Understanding forgiveness
By Hope
@1hopefulman (45120)
Canada
November 20, 2019 11:25am CST
Why does God extend forgiveness to us, only if we also forgive those who hurt us?
Matthew 6:12 (KJV) 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV) 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Why does he add that condition (proviso, stipulation)? Is this fair? How do make sense of this? How do you you explain?
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(Added on Nov. 26, 2019) I was told that God wants our love for a person to be stronger than our hate for what a person did.
4 people like this
5 responses
@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
21 Nov 19
Of course, though, God, and his son Jesus, do forgive, even those who do not forgive others.
Many times Jesus healed people in the Bible by forgiving them outrightly, without this added stipulation, or condition being fulfilled.
Lepers were healed, who on the face of it, appeared to have never forgiven others either. There were no conditions placed on their healing, but Jesus was always pleased when the healed came back to thank him for his healing of themselves.
God can forgive anyone, but he likes to forgive only those who appreciate such a forgiveness, and so thank him for it, as, usually, the ones who forgive others, can appreciate being forgiven of themselves too.
An ancient sage once said,
"The good are the forgivers of the bad, and the bad provide lessons in how to forgive to the good."
4 people like this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
26 Nov 19
"Of course, though, God, and his son Jesus, do forgive, even those who do not forgive others."
Is that statement not the exact opposite of Jesus' statement?
Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV) 14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
1 person likes this
@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
26 Nov 19
@innertalks True, God can forgive even people that have not done any good works. However, we who have seen the light, should be good forgivers. It is not really a matter of what we should do but of want we want to do. 
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@innertalks (21916)
• Australia
26 Nov 19
@1hopefulman Yes, that's true Felix.
The point I was making is that while on the Earth, Jesus healed, or forgave many, as examples, I guess, of his power to do this while on the Earth, and a lot of these healed, would not have forgiven others. The parable of the ten lepers where only one came back to thank Jesus for his healing is one point of this.
Also, if for his whole life, like the thief, on the cross, someone has never forgiven others, if he asks for forgiveness genuinely, as this thief did, he too, will be forgiven as well.
God makes these rules for us, not for himself. God can do most anything he wants too.
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@Nakitakona (56486)
• Philippines
21 Nov 19
It's simple. If you make a mistake to your friend and he forgives you, won't you forgive him too if he makes a mistake to you?
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@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
26 Nov 19
Yes, that's what I would do, but not everyone who is forgiven forgives! (see Matthew 18:21-35)
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@Nakitakona (56486)
• Philippines
27 Nov 19
@1hopefulman There's a great example for that. Though he was forgiven by his master of his debt but he never forgives his fellow servant's debt.
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@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
27 Nov 19
@Nakitakona God forgives us for so much and so he wants us to be forgiving to others when they hurt us.
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@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
26 Nov 19
Yes, it is very hard, especially if they don't show remorse at all.
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@1hopefulman (45120)
• Canada
11 Dec 19
No doubt that you have many fine qualities! 
Yes, it is hard to forgive someone who hurts us. Do you think that God would ask us to do something that would not be good for us?
Yes, it is hard to forgive someone who hurts us. Do you think that God would ask us to do something that would not be good for us?2 people like this
@Nevena83 (65277)
• Serbia
11 Dec 19
@1hopefulman Thanks for thinking I have qualities. Honestly, I don't know, I think God often let me in a bad situation to learn something, and in fact I got a heart full of anger, pain, helplessness ...
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