Bible Discussion Thread

I have been taught ot for forgive, but never forget. As forgetting allows us to be hurt by the same things over and over. What is the true meaning of forgive and forget and is there such a thing?

Cathy, I just respond to your question here only, as you've asked a similar question a couple of times. I can see that this issue is troubling you a lot & it is important. When I read about 'forgiveness' in the Bible, whether of God's forgiveness of us or us forgiving someone else, it speaks of an act of love that demands no further repercussions from us. Just as God Who forgives us of our sins when we come to Him in faith because of Jesus' Sacrifice, God's forgiveness then requires that He no longer remains angry with us & that He no longer holds our many sins as still accountable before Him. In other words, when God forgives, He treats us as clean, innocent of all crimes & fully acceptable to Him into His family.

But does God forget? He being God, cannot suddenly have the thought of us just having wronged Him, be obliterated from His Mind - that wouldn't make sense. So, His forgiveness will make us not guilty before Him but not release His Mind from knowing that we were & still are sinners. Even of Jesus when He walked on Earth, it was said of Him in John 2:24,25, "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men; and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man." Many people began to believe in Him because of His miracles, but still He did not "commit Himself to them" (or, He didn't put His trust or confidence in their good words about Him), because He knew the true condition of their hearts.

In yours & our situation, we are told to forgive one another & so we should, so that we demonstrate a true heart's response to someone else's wrong against us based on the love of Christ in us. But we need to be prudent, knowing that our hearts are prone to doing evil, & so in our forgiveness of someone else, we remain cautious (i.e. we fully accept that person into our hearts but careful if there happens to be signs of a recurrence of such acts against us). We must forgive but we remain cautious, remembering what we all are.