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Forgiveness

wondering said:
What does forgiving mean anyway??
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It means we release ourselves from those who have done us wrong. We no longer judge them.Instead, we leave that to God.
wondering said:
Is there a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation??
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Yes.
Forgiveness allows us to move on, free from those who have done us wrong. Forgiveness sets us free from bitterness, anger and bad feelings.
Reconciliation can only happen after forgiveness. It’s when two are at peace with each other with no hard feelings etc. There are cases where reconciliation will never occur, but there are absolutely no instances where one can’t forgive another.
 
What we need to watch is getting angry at other Christians, right here on this forum.
We might think because we don't see each other face to face, we don't need to forgive when we get offended.
And if we stay on the forum long enough, we will get offended.
Forgive the person, tell them you forgive them, and move on.
I've had to do it, we all should.
 
Rollo Tamasi said:
What we need to watch is getting angry at other Christians, right here on this forum.
We might think because we don't see each other face to face, we don't need to forgive when we get offended.
And if we stay on the forum long enough, we will get offended.
Forgive the person, tell them you forgive them, and move on.
I've had to do it, we all should.
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Amen. And I can say that I have asked for forgiveness many times.
 
stovebolts said:
My wife and I have been attending a small group where we are going through a seminar called Pathways to Wholeness”. It is a very powerful seminar and I wanted to share a summary on the events that might hinder our choice to forgive.

1. A painful hurt or injustice.
Memories may be so painful that being able to forgive can seem impossible. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. Trust him to heal you. Isaiah 61:1

2. Waiting for an apology from the person who hurt us.
Since that apology may never happen, we would stay in sin and be bound by our choice not to forgive.

3. The person continues hurting me.
Jesus instructs us that we are to forgive 490 times a day. Matthew 18:21-22

4. Thinking that forgiving the person would be the same as excusing what they did.
God is not asking us to excuse or pretend the hurt did not happen. Forgiving is not excusing, it is a choice to release the other person from our judgment, and let God be the judge instead!

5. They do not deserve forgiveness.
None of us deserve forgiveness. Our sins were forgiven in Christ Jesus. He paid the price. It is our choice to be obedient to do what Jesus asked: forgive others as you have been forgiven.

Bitterness:
choosing to hold onto unforgiveness causes bitterness. Bitterness is corrosive.


RC Ministry | Pathways To Wholeness

rcministry.org
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All our teaching and practice about forgiveness has to be based on scripture and how it shows that God forgives.

Basic fact we are forgiven by God only when we repent.
That is found throughout the bible, you know the prophets cry, if my people will turn ( repent ) then I will heal there land.

Every NT verse telling us to forgive was written with the vital requirements for repentance or the equally vital fact that if they say sorry we have to forgive.

An aside that demonstrates the incompetence of the author of the book being quoted is he does not see that the passage about forgiving 77x 7 times is it is also part of where Jesus in Luke say we must forgive' if they repent.

How does one deal with recentment or where there is no apology?
Jesus showed us while being crucified he prayed 'Father, forgive them.' note he is not forgiving them but handing the situation over to God for him to deal with it.

That is what we have to do. TellGod about the incident, our feelings, anger etc and ask him to handle it.
Then week the hard part, which is why so fewChristian will accept this biblical teaching, we pray regularly and intelligently for the offender's good.

Forgiveness is a serious issue that few understand. Most prefer to try to manufacture feelings of forgiveness.
 
stovebolts said:
It means we release ourselves from those who have done us wrong. We no longer judge them.Instead, we leave that to God.

Yes.
Forgiveness allows us to move on, free from those who have done us wrong. Forgiveness sets us free from bitterness, anger and bad feelings.
Reconciliation can only happen after forgiveness. It’s when two are at peace with each other with no hard feelings etc. There are cases where reconciliation will never occur, but there are absolutely no instances where one can’t forgive another.
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Great reply SB.
Thanks!

Just a little extra for any reading along that shouldn't become discouraged.

Sometimes we intend to forgive someone and this is a first step.
We might actually still be judging them and have some hurt feelings or anger.

As time goes by, this forgiveness of our is respected by God and the Holy Ghost
works in us to remove the negative feelings that went along with the reason why the other person
needed to be forgiven.

One day you wake up and the bad feelings are gone and you're set free, as you've stated above.

OR...it can happen immediately too.
I believe most persons need the time to heal.
 
wondering said:
OK.
But I just want to note that apologizing is not the same as forgiving.
One is outer and may not mean much...
One is inner and means everything.
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True but if you apologize to somebody forgiveness isn't up to you, it's up to the other person that you hurt. Just like all those years I thought that I blew it with my friends that didn't forgive me, but it turns out that I did everything I possibly could do, it was their own fault for not accepting my apology and I guess they weren't really my friends then. Unlike most people on this website who have forgiven me when I didn't deserve it and have shown the true light and love of Christ. :cross
 
HeIsRisen2018 said:
True but if you apologize to somebody forgiveness isn't up to you, it's up to the other person that you hurt. Just like all those years I thought that I blew it with my friends that didn't forgive me, but it turns out that I did everything I possibly could do, it was their own fault for not accepting my apology and I guess they weren't really my friends then. Unlike most people on this website who have forgiven me when I didn't deserve it and have shown the true light and love of Christ. :cross
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Great point A....
(but I was talking about the OTHER person!)
 
wondering said:
Oh....
And let me add to that:
I think this is a very nice forum.
Everyone here is basically a good person from
what I can tell.

I've been on a couple of forums (not for long) where
some there were mean -- they didn't act like Christians at all.
(although we could all make a mistake...but it should be a mistake
and not a way of life).
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If you make a mistake more than once than generally speaking it's not a mistake anymore because we're supposed to learn from our mistakes so that we don't make them again.
 
wondering said:
Oh....
And let me add to that:
I think this is a very nice forum.
Everyone here is basically a good person from
what I can tell.

I've been on a couple of forums (not for long) where
some there were mean -- they didn't act like Christians at all.
(although we could all make a mistake...but it should be a mistake
and not a way of life).
Click to expand...
Of course this forum is great.
Ralph and Jethro use to roam this forum.
 
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