Lin

“Jesus commanded us to forgive- are people doing this?”

There is a great book called ‘Unpacking Forgiveness” that I recommend to folks. The teaching on forgiveness is one of the most misunderstood of all doctrines. Forgiveness does not always mean reconcilliation or even fellowship. There are many unrepentant sinners out there professing Christ.

And repentance is a requirement for our salvation. Jesus’ first sermon was ‘Repent and believe’.

An unrepentent abuser who says ‘sorry’ after each episode is not repentant and is still dangerous. Saying sorry is not repentance. Repentance is turning from that sin.

One can forgive the abuser….at a distance. It does not mean you have to fellowship or reconcile. As Jonathan Edwards taught, it takes time to know if real repentance occured. Would you put an embezzler in charge of the tithes because he said sorry for the last episode? Would you put a pedophile in the nursery because he
“said” he was repentant? Is that what you mean by forgiveness?