In the Margins - 10/13/2026

Things I Read

I'm reading Chris Brauns' excellent book, Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds. Highly recommended. Jay Adams' book From Forgiven to Forgiving as well.

And since I've been thinking a lot about forgiveness recently, I've also read some articles and book reviews related to the subject. If you're wrestling over the biblical concept of "conditional forgiveness," give these a read.

Here's a written interview Kevin DeYoung did with Chris Brauns about the book.

Here's Tim Challies' article: "Is Forgiveness Conditional or Unconditional?"

Here's Trevin Wax's article: "Is Forgiveness Conditional?".

Things I Listened To

I love Rikard From on the piano. His album Sun of June is great.

Things I Watched

I watched this video of Dr. Robert Jones discussing the question of whether we should forgive someone who is unrepentant.

Things I Thought

As you can tell from just about everything I'm reading and watching, I've been thinking about the nature of forgiveness. I think it is important for us to understand this topic, and it's especially important in counseling. So many people live every day with unrepentant offenders, abusers, oppressors, without any remorse and with no desire to change. To tell these people to just "forgive" is confusing at best, and cheapens what real forgiveness is.

Quotes to Ponder

Martin Luther was once asked whether he felt his sins were forgiven. He answered, "No, I don't feel they are forgiven; I know they are because God says so in His Word."