“Sorry, but Jesus didn’t forgive them, he asked God to sometime in the future. That is not the same.”
So, you contend that Jesus was asking the Father to do something that Jesus Himself refused to do? That would seem to contradict John 5:19: “... the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
I submit, on the contrary, the only interpretation that is consistent what we know of Jesus, is to take the fact that He asked the Father to forgive as direct evidence that Jesus had already forgiven them.
“Why didn’t Jesus say that both of the men that hung on crosses with Him would be in Heaven that very day, if he instantly forgave the second of his unrepentant impertinence?”
You’re confusing personal forgiveness with other matters again. If either of the men had personally done some wrong to Jesus, then that would be something Jesus could choose to forgive as a personal matter, but that isn’t the case with either of those men.
“As I keep saying, the very connotation of forgiveness is that it is a reciprocal action that is proceeded by another action.”
But it isn’t. There is no reciprocation required at all. If I forgive a debt that is owed to me, absolutely no action is required of the debtor, and so it is with our spiritual debts as well.
“What you are in fact saying is that I can accept your apology for being totally wrong on this subject, even though you haven’t offered me any such apology.”
No, I am not saying that. I am saying you can forgive someone without them asking for an apology, and that forgiveness is not the same thing as accepting an apology.
As Jesus was speaking in the present about a future action, and God forgives sins, Jesus wasn't refusing to do it, He couldn't do it, because no desire for forgiveness yet existed. Jesus could not accept what wasn't being offered and asked God His Father to accept it, should it be offered in the future. If Jesus could have accepted and forgiven them He would have, as He did with the thief on the Cross.
There is no biblical basis for the assertion that Jesus forgave in separate capacities.
So Christianity is a sham? All sins are forgiven the moment they occur and no repentance is necessary? We'll all go to Heaven fully forgiven, no matter what?
Or are you stating that God holds us to a higher standard than He does Himself on the matter of forgiveness?