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After reading this comment, I feel I must reply. Now I do not know the theological background that you espouse, however, I am going to take a shot in the dark. Regardless of the validity or soundness of the sentence you pointed out, there appear to be some theological discrepencies in your questions. Are some mistakes beyond setting right? First, if yes, this implies that Jesus' blood is not sufficient to impute Righteousness to any of us sinners who turn to Him; that there may in fact be a limit to the amount that God can justly forgive through the crucifixion of His Son. I would argue this is unsound in Christian doctrine. Second, if a mistake is beyond setting right when a person has a repentant heart and turns to God, this implies that God cannot really work everything for His Glory and the good of those who believe, as Paul claims in Romans 8. It would say that certain heinous sins are beyond the ability or power of God to deal with and glorify Himself through. This seems to limit the power and might of our God. I do not think that is wise. Likewise, for all mistakes, the only atonement any human can find is in the blood of Jesus. No mistake can out way this weight of justice and imputed Glory and Righteousness. Glory to God!

I think this is one of those situations where you really can't expect the writer to cover every possible human scenario. Over-explanation and numerous details added so that every logical scenario is covered weakens writing.

I think we all know what I'm talking about. Being willing to set things right - where possible - indicates serious remorse and repentence. Simply saying you're sorry does not.

If you want to push me on this, I can come up with scenarios where ammends aren't possible. I think this is understood.

It wasn't, but now it is.

Looks like I killed the comments. Sorry about that!

Keith, I think I understand what you mean. But I don't think RLP means to suggest that we can do away with the consequences of our actions.

Sometimes "setting things right" is a matter of letting justice run its course. Which doesn't mean the world will return to the way it was before our mistake.

Murderers can't bring someone back to life, for instance. The consequence of their actions are not reversible. And yet some murderers accept justice and even work to prevent others from doing what they did. In a way, they are seeking to "set things right" by acknowledging that what they did was wrong.

That example may be melodramatic. How about the student who cheats on a research paper? Rewriting the paper doesn't change their act of dishonesty. It is more a matter of accepting what they should have done in the first place. As a teacher, I still lost a little bit of faith in such students, but I also tried to extend grace to them if they were willing to learn from their mistake and change their actions in the future.

I don't know. It's a good question, Keith.

Oh, I don't think that's melodramatic at all. People rape, torture, and kill children. It happens regularly. Individual acts don't even make the news most of the time, it's so mundane.

I don't see that taking responsibility for it would be more important than the act.

I'm not sure that's what Gordon meant, though. I may have taken the sentence too literally and without understanding context. (Though if I did, it wasn't for lack of trying.)

I'm not trying to argue. Just looking for clarification.

We are to be accountable for our actions and choices.But nothing is unforgivable ... that's GRACE. Crazy God!

We all have a lot of making up to do. The point is that once saved (woken up to the consequences of our actions) what we do about it counts. We cannot (usually) undo what we did - but we can take steps to as you say make up for what we did (and more) ... redress the balance .. and most of all bring God's light and hope into a very sad and broken world.

bless you.