I want to ask a question about a statement a lady made in our Sunday School class Sunday. She got no reaction because the time for dismissal was at hand.

The statement: "The concept of self-forgiveness is not a Biblical one. The Bible does not teach it."

My understanding is that self-forgiveness is tied up with guilt for sins committed. When you realize you have sinned, you will experience deep regret and then you wonder how you could have been so stupid. To overcome this intense guilt you need to ask God for forgiveness as well as the others wronged. If there remains any residual guilt, you must also learn to forgive yourself.

What say, brothers and sisters?

I am off to the greenhouses so I cannot be checking back until later tonight. But I would love to have your insight in this issue. I have never heard this concept being challenged before....

Blessings,
ginnyrose

_________________
Sandra Miller

Greetings ginnyrose

I have never considered this to be un Biblical. Many times I have held on to left over guilt or regret and many times it has been shared with me that I must let go, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. As someone who has at times beat myself up over and over again for past sins, I tend to think the opposite would be true. If we do not let go(after repentance) and we continue to live in regret and guilt then isn't that almost like saying God your forgiveness is not good enough?

This is something I would be interested in hearing what others are seeing.

God Bless
mj

I personally have no idea what it means to "forgive yourself". Sounds like a bunch of new age psychological bunk to me. Forgiveness has to do with sin not being counted against you on the basis of Christ. If personal sin against another, it is not holding that person under bondage because Christ has forgiven us much more. It is a judicial/legal action. It has nothing to do with feelings.

If you are holding yourself under some sort of bondage for your sin, but have dealt with it before God and whoever was offended, what's left has nothing to do with forgiveness, but walking in truth. If Christ has set you free, then you shall be free indeed! So reckon it to yourself and stop living in faithlessness and lies (for what else is it if Christ says we are free but we don't agree with Him?)

Words have meanings, and using them wrongly can have damaging consequences on a person and a culture. I would say the concept of "forgiving yourself" is soaked in false understanding, or at least horrible misuse of terms.

_________________
Denver McDaniel

Greetings BeYeDoers

you wrote:If you are holding yourself under some sort of bondage for your sin, but have dealt with it before God and whoever was offended, what's left has nothing to do with forgiveness, but walking in truth.
___________________________

This was what I was trying to put into words. You did a much better job then I did :)

you wrote:Words have meanings, and using them wrongly can have damaging consequences on a person and a culture. I would say the concept of "forgiving yourself" is soaked in false understanding, or at least horrible misuse of terms
___________________________________________________________

I agree words do have meaning and we have lost a lot of understanding because of slang. I am always telling my boys that. I am not sure that the term forgiving yourself is a false understanding or not, I need to pray about that some because I do understand what Ginnyrose was saying also. It may be a misuse of terms, I am not sure?? For me I think of letting go of guilt as walking in the truth that Jesus promises. IF we repent we are forgiven and our sins taken away. We don't hold on to guilt or regret because we are forgiven.

This is one I want to share with my dh and get his thoughts on.

God Bless
maryjane

Scripture is very clear on our mandate to forgive others, and on God's faithfulness to forgive us. There does not seem to be much said about forgiving yourself, but there are a few passages that are pertinent.

John 8:11 Jesus asks the woman where her accusers are. They are gone, and there is no one to condemn her. Jesus says, "neither do I condemn you."

Matth. 6:14-15 Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The standard that Jesus set is one of forgiveness and release from condemnation.

So this is the way I see it. I think all of us have at one time or another had difficulty forgiving ourself for some wrong that we have done. But if we really understand the forgiveness of God through Christ and the fact that we have been released from condemnation, ought we also to forgive ourselves as well. To refuse to release myself from a debt that God has released me from is to take the burden of that sin back on myself. It is, at its heart, evidence of a lack of faith in what Christ has done. If I really believed I was free from all guilt, why would I not forgive myself. If I believe that I have to somehow atone for my own sins through some period of agony or penance,then I would not step out from under the thing, but instead carry guilt around. In that respect I think that one could argue that refusing to forgive yourself is sin in that it is unbelief.

The bottom line though is that we need to be so secure in the fact that God has released us from the guilt of the thing that we also release ourselves. Not releasing ourselves will have very negative consequences in our lives.

I don't see this as psychology; it is agreeing with God about the matter. Psychology would be trying to stop feeling bad about sin while still chasing after it and without receiving God's forgiveness for it.

Hope that helps.

Travis

_________________
Travis

Travis, my point is that we CAN'T forgive ourselves. Only the one offended can forgive. Only in our me-centric culture can you wrong yourself when you sin. It's rooted in relativism. It's this idea of "being true to yourself" and "do what's right for you". When you fail and feel bad, the fix is to forgive yourself.

But we are to do what's right in the eyes of God alone. When we fail, the conscience He gave us smites us, His Spirit convicts us, and He is right to condemn us (find us guilty). But he who repents and seeks Him by faith He gives grace and forgives.

Walking in the truth that God forgives the repentant sinner based on Christ and reckoning that to yourself is NOT the same thing as forgiving yourself.

_________________
Denver McDaniel

_________________
Travis

Travis, I agree with you.

About this being a new-age philosophy, I beg to differ. I do know new-ages perverts all Biblical doctrine, so it behooves one to discern which is which. New agers promote forgiveness without repentance, e.g, and call for tolerance for those who offend: do not call sin sin. They make the offended feel like he is at fault for challenging hurtful behaviours.

As I read this thread, I notice one thing: is this issue predominately a female one? Somehow after reading the responses here to my question, I am getting this sense. Males think logically; females thing emotionally. Males sometimes think emotionally as well and sometimes females thing logically - seems to make a difference on the issue. And maybe this is an issue that deals more with the emotions?

ginnyrose

_________________
Sandra Miller

_________________
Travis

I think I understand what you are all saying, and I don't think we disagree in what is going on. But we have to be careful how we couch it. We are discussing biblical issues but using psychological and emotional language. Forgiveness and guilt have nothing to do with how we feel. The terminology of "forgiving yourself" is loaded with all kinds of errors rooted in postmodernism/new age philosophy.

What you all are describing (I think) is how do we deal with the despair that can go along with sin. The answer to that is to recognize, believe, and walk in the truth of scripture: that God forgives those who are in Christ and will remove their sins far from them.

Again, I don't think we are disagreeing about anything (at least in Christian Practice), but I am warning about how we communicate biblical truth.

_________________
Denver McDaniel