Seeking the Road to Salvation

On this erev Yom Kippur, as the gate of the year closes, we Jews acknowledge that God controls all, but that humans can "temper the divine decree." In Jewish belief, God cannot forgive all sins. The sins we commit against others have to be forgiven by those we sin against. Why is this? Thomas Merton, a (Catholic) Trappist monk famous for his writings of faith--may his soul rest in peace--writes of the need we have of others for our own salvation. He writes,

God has willed that we should all depend on one another for our salvation, and all strive together for our own mutual good and our own common salvation.

Jesus embraced the Jewish notion of forgiveness, teaching the disciples to pray, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." In this prayer, it is we who must forgive those who sin against us, not God, and vice versa.

If we didn't need to seek forgiveness from those we sin against, we would never learn what it means to be a friend, or a lover, or a member of a community. If God doesn't forgive our sins against others, it is likely out of love.

Perhaps the path to salvation is not a narrow, lonely road, or an opening in a quickly closing gate, but an embrace. Let us seek it out together.