Explanation: "What Happens When We Don't Forgive."

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That was a good comprehensive explanation of forgiveness. Forgiveness is so powerful, it brings us closer to God, but it seems to go against human nature.

I have come across two people in the process of committing suicide, on both occasions it was helping them come to terms with forgiving someone who had hurt them. After a couple of hours, one of them handed me the utility knife that they had just brought to end their life with. The other person had been overdosing gradually, and they knew this process would eventually destroy their liver.

Both these people did not have a faith in God, but they seemed to grasp forgiveness.
 
mdgspencer said:
This article tells how not forgiving wrenches a soul.
see marriagemissions.com/what-happens-when-we-dont-forgive/
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Hi mdg,

The article is about 99% excellent, and 1% problematic. Here is the sticky part:

"3. Not forgiving means you won’t be forgiven by God. “But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15).

This passage has to be thoroughly explained, because it makes God’s forgiveness conditional.

The way the scripture-scholar priest explained this to us reflects the words of Pope Francis in my signature. God always forgives us, but as long as we do not forgive someone else, we will not realize the forgiveness that the Father has for us, it can be thought of as more of a mental block. We can only fully grasp His forgiveness of us unless we forgive everyone we hold something against.

And when you think about it, it makes sense. Since we are to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, then if He forgives conditionally, such is a perfection. If conditional forgiveness is a perfection, then we can find plenty of conditions by which we are not to forgive others, (especially their own refusal to forgive), which means that the conditional forgiver remains in his grudge for life, which conflicts with the other 99% of what was good in that article! 🙂

Thanks for sharing, though, great article!
 
Eric_Hyom said:
That was a good comprehensive explanation of forgiveness. Forgiveness is so powerful, it brings us closer to God, but it seems to go against human nature.

I have come across two people in the process of committing suicide, on both occasions it was helping them come to terms with forgiving someone who had hurt them. After a couple of hours, one of them handed me the utility knife that they had just brought to end their life with. The other person had been overdosing gradually, and they knew this process would eventually destroy their liver.

Both these people did not have a faith in God, but they seemed to grasp forgiveness.
Click to expand...
I always thought there was a link between depression and forgiveness.
 
CRATUS said:
I always thought there was a link between depression and forgiveness.
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I feel the link is more between the greatest commandments and depression.

When Jesus spent his time on Earth, he could do nothing greater than love God; and love all his neighbours as he loves himself. But how could Jesus love the people who condemned him to death and nailed him to the cross? We know he prayed forgive them Father.

It seems that nothing should stand in the way of loving all our neighbours as we love ourselves. The life and death of Jesus was an extreme lesson for us all.
 
Not read the article but I know from long experience that the only one to suffer if you do not forgive is yourself. It does not harm or punish the aggressor … far from it.
 
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