[Legion489]

My Bible states: "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Probably not the full quote, but the important part is "ALL have sinned". Every single one of us.

Jesus came to fulfill the law, that is why we are not knee deep in ritual sacrifices all day. Jesus took our sin on himself, no more "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth", although I gotta say, I would like to do that at times my self.

Go to your local library and see if they have (or can get) "The Tears of Tammy Fay". Yes, THAT Tammy Fay. It is a real tear jerker (no I am not being sarcastic, it truly is moving) and is the "untold story" that everyone thinks they know that they never knew. Want to talk about someone who got screwed over? You don't know a third of the story, and hearing her talk about how she had to forgive those people, not for their sakes, but hers is amazingly moving.

1. Is forgiving a form of approving the past wrong?

No, you are not approving of past wrongs, you, me, EVERYONE has a past and past wrongs. You are forgiving them for YOUR sake, not theirs. Some people never forgave Chuck Manson for what he did. Do you think that Charlie cares what they think of him? No. But it is eating them alive everyday. They need to forgive Charlies for THEIR sake, so it quits hurting them, because it sure doesn't bother Charlie.

I am not saying "forget". I will never forget what my brother and his second wife did to me and our Mother, I will never trust him again as he feels what he did was fully justified and refuses to repent, but I forgave him. My being pissed didn't bother him at all, but it ate me up. Even now, typing this, I still feel the anger starting, but I am willing to let God deal with my brother in His own good time.

2. Is forgiving making the statement that your eye is not worth their eye?

Again no, forgiving is not forgetting. Jesus took the whole of the Law on Himself as the blood sacrifice for all our sins. This is why we are not sacrificing a lamb, ox, goat, whatever, six days a week to use the blood to cover our sins. Jesus' blood covered out sins, but when we sin, he feels the blow. "By His stripes we are healed." Jesus said "I have not come to cancel the law, but to fulfill it." It is His eye and His tooth that covers our need for "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

3. Does forgiving invite future wrongs?

Again, no. Did you forgive your child for doing something wrong or kept punishing them everyday for it? Your pet made a mess on the floor. Did you punish the pet and then forgive them for it? Or do you keep punishing your child or pet every day for the wrong they did? Forgiveness is letting go of anger so YOU can heal from the effects that anger is doing to you, not saying "Well feel free to go out and do that again!" It is moving on, not staying in one place.

I'm running out of time. Got to Anchored In Faith on YouTube and watch Pastor John Honn, he was one of the greats and talked about all of this.