Romans 15:4 (New International Version, ©2011) "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope".
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Self Forgiveness, is it Biblical???
Self Forgiveness – Is it Biblical??
In a word, NO. It is not a Biblical concept. In fact, it comes straight out of pop psychology and humanism. Think about it --- we are commanded to forgive others. We are forgiven by God if we are a true believer. But where is it written that we need to ‘forgive ourselves’?? I could list a myriad of scriptures about forgiveness – but you go look them up in your own Bibles and you will see that I’m telling you the truth here. If you find one that says ‘forgive yourself’, show me – but you won’t find it.
If you are a counselor, life coach, mentor, disciple, Sunday school teacher, pastor, etc….and you are telling people to ‘forgive themselves’, please reconsider your teaching on this.
This is a pet topic of mine, I suppose because this is part of my testimony. I was a believer for several years, all along saying “I receive God’s forgiveness, I forgive those who have hurt me, now all I need to do is forgive ME and I just can’t seem to DO IT”! I carried around guilt over some things in my past…..for years. All the while I was a Christian, serving others, working in ministries, even leading Bible studies. But I knew something was amiss – why did I always still feel so guilty, clinging to things in the past, that I thought I needed to ‘forgive myself’ for??? I was STUCK, and it showed in the stunted growth in my spiritual walk.
As a believer, I had a lot of victory in many other areas. But this one thing kept me STUCK, and I couldn’t get past it. Finally, in a Bible study I took some years back, there it was. The sentence that changed my walk with God forever, and broke loose chains that I didn’t even realize had been there. The sentence was “nowhere in Scripture are we told we need to forgive ourselves. It simply is not a Biblical concept”. WHAT???
I remember the moment – I felt like I had been hit by lightening and finally saw the Truth. I got it. If I say that Christ’s death on the cross was enough – then why wasn’t I living it? If it was enough, and I am forgiven completely, why would there be a need to forgive myself?? And furthermore, it is God’s job to forgive me, not my own, so I was actually trying to be God. Jr. in my own life. It was also the sin of unbelief – unbelief that the cross and resurrection really meant what we say they do.
Maybe it is a matter of semantics in some cases, but probably not in most cases. Perhaps what they really mean is ‘stop reminding yourself of your mistakes and beating yourself up again’. That’s different than saying ‘forgive yourself’. Semantics do matter – we need to be really clear on these matters with those we talk with, because it can mean the difference of proclaiming a clear gospel, or a self-centered false gospel.
We have bought in to the lie that the Bible really does not hold all the answers to life’s problems, so we look outside of it and in to psychological theories instead. It is in those theories that you will find self forgiveness, but you will not find it in Scripture. Let’s stick to Scripture!
This revelation changed my life. Floodgates opened. I started growing again. I was free of the burden of striving and trying to forgive myself, when all along I was already forgiven. Freedom! God called me to ministry soon after this, and there’s been no turning back.
So I am very sensitive to the terminology ‘forgive yourself’. I see it everywhere. I hear people say it in church. I see it on blogs, by counselors and coaches and Bible study teachers alike. I have spotted it in some popular Bible teacher’s books. This is humanism, and it has crept in to our churches. Every chance I get to dispute it and point out Truth about this, I do it. I hope you will too!
Here’s a good little resource for a very good teaching on this topic. If you are local, and want one, I may have some extras in my office. It’s worth the quick read – it’s very profound!
http://www.christianbook.com/forgiveness-i-just-cant-forgive-myself/robert-jones/9780875526782/pd/26780
In a word, NO. It is not a Biblical concept. In fact, it comes straight out of pop psychology and humanism. Think about it --- we are commanded to forgive others. We are forgiven by God if we are a true believer. But where is it written that we need to ‘forgive ourselves’?? I could list a myriad of scriptures about forgiveness – but you go look them up in your own Bibles and you will see that I’m telling you the truth here. If you find one that says ‘forgive yourself’, show me – but you won’t find it.
If you are a counselor, life coach, mentor, disciple, Sunday school teacher, pastor, etc….and you are telling people to ‘forgive themselves’, please reconsider your teaching on this.
This is a pet topic of mine, I suppose because this is part of my testimony. I was a believer for several years, all along saying “I receive God’s forgiveness, I forgive those who have hurt me, now all I need to do is forgive ME and I just can’t seem to DO IT”! I carried around guilt over some things in my past…..for years. All the while I was a Christian, serving others, working in ministries, even leading Bible studies. But I knew something was amiss – why did I always still feel so guilty, clinging to things in the past, that I thought I needed to ‘forgive myself’ for??? I was STUCK, and it showed in the stunted growth in my spiritual walk.
As a believer, I had a lot of victory in many other areas. But this one thing kept me STUCK, and I couldn’t get past it. Finally, in a Bible study I took some years back, there it was. The sentence that changed my walk with God forever, and broke loose chains that I didn’t even realize had been there. The sentence was “nowhere in Scripture are we told we need to forgive ourselves. It simply is not a Biblical concept”. WHAT???
I remember the moment – I felt like I had been hit by lightening and finally saw the Truth. I got it. If I say that Christ’s death on the cross was enough – then why wasn’t I living it? If it was enough, and I am forgiven completely, why would there be a need to forgive myself?? And furthermore, it is God’s job to forgive me, not my own, so I was actually trying to be God. Jr. in my own life. It was also the sin of unbelief – unbelief that the cross and resurrection really meant what we say they do.
Maybe it is a matter of semantics in some cases, but probably not in most cases. Perhaps what they really mean is ‘stop reminding yourself of your mistakes and beating yourself up again’. That’s different than saying ‘forgive yourself’. Semantics do matter – we need to be really clear on these matters with those we talk with, because it can mean the difference of proclaiming a clear gospel, or a self-centered false gospel.
We have bought in to the lie that the Bible really does not hold all the answers to life’s problems, so we look outside of it and in to psychological theories instead. It is in those theories that you will find self forgiveness, but you will not find it in Scripture. Let’s stick to Scripture!
This revelation changed my life. Floodgates opened. I started growing again. I was free of the burden of striving and trying to forgive myself, when all along I was already forgiven. Freedom! God called me to ministry soon after this, and there’s been no turning back.
So I am very sensitive to the terminology ‘forgive yourself’. I see it everywhere. I hear people say it in church. I see it on blogs, by counselors and coaches and Bible study teachers alike. I have spotted it in some popular Bible teacher’s books. This is humanism, and it has crept in to our churches. Every chance I get to dispute it and point out Truth about this, I do it. I hope you will too!
Here’s a good little resource for a very good teaching on this topic. If you are local, and want one, I may have some extras in my office. It’s worth the quick read – it’s very profound!
http://www.christianbook.com/forgiveness-i-just-cant-forgive-myself/robert-jones/9780875526782/pd/26780
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