One of the hardest things for a person to do is to forgive themselves or forgive another family member, especially a spouse of getting into an Arizona IRS problem.\u00a0 This situation can become even more difficult when the spouse who gets in trouble keeps it a secret from the \u201cinnocent spouse\u201d until the IRS comes knocking on the door.\u00a0 If you have a serious Mesa AZ IRS problem you need a competent professional who can help navigate you towards the right solution and then be successful at arriving at that \u201cport.\u201d\u00a0 If you sincerely want to work with the right person, let me recommend that you contact Scott Allen E.A. immediately at 480-926-9300 and schedule a free consultation.\u00a0 Scott will be able to put your mind at ease during your first meeting with him.\u00a0 And if you are married, it is imperative that both spouses attend that first meeting if at all possible.\u00a0 If you meet with Scott you will be glad you read this blog.<\/p>\n
Fyodor Dostoevsky and Forgiveness<\/span><\/p>\n One of the hardest of life\u2019s Horrors is to watch a loved one suffer especially when they are young or innocent of any wrong doing.\u00a0 I would like to share with you a portion of what I consider the greatest book by the greatest author or all time\u2014The Brothers Karamazov<\/em> by Fyodor Dostoevsky.\u00a0 Dostoevsky addresses this problem in his book.<\/p>\n There is a discussion about the problem of evil between Alyosha Karamazov, who is a Christian monk, and his skeptical brother, Ivan Karamazov.\u00a0 Ivan says he believes the whole story about God but cannot accept it.\u00a0 This is a quote from Dostoevsky\u2019s novel:<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t accept God, you must understand; it\u2019s the world created by Him I don\u2019t and cannot accept.\u00a0 Let me make it plain.\u00a0 I believe, like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage,\u2026that in the world\u2019s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood they\u2019ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened with men\u2014but though all that may come to pass, I don\u2019t accept it. I won\u2019t accept it.\u00a0 That\u2019s what\u2019s at the root of me, Alyosha; that\u2019s my creed.<\/p>\n In this extraordinary statement, Ivan cites his atheistic rejection of God\u2014not that there is no God, but the meaning of God in view of all the horrors of the human condition.\u00a0 The root of Ivan\u2019s problem is the horror of innocent human suffering, especially of young children.\u00a0 Ivan can\u2019t reconcile the problem of evil that comes from the malicious use of freedom by other human beings and hold on to his belief in God\u2019s providence.\u00a0 No amount of divine forgiveness, no divine salvation, no divine reconciliation can make up for the fact that innocent human beings have suffered\u2014that is what is unacceptable to Ivan.<\/p>\n In explaining why he cannot accept it, Ivan makes up a story and presents it as if it actually happened.\u00a0 The story is of the aristocratic owner of a great estate living in luxury and ruling over two thousand serfs that labor for him.\u00a0 He is a retired general convinced that he has earned absolute power over the lives of his subjects. He has a kennel of hundreds of dogs and nearly a hundred dog boys, all in uniform.\u00a0 One day a serf boy, a little child of eight, throws a stone while playing and hurts a paw of the general\u2019s favored dog. The general is told which boy threw a stone that hurt the dog\u2019s paw.\u00a0 \u201cTake him,\u201d the general says.\u00a0 Here are Dostoevsky\u2019s words:<\/p>\n He was taken, taken from his mother and kept shut up all night.\u00a0 Early that morning the general comes out on horseback, the hounds, his dependants, dog boys and huntsmen, all mounted around him in full hunting parade.\u00a0 The servants are summoned for their edification and in front of them all stands the mother of the child.\u00a0 The child is brought from the lock-up.\u00a0 It is a gloomy, cold, foggy autumn day.\u00a0 A capital day for hunting.\u00a0 The general orders the child to be undressed.\u00a0 The child is stripped naked.\u00a0 He shivers, numb with terror, not daring to cry.\u00a0 \u201cMake him run,\u201d commands the general.\u00a0 \u201cRun! Run!\u201d shout the dog boys.\u00a0 \u201cAt him!\u201d yells the general and he sets the whole pack of hounds on the child.\u00a0 The hounds catch him and tear him to pieces before his mother\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n A bit later in the passage Ivan says:<\/p>\n I want to see with my own eyes the \u2018deer lie down with the lion,\u2019 and the victim rise up and embrace his murderer.\u00a0 I want to be there when suddenly everyone understands what it\u2019s all been for.\u00a0 All the religions of the world are built on this longing and I\u2019m a believer.\u00a0 But then there are the children\u2026I renounce the higher harmony altogether.\u00a0 It\u2019s not worth the tears of that one tortured child who beat itself on the breast with its little fist and prayed in its stinking outhouse, with its unexpiated tears to \u2018dear, kind God!\u2019\u00a0 It\u2019s not worth it\u2026<\/p>\n After reading these passages, I felt that Dostoevsky had painted himself in a corner and would not be able to address the horror of what happened to this little boy.\u00a0 Dostoevsky was a devout Christian who prided himself on being able to give better reasons for being an atheist than the atheists.\u00a0 He faced all of the hard questions of life.\u00a0 No Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da here.\u00a0 And let\u2019s be honest.\u00a0 Haven\u2019t you had similar concerns as well with the world around us?<\/p>\n In Book 6, Dostoevsky presents the story of Father Zossima, the Russian monk who preaches the hidden meaning of love as revealed in the atonement of Jesus; a love that reveals itself in its highest form–forgiveness.\u00a0 Not only to his crucifiers but to every person who has ever lived on the earth.<\/p>\n Two episodes from Father Zossima\u2019s life reveal how he came to be the living example of this truth of forgiveness.\u00a0 Father Zossima tells the story of the death of his brother when Zossima was still a child.\u00a0 His brother who died while he was a young man teaches us that only the spirit of forgiveness can save humanity from despair in the face of evil and reconcile us with God.\u00a0\u00a0 This spirit of universal and unconditional forgiveness flows from acceptance of the truth that, \u201cwe are all responsible to all others and for all<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0 Here is the story of the Zossima\u2019s brother\u2019s conversion.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t cry, mother,\u201d he would answer, \u201clife is paradise, and we are all in paradise, but we won\u2019t see it; if we would, we should have heaven on earth the next day.\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n Mother shook her head as she listened.\u00a0 \u201cMy darling, it\u2019s your illness that makes you talk like that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMother darling,\u201d he would say, \u201cthere must be servant and master, but if so I will be the servant of my servants, the same as they are to me.\u00a0 And another thing, mother, every one of us has sinned against all men, and I more than any<\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n Mother positively smiled at that and smiled through her tears.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy, how could you have sinned against all men, more than all?\u00a0 Robbers and murderers have done that, but what sin have you committed yet, that you hold yourself more guilty than all?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMother, little heart of mine\u2026 my joy, believe me, everyone is really responsible to all men for all men<\/span> and for everything.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how to explain it to you, but I feel it is so, painfully even.\u00a0 And how is it we went on then living, getting angry and not knowing<\/span>?\u201d<\/p>\n Father Zossima\u2019s story of his own conversion, after the conversion and death of his brother illustrates the experience of liberation that follows from the recognition and acknowledgment of one\u2019s need for forgiveness.\u00a0 I want to retell that story for you in its full detail.<\/p>\n Zossima\u2019s own conversion begins with a challenge to a duel over a conflict with another man over a woman.\u00a0 He has agreed to the duel and goes home that night to await the duel the next morning.\u00a0 Here is the story from this point.<\/p>\n And then something happened that in very truth was the turning-point of my life.\u00a0 In the evening, returning home in a savage and brutal humor, I flew into a rage with my orderly Afansy, and gave him two blows in the face with all my might, so that it was covered with blood. \u2026And, believe me, though it\u2019s forty years ago, I recall it now with shame and pain.\u00a0 I went to bed and slept for about three hours; when I woke up the day was breaking.\u00a0 I got up\u2026looked out upon the garden; I saw the sun rising; it was warm and beautiful, the birds were singing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s the meaning of it?\u201d I thought.\u00a0 I feel in my heart as it were something vile and shameful\u2026And all at once I knew what it was: it was because I had beaten Afansy the evening before!\u00a0 It all rose before my mind, it all was\u2026repeated over again; he stood before me and I was beating him straight on the face and he was holding his arms stiffly down, his head erect, his eyes fixed upon me as though on parade.\u00a0 He staggered at every blow and did not even dare to raise his hands to protect himself.\u00a0 That is what a man has been brought to, and that was a man beating a fellow creature!\u00a0 What a crime!… I hid my face in my hands, fell on my bed and broke into a storm of tears.\u00a0 And then I remembered my brother Markel and what he said on his death bed to his servants: \u201cMy dear ones, why do you wait on me, why do you love me, am I worth your waiting on me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, am I worth it?\u201d flashed through my mind.\u00a0 \u201cAfter all, what am I worth, that another man, a fellow creature, made in the likeness and image of God, should serve me?\u201d\u00a0 For the first time in my life this question forced itself upon me.\u00a0 He had said, \u201cMother, my little heart, in truth we are each responsible to all for all<\/span>, it\u2019s only that men don\u2019t know this.\u00a0 If they knew it, the world would be a paradise at once<\/span>.\u201d Perhaps that is why when Jesus was asked how many times we should be willing to forgive others he said, \u201cI say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, until seventy times seven.\u201d\u00a0 As Dostoevsky puts it\u2014Jesus was responsible, \u201cto all others for all others,\u201d and that is what He expects from us if we are to become like Him and are to find meaning in our lives.\u00a0 \u00a0Having a forgiving heart does not protect us from having trials in life, but it does help us to endure them when they occur.<\/p>\n I will close with this thought\u2014forgive yourself if you have a Gilbert AZ IRS problem.\u00a0 Spouses forgive your spouse that created an Arizona IRS problem for you to deal with, even if you were innocent of knowing what was going on.<\/p>\n I promise you that you will be thankful that you chose Scott Allen E.A to be your IRS resolution professional.\u00a0 Call Scott today at 480-926-9300 for your free consultation.\u00a0 You will be glad you did and your mind will be put at ease.<\/p>\n Print off this blog and bring it with you at the initial consultation and receive $50.00 off any IRS resolution work we do. \u00a0One blog offer per client.<\/p>\n – Scott Allen<\/a> – info@taxdebtadvisors.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the hardest things for a person to do is to forgive themselves or forgive another family member, especially a spouse of getting into an Arizona IRS problem.\u00a0 This situation can become even more difficult when the spouse who gets in trouble keeps it a secret from the \u201cinnocent spouse\u201d until the IRS comes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[86],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxdebtadvisors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cGod, can that too be false?\u201d\u00a0 I thought as I wept.\u00a0 \u201cIn truth, perhaps, I am more that all others responsible for all, a greater sinner than all men in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n