Forgiveness Can Not Erase the Past

These Branch Davidians are very interesting! Listen to this short "lesson". They've got an interesting blend of being strongly rational and materialist, and yet have a deep comprehension of the Bible.

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Forgiveness Can Not Erase the Past
The lesson discusses forgiveness, and uses the story of David and Bathsheba as an example.
The lesson does not brush over the consequences of David’s sin. 2 Samuel tells us that the sword would never depart from David’s house.
While we can be forgiven after we repent, the truth is, the consequences of some sin can never be reversed. All we can do, and all God can do, is make the best of whatever the situation leaves us. Thankfully, God promises to do this for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).
Our choices forever change what the future will be. Not only for us, but for everyone else too. Any choice, like where you choose to take a job for example, just WILL affect the course of your life. Different choice – different life. And obviously, this is also the case with the choice to sin.
Forgiveness can never wipe out the reality of the past. In the case here in 2 Samuel with King David, no amount of forgiveness for David would ever affect Uriah, because Uriah’s reality was over. Uriah’s friend’s and family’s lives were forever devastated by David’s sin. Now, to be clear, forgiveness definitely impacts the future for all who are affected by sin, which is everyone, but forgiveness will never wipe away the tragedy caused by our choices to sin. This is just a reality due to the linear nature of time.
Justification cannot erase the permanent effects of sinful choices either.
Some think that to be justified means that God will see me “just-as-if-I-never-sinned.” But, since it is impossible for our futures not to be impacted by our choices in this moment, that idea is completely out of touch with reality. The only way God could make things “just-as-if-I-never-sinned” is to go back in time and cause me to make a different choice (in the case of sin, the righteous choice), therefore causing a different reality to commence.
But this cannot happen, because, first of all, God can’t cause me to make any choice…I can only do that for myself. Second, time is just the change of events from one moment to the next. Time is a one way street, and even God cannot go back in time to do anything. I know it is common for people to imagine that God is outside of time and able to go to any moment past, present, or future. But where in Scripture does it say anything like that about God? The truth is, the scriptures don't present God as a time-traveller. They present him as a real being within time and space. As one example, consider this passage from Jeremiah. The context is that the northern kingdom of Israel had apostatized and now Judah had apostatized as well. God was greatly troubled over this and the following passage is the beginning of Jeremiah's record of what God said to him about it. It is Jeremiah 3:6-7.
This is just one of many passages that clearly portray God as experiencing time moment by moment as we all do. And there is no scripture that says that God is outside of time.

Time is actually just a fundamental part of reality. The past is the past. It does not exist anymore, and it cannot be undone. The past is gone; all we have from it is how it has shaped the present. This includes our present memories of what happened in the past and the present consequences of our past choices and actions.

Furthermore, the future does not exist yet. All that we have is the present moment, and our choices each moment necessarily affect the course of our lives in the future.
And this is why it is so important to stop sinning. Every choice we make affects everything else going forward. This will be the case forever into eternity. This reality does not change when Jesus returns. It literally can’t change when Jesus returns. It just is what is true about material reality. We can’t change the past, and our choices today affect the future.

Sabbath School Q3 2021: Rest in Christ - Week Four
A Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist perspective on the Sabbath School lesson.
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Email us at bdsdalit@gmail.com for comments and literature requests.

See "Battle for Today," by Teresa Wilde
https://youtu.be/dReo1edIKMc

"The Power of Forgiveness," by Trent Wilde
https://youtu.be/3-pinxLiizs

"Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2018 Week Nine: Justification"
https://youtu.be/2Wy2Qn1h14A