Can you forgive?

forgive: to give up resentment of or claim to requital for that’s webster’s def. It makes me think that forgiving others actually heals you emotionally, and doesn’t do much for the person you are pardoning. They of course, would need to forgive themselves. I think that forgiveness varies directly with how you judge others. forgiving isn’t rate-able on a hard to easy scale for me. and we must forgive an infinate number of times, because holding in resentment harms only our selves. as far as the faith goes… god told me to say that.

I just remembered that Biblically, even God is not all forgiving. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is said to be unforgivable. Also, from a Biblical perspective, God does not forgive those who do not repent, so Biblegod sounds a lot like me in that regard.

It’s not just turning the other cheek, it is an act of will, faith and obedience. You cannot forgive someone if you are not willing to forgive them.

Yes, I believe that forgiveness is very hard at times. It comes easier for some than others. However, it is a requirement for everyone of us.

It is not a request.

It is a commandment.

If we desire to be forgiven… we must forgive.

Not if we want to. We must.

And he will help us, if we are struggling in this area.

Go to him, and say, I will to forgive, please enable me to do so.

He understands our human limitations.

But, we have to make every effort to obey his commands.

If we want to walk in victory…

And success…

and forgiveness…

To some degree, grudges are cultural, but I don’t see that they are completely. To the extent they are instinctive, they must hold some benefit. The reality is, that some people really will hurt you as often as you let them. It’s rational to hold such people accountable in perpetuity (aka, never forgive them).

So, it’s a judgment call as to whether or not to forgive. Has the person made a sincere attempt at restitution? If so, then forgive. Was there malice in their actions? If not, then forgive.

But, if there was malice, and no attempt at restitution, then in my opinion, it’s foolish to forgive such people.

Research is actually interesting about forgiveness, Im actually in a lab that is doing a study about it. According to research, people who are able to forgive are more emotionally healthy. I dont see how forgiveness has anything to do with faith… I guess that whole being angry with someone just hurts you is true…

But forgetting what a person did is just stupid. If someone cheats on you continuously, and you forgive them every time, well then maybe you deserve it…

Oh, sometimes forgiving is hard to do. That is when you need to forgive the most. When a person is able to forgive and hold no grudge, but love and accept that person it shows how close their Christian walk is with God

In the 1980s there was a horrible crime in Britain. Armed men broke into a vicarage, beat and tied up the vicar, murdered his wife and raped his daughter. Afterwards the vicar was interviewed on TV. He was, of course, traumatised, grieving and very concerned for his daughter. But he was asked if he could forgive the criminals and he just said somthing like: ‘Oh yes, I’ve forgiven them. It wasn’t too hard, because I’ve had practice all my life forgiving little things, so it’s become a habit which helped me when I needed it most’. His point was that the outworking of his faith had given him the kind of emotional health that warmheart and meganhead identify as being necessary for forgiveness.