The Forgiveness of God: An Existential Problem

Many times one will hear something like, "Why can't God just forgive humanity?" Sometimes it is posed with deep sincerity. Sometimes it is posed against penal substitutionary forms of the cross. John Stott takes a traditional (Anselmian) approach that God's majesty demands satisfaction. Because is not desiring that humanity be destroyed, he substitutes for them. I think this is a fine and biblical approach. However, I think there is another, more existential, approach.

Existentialism affirms that there is a deep angst in humanity. There is a sense in which humans are not whole; they will die. It also affirms that there is a sense in which personal experience shapes our interpretation Reality. As a result, one can never completely enter the shoes of another. Putting this in terms of forgiveness, if sin is against not only God, but also against humans, then for God to forgive would be for him to enter the shoes of another. Sometimes you might here someone say, "How can you forgive them? You don't know what they put me through!" Very true. In the suffering of Christ, however, God says, "I do know." Moreover, not only does God know from the perspective of the victim, but also of the perpetrator. God knows the result of a guilty verdict.