Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Psalm 32:1

• Secular thinkers bemoan the fact that Christians allege that human beings are sinners. Recently a university executive was chastised and forced to apologize for suggesting that “human nature” was at fault in the continuing danger of campus rape. If you had been privileged to speak with that executive before she felt compelled to apologize for her statement, what would you have said?
• Forgiveness is so important to the human experience that it is one of the teachings embodied in the Lord’s Prayer. Further, Jesus re-emphasized that teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus makes the point that our forgiveness of others is intricately linked with our experience of forgiveness from God. Why is forgiving so crucial to being forgiven?
• People who choose to engage in homosexual behavior take extreme umbrage when any Christian calls it sinful. They interpret it as judgment purporting to come from a superior moral position. How do you interpret the observation that the Bible declares homosexuality to be sin?
• The psalmist said that someone who is forgiven is blessed and his sins are all covered up. Who can be forgiven? If God forgives you and covers up your sin so you don’t have to feel shame about it any more, what happens to the natural consequences of your sinful behavior? What does God want you to do about the natural consequences of your sinful behavior?