Forgive...Be Forgiven...

[Mϋzikdϋde]

This is the best thread, I feel so much better! (Maybe just cause I haven't checked my pm's yet. Gulp. )

I just love you Christi. What a beautiful heart you have.

 

[Pseud]

Oh yeah, I feel the love

 

[Jonathan David]

My main intent for this thread was to discuss God's teachings about forgiveness but if the Holy Spirit wants to use it for conflict resolution I wont try to stop it. Just pleeeeeease make sure you follow the Spirits lead and keep a leash on any animosity you may have for someone.
We don't want to have any examples for the "don'ts" section of this thread.

Sorry Muzic, didn't mean to derail your original intent. I love the part in the prayer of St. Francis that says,

"For it is in giving that we recieve;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Though that is not biblical, I love that line and I think that it captures the centrality of forgiveness to our faith. God forgives us for our transgressions and we are to model ourselves after Him. That is why we ALL pray "... and forgive us our tresspasses. Just as we forgive those who tresspass against us..."

Peace.

JD

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

Sorry Muzic, didn't mean to derail your original intent. I love the part in the prayer of St. Francis that says,

"For it is in giving that we recieve;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Though that is not biblical, I love that line and I think that it captures the centrality of forgiveness to our faith. God forgives us for our transgressions and we are to model ourselves after Him. That is why we ALL pray "... and forgive us our tresspasses. Just as we forgive those who tresspass against us..."

Peace.

JD

That wasn't directed at you...I was just going off of the comments that JAI and Lighthearted made...I'm just trying to be proactive.

 

[Jonathan David]

I just mean that I misunderstood the intent. I had just posted the Truth and Reconciliation thread when I came across this one via J.A.I. (rockstar)'s thread. Because forgiveness and healing was on my mind, I didn't read the OP well enough and thought that it was the same thing... oh never mind...

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

I just mean that I misunderstood the intent. I had just posted the Truth and Reconciliation thread when I came across this one via J.A.I. (rockstar)'s thread. Because forgiveness and healing was on my mind, I didn't read the OP well enough and thought that it was the same thing... oh never mind...

I'm all about letting the Holy Spirit lead the direction of this thread.

 

[Jonathan David]

Sweet.

 

[TheThirdLink]

 

[crystalpc]

Unforgiveness hinders our prayers.

Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

You must also love in order to forgive

 

[Nikicarol]

I've really got alot out of reading your posts today, thanks everyone, it's been very encouraging. I've been going through a hard time with a person and have forgiven on several occasions, I was getting downhearted about it and feeling trodden on, but you reminded me that I have to forgive, cuz who am I not to forgive, when Christ died for me and forgave all my sins.

Besides that, unforgiveness truely is rotten to the core . When I forgive someone, I always know I have done the right thing, not just for them, but for myself .

In future, instead of saying sorry to someone, I will be asking for forgiveness - I really think that is the way to resolve things better.

love - Nicky

 

[Horse Luver]

Thanks for the reminder about forgiveness. Now that I think about it, there is someone I need to forgive. It's a hard thing to deal with sometimes! I think it's one of the best ways we can be an example to others.

I think this is one of my favorite sections on CF. OK, it IS one of my favorites!! Thanks

HL

 

[crystalpc]

You must also love in order to forgive

I have to agree with you Muzik, I have found the hardest person for me to forgive is myself. I also found out that I cannot love my neighbor as myself, if I do not love myself. God's revealation of love had to be birthed in me.

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

That's the toughest one for me...forgiving and loving myself.

I have to say though, that I can unconditionally forgive at the drop of a hat. It's truly a gift from God. It took a long time for me to understand why so many people had a problem with it.

It was also tough to understand why the people I had offended couldn't just get over it. So my forgiving spirit made me insensitive. Weird huh?

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

Another hinderance to forgiveness is our inability to properly resolve conflict.

Look at the home page for CF. Edification is one of the least used forums and Apologetics is the most used. People enjoy debate. The problem is that debate rarely remains impersonal and almost always causes conflict. Two members of CF who are very dear to me just left the site for good because this type of conflict got out of hand. One of them refused to let things go because the other party wouldn't let it go. It went on for days, maybe weeks and finally got to be too much to take.

If either party reads this, I'm using the story as an illustration to my point NOT to chastise.

My point is this:
In order to forgive, we must remove selfishness and pride from our hearts.
As long as you insist that humility and meekness leave you open to ridicule and ignominy then you will not experience forgiveness.

To protect yourselves from your enemies is brave and superficially admirable by the standards of mankind but it doesn't say much about your faith in God. The bottom line is that you can't forgive until you let God fight your battles for you.

 

[Tappanga]

I feel drawn to recommend the book Total Forgiveness. I'm only part of the way though it, but it has helped me already forgive people who have hurt me. And taught me love through forgiveness.

And I feel I need to repeat something I heard in church recently: "You can only love Christ as much as you love your worst enemy."

Oh and muzik, your dancing spidey is wigging me out.

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

I feel drawn to recommend the book Total Forgiveness. I'm only part of the way though it, but it has helped me already forgive people who have hurt me. And taught me love through forgiveness.

And I feel I need to repeat something I heard in church recently: "You can only love Christ as much as you love your worst enemy."

Oh and muzik, your dancing spidey is wigging me out.

Thanks for the recommendation.

And spidey stays. I did a poll. It was an overwhelming victory.

http://www.christianforums.com/t110428

 

[Tappanga]

And spidey stays. I did a poll. It was an overwhelming victory.

http://www.christianforums.com/t110428

Oh I'm not saying it should go. I'm just saying seeing a childhood hero dance around with no music... well... I may need meds.

 

[Mϋzikdϋde]

Oh I'm not saying it should go. I'm just saying seeing a childhood hero dance around with no music... well... I may need meds.

 

[Tappanga]

I can't decide if it's aerobics or line dancing he's doing. Which is it?

Sorry, I guess we can go back on topic now...