God does not forgive those who are not repentant. He says that if we regard iniquity in our hearts He does not hear our prayers. We are not called to forgive the unrepentant.
Forgiveness is for no other reason except to reconcile a relationship. When that relationship cannot be reconciled because the offender will not repent, then the perpetrator of the evil will not change their behavior. Repentance is evidence of someone who does not want to repeat the sin against another person. They are truly sorry and want to change their attitudes and behavior.
When a perpetrator continues to sin against us, God says we are to remove ourselves from them. There is no value in being continually battered by those who are enjoying doing it.
2 Timothy 3:1-5,
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, [a]haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b]godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."
Proverbs 1:15
"My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path,"
2 Corinthians 6:17
"Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you."
Forgiveness is never for keeping us from being bitter. We don't automatically take on bitterness because we don't forgive. We are to forgive the way God did, that is when there is a repentant spirit.
Luke 17:3 "Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." Notice the "If's" in this verse!
Isaiah 26:10 "Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD."
It is humanistic psychology not God, that says that showing kindness to an evil man changes his heart. It is not true in reality, if it happens it is rare and often manipulation.
Our culture has proven that the more we forgive without repentance the greater the sinfulness of the culture expands and widens. Our job is not to be so nice bad people will like Jesus. Our job is to speak truth and conviction to those who are rebellious, what they do with it is between them and God.
Galatians 5:9-10 "9 A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.…"
So often humanistic psychology drives contemporaries to carry out futile and ineffective ways of handling evil people, allowing the evil to grow and progress while the victims are villified for holding them accountable.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 "6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Our culture loves to boast about how "forgiving" they are, even when nothing ever comes of it because the forgiveness is done the way of humanistic thought rather than the way God told us to. Holding people accountable has a greater chance of effecting their heart than passively and flippantly forgiving without accountability.
God's Way always works better, He knows their heart and He knows ours. Often we are wanting to do things our own way because it is the easy way, we can feel good about ourselves while fostering and enabling further evil in the heart of the unrepentant soul.
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