A lady sent them a letter stating that she know she is supposed to forgive those who do wrong but this is something that she could never forgive and forget those who did so much killing on 9/11 and she asked them, will I be in trouble with God because I can't seem to forgive them?
There response was: "Heavenly pardon is predicated on a condition. Before God grants forgiveness, He asks us to acknowledge that we were wrong and renounce the sinful behavior. God is willing to overlook the sins of the past for the sake of an altered future. He is ready to pardon the most terrible wrongs for the price of remorse, regret and the desire for a new beginning. But the one thing God's forgiveness is unwilling to do is to condone vicious crimes by simply accepting them. An unrepentant sinner mistakes God's mercy for permission to continue his ways. To forgive such a person isn't kindness; its cruelty to all those who'll be hurt by the evil that wasn't stopped before it could do more harm. Forgiving people who don't personally atone for the sins makes a statement: Repentance isn't really necessary. Can anything be more immoral than encouraging evil by refraining from any condemnation of those who commit it? The day after the Columbine High School massacre, a group of students announced that they forgave the killers. A short while after the Oklahoma bombing, some people put out a call to forgive Timothy McVeigh. And on September 12th, on several American campuses, colleges groups pleaded for forgiveness for the terrorists responsible for the horrific events of the previous day."
These weren't just misguided gestures of compassion. They were serious sins with potentially tragic consequences. Evil unchallenged is evil condoned. To forgive and forget, as Arthur Schopenhauer so well put it, "means to throw valuable experience out the window." And without the benefit of experience's lessons, we are almost certain to be doomed to repeat them.
They went on with more of why she should not forgive them and gave examples of why they can not forgive the Nazi. As I was reading that all I could think of is what a miserable way to live. I can't imagine purposely not trying to forgive someone even if their attempt was evil. My first thought would be to ask God to help me with the pain, anger, bitter and let's be truthful, hateful feeling I have that is not allowing me to want to forgive and having faith that God will come through. So, for them to say such things, I just couldn't agree with it at all even though it does make sense to the natural man. They are not even following the law they live by. When you carry and hold on to that much pain and un-forgiveness, it leads to hate. To hate someone is equivalent to a murderer by committing murder in their heart's and a murderer can not enter into heaven. The flesh is saying no, they do not deserve forgiveness from us and if God will punish them, who did not repent, than who are we to show mercy and forgiveness? God being sovereign has to deal with sin the way He set it up to be. The wages of sin is death but, the gift of God is eternal life. Those who do not accept His gift, will die. As long as they are alive, they have a chance to be saved. But that is God's rule, not ours. Another thing is, because we are not God, we can't say if they may have been saved during the time of death. Only God knows that answer. When the disciples asked Jesus what will happen to Judas, Jesus basically told them, it is non of their concern or business. Our job is to obey God, not determined who made it and who didn't make it. With that being said, that means we don't have the right to judge who deserves forgiveness and who does not deserve forgiveness. So who are we, well we are Christians! We are children of God who have been separated and set apart from the worlds ways and thinking by the Holy Spirit who has changed our unforgiving hearts to a forgiving hearts. That is who we are! Yes, that is who we are.
So my heart went out to this lady and I wanted to encourage her by letting her know that it's ok to be hurt and heartbroken because that is the human side of us. And when you ask God to forgive them, you may not feel it right away but God will align your will with your honest heart statement knowing that it's God's will and it will get easier and you will find yourself not being bitter anymore. Forgiveness absolutely does not mean you condone what they do. And yes, forgiveness is Divine and it's the Holy Spirit that is working that out for you. Stephen showed it when he was being stoned for preaching Jesus and he said while they were biting him and stoning him, Father forgive them for they not know what they do." By flesh there is no way he could have made that statement. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and I believe he didn't even feel the pain. When he said those words the heavens opened up and he saw Jesus Christ stand up who sits on the right hand of the Father. It was the God inside of Him that gave him the heart of forgiveness. Jesus Himself when He was on the cross said "Father forgive them, for they not know what they do". Both times was a plea to the Father to forgive and the reason for them asking the Father for this is because they acknowledge that the people that were doing what they were, committing murder, was because they had no idea what they were really doing. Jesus teaches us to forgive not because they asked for it or deserve it, but because Jesus is God and He command it. But than I realized, they don't know Jesus for never once did they acknowledge Jesus or the Holy Spirit. I would of had to preach the gospel first before even going through this with them.
Oh how I love Jesus, oh how I love Jesus, Oh how I love Jesus because He first loved me. It's times like this when we can just shout and thank Him. We can do things that the flesh is not capable of doing, like submitting our flesh under the will of God which also includes forgiving. My prayer is that that woman ask the right person that question to get the right answer. I don't know if she is a Christian but she asked a non-Christian that question. My prayer is also for the Jews who do not know Jesus and have no idea how beautiful it is to know Him.
I say to anyone who struggles with understanding this, forgiveness does not mean you condone their sin just like Jesus and Stephen did not condone the people's sin. Jesus came so that the world through Him might be saved and it is still His will. As long as a person is still alive, there is a chance for salvation. Our will has to match Jesus will. Jesus said if someone hit you, you turn the other cheek. If someone take your coat, you give them the cape that goes with it. Our will has to match the Father's will who sent His Son to die for us and accepting Jesus is the only way the Father will forgive our sins. The Father offered us the greatest gift and it is his only begotten Son and with that comes forgiveness. And we have to have the desire that everyone, even those who wrong us, to be saved and forgiven of all their sins. That also means preaching the gospel to the lost world. If you keep yourself busy in well doing, you will not even have time to focus on that pain and before you know it, the great pain will go away and will be replaced with love, compassion and mercy. Remember what Jesus taught us when we pray Matt 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
I love you and God bless you!
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