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True forgiveness

arunangelo

Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
247
To forgive is to wipe-off the offenses of our offenders. In order to wipe-off the offenses the offenders must reject sin. Since, only the spirit of God’s love will enable us to reject sin, we must enable our offenders to embrace this spirit by expressing God’s love and compassion towards them. We must always remember that when we sinned God did not condemn us. Instead, by his sacrifice on the cross he instilled the spirit of true love in our hearts; which enables us to reject sin and accept forgiveness. Therefore, we must never refuse to forgive others; because when we refuse to forgive, we reject the spirit of God’s love and the forgiveness that comes from it.
 
Hi arunangelo. That is quite a stark statement you made, "Therefore, we must never refuse to forgive others."

What if they are unrepentant? The Bible reveals that there is a lake of fire, into which unrepentant sinners will be thrown and destroyed by a loving God. Revelation 21:8, (NLT) says: "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars, their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death."

Many believe the Bible teaches that Christians should be forgiving all the time, but notice what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:13, (NLT) says: "God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, 'You must remove the evil person from among you.'" Who was this evil or wicked person in the congregation and why was he not immediately forgiven. In fact, he was removed from the congregation. 1 Corinthians 5:1-7, shows this person committed serious immoral behaviour and was to be removed from the congregation, to protect the rest of the congregation from his corrupting influence. But, later in 2 Corinthians 2:5-9, Paul's comments show this person had changed and was remorseful, so he should now be let back into the congregation and be forgiven. Paul's inspired words show if a person commits serious immoral behaviour and is not repentant, they are not to be forgive, but put out of the congregation. Then, and only when they are repentant should they be allowed back in.

The Bible does not teach "Christians must never refuse to forgive others," even God will refuse to forgive those he destroys in the lake of burning sulphur.
 
Hi arunangelo. That is quite a stark statement you made, "Therefore, we must never refuse to forgive others."

What if they are unrepentant? The Bible reveals that there is a lake of fire, into which unrepentant sinners will be thrown and destroyed by a loving God. Revelation 21:8, (NLT) says: "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars, their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death."

Many believe the Bible teaches that Christians should be forgiving all the time, but notice what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:13, (NLT) says: "God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, 'You must remove the evil person from among you.'" Who was this evil or wicked person in the congregation and why was he not immediately forgiven. In fact, he was removed from the congregation. 1 Corinthians 5:1-7, shows this person committed serious immoral behaviour and was to be removed from the congregation, to protect the rest of the congregation from his corrupting influence. But, later in 2 Corinthians 2:5-9, Paul's comments show this person had changed and was remorseful, so he should now be let back into the congregation and be forgiven. Paul's inspired words show if a person commits serious immoral behaviour and is not repentant, they are not to be forgive, but put out of the congregation. Then, and only when they are repentant should they be allowed back in.

The Bible does not teach "Christians must never refuse to forgive others," even God will refuse to forgive those he destroys in the lake of burning sulphur.

God come into this world for sinners-people who rejected him. He died for them. That is what we have to do. Many however, do not accept salvation and refuse to repent and refuse to forgive. They, therefore bring hell upon themselves. Like Jesus we too have to sacrifice our own interest to help all those who hurt us and pray for them. If they do not repent it is their doing but we must ceaselessly try to help them just as the Good Shepherd leave everything and goes after the lost sheep.
 
I've read that forgiveness is not about the offender avoiding the consequences of their deeds; rather it's about me not holding a resentment against him/her. My resentments do more damage to me than they do to the other person.

SLE
 
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