Reconciliation,Forgiveness,Lost Contracts

“I am contending in this article that it is not true that the law is dead or dying. Rather, it has gone ‘underground’ in the experience of most, if not all, persons, and forgiveness is yet a vital necessity in the life of the Christian in the literal sense of release from debt. … Forgiveness entails the cancellation of ‘contracts’ between oneself and one's parent surrogates as a first step. … The petition, ‘forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,’ must be taken seriously. In a broader sense it cannot be denied that the possibility of reconciliation must be felt before one can take the first step in forgiveness, as Pilgrim sensed the reality of the celestial city before leaving home. Yet it is felt afar off. One must venture to find the contracts which bind him in estranged relationship without full assurance of release.”