Is Forgiveness Overrated?

by leavingwt 195 Replies latest jw friends

  • Found Sheep
    Found Sheep

    ok release the guilt. what ever i decide the problem was there probleme not mine. right?

  • yesidid
    yesidid

    Nugget said:

    Are we not taught as JWs that Jehovah has the potential to forgive everyone. The fact that we are also taught he will destroy many at Armageddon must indicate that he does not choose to forgive all people.

    Wow never thought of that. That's a keeper. Thank you.

  • journey-on
    journey-on
    ok release the guilt. what ever i decide the problem was there probleme not mine. right?
    Found Sheep, as I said, without knowing what BIG THINGS means from your previous post, I can't say what I would do. I say release the guilt you have over your decision to keep them at a distance if that decision was made with prayerful thought and right intention. Don't hold onto hate, anger, and revenge. Forgive the debt, let it go, and don't feel guilty.
  • Quentin
    Quentin

    Forgivness and forgetting small things is easy, we do it all the time, life moves on. Your wife, child, friend, whatever, says something hurtfull, doing so because they are immature, or stupid is no big thing.

    I will not, for any reason, forgive, nor forget the uncle who rapped and sodmised my daughter over a period of 11 years. I will not forgive or, forget my aunt, his wife, or my step-mother for allowing him to do that. As a family we have lived for thirty years with that fallout. My daughter is in a great deal of pain, it has destroyed her ability to have solid and peacfull relationships with everyone in her live. Her children are the most affected. No, Iwill not forgive, I will not forget the evil that was done. I don't have to, neither does she.

    Fifty,or a hundrerd years ago I could have shot that basturd off his porch. No one would have batted an eye, What has happened to our sense ofjustice that has caused us to live in a world of touchy feely sob for the prepatrator with this forgive and forget nonsense? Neither will I forgive her evil rat basturd husband, whom she has been seperated from for four years, for beating her bloody in front of the kids, more than once, then blaming her for his drinking and pill popping. Even now that snake is chasing her around wanting her back, if she would go get herself fixed. Is forgivness overated, you betcha.

  • AGuest
    AGuest
    The fact that we are also taught he will destroy many at Armageddon must indicate that he does not choose to forgive all people.

    There is no "Armageddon," dear Yes (peace to you!). There is a war that is fought at the "place" called "Har-Mageddon." That war results when people... who have NOT learned love... come against the Holy City, New Jerusalem... which is Christ and His Body. These... Gog and Magog... will NEVER learn peace. That the Most Holy One of Israel ultimatelyl destroys these is due to the fact that the right... and privilege... of vengeance... is His alone. Not other spirits', not angels', not man's... not even Christ's.

    While He is merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, He does reserve the RIGHT to avenge the blood of any He chooses... including and most particularly, the holy ones. He doesn't always act on that right... and He certainly doesn't act rashly, harshly, or quickly. But He can and does act... when it is His will to do so. It is His right.

    I hope this helps clarify and, again, I bid you peace...

    YOUR servant and a slave of Christ,

    SA

  • yesidid
    yesidid

    Shelby said

    There is no "Armageddon," dear Yes (peace to you!). There is a war that is fought at the "place" called "Har-Mageddon." That war results when people... who have NOT learned love... come against the Holy City, New Jerusalem... which is Christ and His Body. These... Gog and Magog... will NEVER learn peace. That the Most Holy One of Israel ultimatelyl destroys these is due to the fact that the right... and privilege... of vengeance... is His alone. Not other spirits', not angels', not man's... not even Christ's.
    While He is merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, He does reserve the RIGHT to avenge the blood of any He chooses... including and most particularly, the holy ones. He doesn't always act on that right... and He certainly doesn't act rashly, harshly, or quickly. But He can and does act... when it is His will to do so. It is His right.

    Dear Shelby, I agree with you. I was trying to make the point ( as nugget first said) that the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses make no sense, and are not in accord with Bible teaching.

    y

  • myelaine
    myelaine

    dear journey-on...

    you said in post 4649: "I go back to what I said earlier in this thread. You have forgiven when you no longer desire revenge. When you can say, I have let it go and given it to the higher powers for judgement, you have forgiven. That doesn't mean you should accept it or forget it. Just don't keep it in your "accounts" any longer. Write it off!"...

    revelation 6:10 has the saints crying for God to avenge their blood...(it seems they haven't forgotten)...forgiveness is complex.

    love michelle

  • Terry
    Terry

    Thinking about having sex with a child....sin

    Molesting a child.....crime

    Lusting after someone else's wife....sin

    Raping her....crime

    You can forgive the sin, but I don't believe you can ever forget the crime. And are we expected to? Some seem to be twisting scripture to make it sound like we CAN forget all of it. I don't think so. And I don't believe that is what we are supposed to do.

    The battery in the flashlight which makes the light turn on when you press the button is THINKING. No thinking (no battery) no SIN (no light.)

    Jesus referred to this. "Anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultry in his heart."

    That word "already" is quite interesting.

    Would you place your child in a situation where they are around an adult who is "thinking" about having sex with them even if you were guaranteed it would never happen?

    The answer is no, of course.

    Now, ask yourself "why?"

  • PSacramento
    PSacramento
    Would you place your child in a situation where they are around an adult who is "thinking" about having sex with them even if you were guaranteed it would never happen?

    I don't think that I would.

    The answer is no, of course.
    Now, ask yourself "why?"

    Many reasons:

    It is my duty as a parent to protect my child when I can and that would be a situtation in which I could, even if I was able to give the "benefit of the doubt", it isn't about me or that person, but about the safety of the child.

    It is also "common sense" to "Not give the theft the opportunity", even if he is a reformed "thief".

    Impulses to commit crimes don't go away because a person is forgiven ( or not) or has paid his price to society.

    Of course we don't KNOW what anyone is thinking or why they are thinking that.

    What you are really asking is would we risk ( and it is a risk) leaving our child with someone that commited a crime against a child, even if we have forgiven them for it, that is the question, no?

    And my answer would probably be no.

    Why?

    Because my forgiveness had nothing to do with whether that person is able to stop himself from doing it again.

  • journey-on
    journey-on

    All crimes are sins, but not all sins are crimes. Civilized society is guided by laws and the law books are thick and plentiful.....lots and lots of gray areas.

    "Anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultry in his heart."

    The key phrase is "in his heart". He has committed a sin, but not a crime. In biblical times, adultery was a crime worthy of stoning.

    But, what this scripture shows is that it all begins with desire. Once you allow the desire to enter, take root, and grow by feeding it, your goose is as good as cooked. It's just a matter of time and opportunity till the desire becomes action.

    The battery in the flashlight which makes the light turn on when you press the button is THINKING. No thinking (no battery) no SIN (no light.)

    Actually, first cause is not the battery. First cause is the DESIRE for light. Once you want light, you take the next step....thinking about how to get it and what it would be like to have it.

    Would you place your child in a situation where they are around an adult who is "thinking" about having sex with them even if you were guaranteed it would never happen?

    Not me...never in a million years! If they confessed their thoughts and sought help and forgiveness, I could forgive them for having the thoughts. But, I would NEVER forget to the extent that I would allow my child to be in that person's company unsupervised. There is a such thing as common sense.

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