by example, not by precept.  The Bible speaks of vertical forgiveness (God forgiving a person) and horizontal forgiveness (one person forgiving another), but it says nothing about internal forgiveness (a person forgiving himself).

Now, there are many Christian teachers and counselors who use various biblical passages to support their view that the Scriptures do, in fact, teach such  a concept.  However, when one examines the texts which they purport to teach self-forgiveness, what will be found is that the context of every passage is speaking of either vertical or horizontal forgiveness.

This is important, because what it tells us is that the idea of self-forgiveness is not the result of careful exegesis of the Scriptures, but from some other source.  That other source is secular psychology which focuses on the “felt needs” of the counselee.  Then so-called Christian psychologists have claimed that certain Bible verses support the self-forgiveness idea and thus, many Christians have been bilked into believing it is a biblical concept.  Another problem with this approach is that it neglects to carefully determine what is going on inside of those individuals who are struggling with their past sin.  It takes their experience at face value rather than exploring why they say “I can’t forgive myself.” 

So what is the believer who is struggling with his or her past sin to do?  Are such individuals powerless to overcome their problem unless they forgive themselves?  Not at all!  Their struggle with self-recrimination is a real problem.  But rather than misdiagnosing their problem as an inability to forgive themselves, we need to instruct them in what the Scripture says is the proper approach to solving their forgiveness problem.  So how does God’s Word address this issue that is commonly misdiagnosed as an inability to forgive oneself?  There are five possible reasons why such an issue exists in an individual’s life.  We will only deal with two of them in this post and take up the others in a subsequent post.

1.  The person who says “I just can’t forgive myself” may be expressing an inability or unwillingness to grasp and receive God’s forgiveness.

This is the most common explanation behind the “self-forgiveness” concept.  The person says he can’t forgive himself because he really doubts that God has forgiven him.  So being unsure of a solution, he proposes a need for self-forgiveness to satisfy his lingering guilt or to supplement God’s insufficient forgiveness.

This may come about because the individual has failed to see his sin as a direct offense against God, so his conscience isn’t quiet because he has underestimated the heinousness of sin.  He fails to see the magnitude of his sin.  It is as an infinite crime against an infinitely holy God and thus, a finite creature can never do anything to forgive such a crime.  So he reduces it a mere “mistake” rather than a treacherous assault against his Creator and King.  Consequently, he is not driven to seek God’s grace for his sins, but rather he continually ponders on his “mistakes.”

It may be that the individual has not yet grasped the width and depth of God’s forgiving grace and power.  He doesn’t truly believe that God can forgive even the worst of sinners.  Holding to a view of such a limited God, he sees his sin as unforgivable.  In effect, he reduces the value of God’s grace to a level that it is “cheap grace,” which is incapable of breaking the hold of sin in his life.

Another possibility is that the individual has experienced on-going failure with a particular besetting sin, and because he has failed to grow in the grace of putting off the old self and putting on the new self (Eph. 4:22-24), he comes to doubt God’s forgiveness because he keeps repeating the sin.  So eventually, he subtly accepts defeat and surrenders to the idea that victory over that sin will never come, and the expression of that surrender is found in the words, “I just can’t forgive myself.”

The remedy to such a problem is to properly understand, believe, and live out the gospel.  Grasping God’s forgiveness in Christ undercuts these errors and removes the risk of misdiagnosing our true problem (which is the need for deliverance from sin’s guilt and power) as “self-forgiveness.”  We need to replace our thought processes which focus on our past sin with thought processes that focus on the amazing love and forgiveness of Christ.

2.  The person who says “I just can’t forgive myself” may not see or be willing to acknowledge the depth of his depravity.

When a person says the words “I just can’t forgive myself,” what he often means is “I still can’t believe I did that!”  Such a statement is not evidence of low self esteem, but rather it is actually a form of high self esteem; that is, a form of pride in which we think that we are incapable of such evil deeds.  The so-called inability to forgive oneself is often an expression of an underlying problem of self-righteousness.  We may think others are capable of doing such a horrible thing, but not us!  But the truth is, we are totally corrupted by sin and thus, we are not above doing the most deceitful and desperately wicked acts (Jer. 17:9, 1 Cor. 10:6-12).

Our ability to do utterly wicked deeds shouldn’t surprise us, especially if we understand the depth of depravity that reigns as king in the unbeliever and still remains as a deposed but subversive enemy in the believer.  James 1:13-15 portrays the power of our corrupt desires to bring us to spiritual ruin.  It was the great Puritan theologian John Owens who observed that any kind of sin carries within itself the seeds of total apostasy.

So a second remedy to the false concept of self-forgiveness is to recognize the depths of our depravity and the wretchedness of which we are capable.  And rather than adopting a prideful attitude that denies the awfulness of our behavior, we must prostrate ourselves before Christ and receive His gracious, merciful forgiveness.

In my next post, I will take up the remaining three reasons why many people feel that they cannot forgive themselves, and what the proper biblical approach is to such ideas.

Those Dangerous Calvinists!

by Bruce Mills

Recently another of the elders at the church I serve called my attention to information posted on Pastor Tom Ascol’s blog, Founders’ Ministries Blog, regarding documents that are circulating among Southern Baptist Churches in western Tennessee.  These documents are intended to teach people in those churches how to determine if any of their church staff are Calvinists and then get rid of any that they may find.  You can view them here.  This information is apparently being spread by individuals who consider the doctrines of grace to be heresy.

The first document is titled "Reformed Red Flags" and it contains a list of 16 "behaviors" to look for when seeking to determine who the Calvinists pastors may be.  Some of these “behaviors” are quite surprising.  Included on the list are:

“Use of the ESV Study Bible” – This is simply another way of promoting the KJV Only position.  Prior to the emergence of the ESV, most of the KJV Only proponents directed their assault on the NIV, but now that the ESV has become widely accepted among reformed evangelicals, they are now redirecting their slander on this fine translation.

“Moving the church to be under Elder Rule” – Perhaps these folks should go back and read Titus 1:5 where Paul clearly instructed Titus to appoint elders in the churches in the cities of Crete.  Apparently God, who inspired Paul to write that instruction, believes that elders are to be the leaders of the church rather than the congregation.

“Focusing on creating the ‘true’ church” – Clearly this is aimed at Grace Life Church of the Shoals in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a strongly Calvinistic Southern Baptist church which holds an annual “True Church” conference.  Closely related is another statement regarding the use of church discipline.  The unknown author considers the purpose of church discipline to be an attempt to purge the church of anyone who is not part of the “true” church.  While that is never the primary intent of church discipline, the purification of the church is a secondary result.  Apparently those circulating these documents consider that to be a bad thing.

“Look for the men they quote in their sermons; do they mainly quote Calvinists such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, James White, Jonathan Edwards, and others?” – Wow!  Some of America’s greatest theologians and teaching pastors whose ministries have led countless hundreds and thousands to saving faith in Jesus Christ are persona non grata to these people. 

“Tendency toward a highly logical systematic theology…” – I think it’s clear that they prefer a highly illogical disorganized theology in which anything and everything is up for grabs.

The second page of the document purports to explain the theological differences between what the author describes as “Traditional Southern Baptists” and “Extreme Calvinists.”  For me, the most interesting statement had to do with God’s knowledge.  The writer states: “Traditional Baptists believe in an all knowing God, but they are not determinists, because they do not believe God has planned everything that happens (emphasis mine).  Through His eternal foreknowledge, He knows what is going to happen, but He doesn’t over-ride man’s freewill.” 

This statement clearly shows that the distance from Arminianism to Open Theism is very short!  I’m not sure what they believe the things are that God has not planned, because He stakes claim to both the good and the bad events of our lives and this world (Amos 3:6, 4:6-13; Job 1:12-22; Isaiah 45:7; Lamentations 3:38).  So the writer’s view isn’t significantly different than the Open Theist whose God sits in heaven, captive to the decisions of man, reacting only after man has exercised his sovereign freewill. 

Notice that the writer says that man has the ability to exercise freewill and that God knows what man will choose, but doesn’t override it.  The problem with such a view is that unregenerate man’s will is not free; it is enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6-20).  So man’s “freewill” really isn’t free.  And since the pursuit of sin is his nature, he will pursue sin.  A pig acts like a pig because it is the nature of a pig to do so.  And the same principle applies to sinful man.  And unless God steps in and overrides man’s will, drawing him to Christ, that man would never choose to believe.

So what’s my conclusion?  Simply this: It’s very, very sad when churches reach the point that their greatest concern is not making sure the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, souls are rescued from eternal hell, and God is glorified, but rather that they root out the dangerous Calvinists who might be lurking in their pulpits!  I pray that God will protect other churches and believers who might be tempted to fall into the same dangerous trap as have these men.

Philippe, the Postmodern Evangelist

by Bruce Mills

In my many ramblings around the cyberworld of evangelical blogs, I occasionally encounter something which is so rich that it is worthy of being reposted.  What follows is the text of an article by Krista Graham which was first posted on “The Sacred Sandwich” blog.  This is a great rework of the biblical story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch as it would have been if Philip had taken a post-modern approach to evangelism and the gospel.  I don’t know why Ms. Graham spells Philip’s name with a French spelling, but that is how she does it, so I have reposted it exactly as she wrote it.  Enjoy!

Once there was a man named Philippe. He was a spiritual guide in an emerging community. One day he decided to go on a journey. So, he did. As he was walking along the road, focusing on the journey and not the destination, he found himself alongside the chariot of an African official. The man in the chariot was reading from a parchment scroll. He was reading aloud, so Philippe was able to overhear what the man read.

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb before the shearer is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
Who can speak of his descendants?
For his life was taken from the earth.”

Philippe caught up to the chariot and said, “You read that text beautifully. It made me feel significant and connected to ancient traditions to hear you read it.”

“I just wish I could understand it,” the man replied.

“Understand it? You don’t need to understand it. Just to experience it. Read it again, more slowly this time. I want to hear the poetic forms and imagine myself in the context of the ancient tradition,” said Philippe.

“Who is he talking about?” the man persisted. “Is the prophet writing about himself or about someone else?”

“I think he is writing about all of us,” said Philippe. “I think we are all a part of the larger story.”

“But what story?” asked the official. “It seems to me that the writer is talking about something in particular, and I sense that it is important. I just wish I knew what it was. What exactly does this mean?”

“What do YOU think it means?” asked Philippe.

“I don’t know. That is why I am asking YOU.”

“Well, it is true that I am a Christ-follower, and my tradition does impose certain meanings on this text. But I would not want to force my truth claims on you. Your truth claims would be equally valid. As you see, we are both on a journey; and we both find ourselves on the same road. So, it follows that our destination is also the same. So, let’s just enjoy this time of community and not divide ourselves by discussing meanings and dogma,” said Philippe.

After awhile, they came to a pool of water by the side of the road. There was also a fork in the road at this point, and the official chose the road to the right. Philippe planned to take the road to the left, but first he sat down by the edge of the pool to journal his experiences of the day. He was delighted that he had had an unique opportunity to engage in a dialogue with a person of a culture so diverse from his own.

Meanwhile, the African official went on his way, still searching for the meaning of the text that could have brought him eternal life.

Global Warming and God’s Word

by Bruce Mills

As I have watched the weather reports this year—storm after storm dumping record amounts of snow in the eastern US, unprecedented long periods of cold weather in Florida, unusually warm weather in the northwest—I understand how many people are led to question the validity of the global warming claims.  But the truth is that a single extra long and cold winter does not prove that global warming is a myth anymore than an excessively hot summer proves its validity.  Climate patterns are established over lengthy periods of time, not by a single year’s weather. 

However, I admit that I find the science behind the claims of man’s impact on the world’s climate to be highly questionable at best and completely bogus at worst.  The recent revelations that the Nobel Prize winning organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), went to great length to manipulate the data, to marginalize opposing viewpoints, and to mask the truth about the lack of global warming over the past fifteen years by destroying the records, has intensified the criticism of the claims of the climate change scientists.

But the primary reason why I do not worry about global warming and its alleged impact on our future environment is because God has clearly stated in Scripture that nothing will alter His created climate until He chooses to alter it.  Genesis 8:22 says, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”  Clearly, God intends to sustain this earth and its climate until He destroys it all at the end of the age (2 Peter 3:12).

Believers need to understand that the great reformational statement, Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), is essential to our faith when we are faced with the so-called “scientific evidence” that contradicts what God has said.  We must never allow man’s wisdom to be given greater credence than God’s wisdom.  He has revealed His truth in His Word, and for Christians, God’s Word must be given the supremacy in every conflict with man’s scientific claims.  This is particularly true with such issues as evolution and global warming.

So when your unsaved friends (and even some of your saved friends) buy into the world’s philosophy and alleged “scientific proof” that climate change is in the process of destroying our world, don’t buy it!  Remember: God has clearly said that He will sustain the environment just as it is until the day that He chooses to destroy the earth.  So trust Him and His Word more than you trust man and his science!

The Danger of Falling Away

by Bruce Mills

Sometime back a good friend approached me, concerned that it might be possible that a true believer in Jesus Christ might be able to lose his salvation. His concern arose after reading one of the most misunderstood passages in all of Scripture, Hebrews 6:4-6. This passage says, “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

Admittedly this is one of the most difficult passages in Scripture to interpret properly. Numerous views have been postulated as to how to best understand this difficult passage. But the key issue to keep in mind is that whatever view one takes, it must be consistent with the rest of Scripture.

After studying this passage and the various views that have been proposed to explain it, I have concluded that the individuals who are discussed in this passage are those who were never genuine believers, but who participated in the activities of the church, understood the message of the gospel with full understanding of its impact on their lives, shared in the blessings which came from the Lord upon those who were genuine believers, and yet never genuinely trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord, but instead chose to turn their back on him.

While the terms used in Hebrews 6:4-6 can be used of genuine believers, they are terms which can also be used of those who participate in the fellowship of the church but who have never genuinely received the forgiveness that Christ offers and submitted their lives to His authority. They have been partakers of some of the benefits that the Holy Spirit gives, but only in a peripheral sense; that is, because of their affiliation with genuine believers, they have seen what the Holy Spirit does in the life of a true believer, they have understood the gospel with full comprehension of its implications for their lives, they have received the “overflow” of the blessings which come from the Holy Spirit’s work within a group of true believers, and they have understood the message of God’s Word and the power of the coming age. But despite having all those benefits and that full revelation of the truth, they reject and walk away from it to their eternal perdition.

So let’s go through and examine each part of these verses and see if we can determine what they mean.

First, it says that the Jews whom the writer is addressing were “those who have once been enlightened.” That term does not conclusively mean “born again” or “made righteous.” None of the normal New Testament terminology for salvation is used. The enlightenment here has to do with intellectual perception of spiritual and biblical truth.

When Jesus first began His ministry, Matthew’s gospel tells us that this was to fulfill Isaiah 9:1-2 which says, “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light.” All who saw and heard Jesus saw this “great light,” but not all who saw and heard were saved. They were enlightened, but they were not transformed by that light. They had natural knowledge; that is, factual knowledge about Him. They experienced firsthand the power of His message and His miracles, yet they rejected the truth of who He was and His claim on their lives. The light of the gospel had personally broken in on their darkness, but most of them did not genuinely believe in Him.

The same is true of those being discussed in Hebrews 6:1-8. They were enlightened but not saved. Consequently, they were in danger of losing all opportunity to be saved and, instead, of becoming apostates. They are just like those Peter discussed in 2 Peter 2:20-21— For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

Next, the writer says that this group had not only seen the heavenly light, but had “tasted of the heavenly gift.” There is an interesting Greek word, horaō, which is translated in our English Bibles as “to see.” But the implication of this word is more than just “to see.” It is better understood as “to see with understanding”; that is, to see something with comprehension as to the meaning and purpose. In Hebrews 3:7-11, another warning passage which is parallel to the Hebrews 6 passage under discussion, the writer uses horaō in describing how the Israelites in the wilderness responded to the Lord. Here was a group of people who were led by God’s Shekinah glory in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They had the blessings of God given to them via manna from heaven and water from a rock. They were the beneficiaries of all of God’s blessings upon them. Yet the writer warns his Hebrew readers: “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw (horaō) My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways’; as I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

So here was a group of people who were enlightened by God and received all of His blessing. They saw and understood His works for forty years! That means they understood that what they saw was God at work. They understood His purposes and meaning for them, and yet they still rejected His leadership and authority over them. And the sad result is that God killed all of them in the wilderness and none of them entered into His rest. After forty years, they still did not believe and trust Him; they only followed Him for the blessings He gave them.

And the writer of Hebrews concludes that warning passage in chapter 3 with these words: “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God” (3:12). That is the same message as that found in Hebrews 6:1-8. The writer is saying, “Don’t be like those who were enlightened and tasted God’s heavenly gift (a parallel to the manna), and partook in the pouring of blessings from the Holy Spirit (a parallel to the water from the rock; i.e., the Holy Spirit is often compared to water in the NT; examples: Luke 3:16, Acts 2:33), heard the message of God, and saw the demonstrations of His power, yet walked away. If you do, you will never be able to repent.”

So these verses do not teach that a true believer can lose his or her salvation. Instead, they serve to warn those who, with full knowledge and understanding of who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and have been the beneficiaries of His blessings by their association with believers, continue to reject Him as their Lord and Savior.