Forgive and Forget-How Possible?

Question

"I SHALL FORGIVE THEIR ERROR,AND THEIR SIN I SHALL REMEMBER NO MORE" JEREMIAH 31:34

How can we do this?
If you can't be serious or if you don't know what serious means, Don't try to answer the question.

Answer 1

God can do this and we can come to this also, if we desire it, but it takes time to forget. Alot of times we don't want to forget, we want to hang on to the offense, but we need to let go.

Answer 2

You hit upon my specialty.

Starting with a quote by Thomas Szasz.

"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget."

Then you have an old Scottish saying,

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

You also have the Jewish saying,

"Never Again."

If you forgive someone and forget what they did, you have just set yourself up for the same thing to be done to you all over again. Look at Charlie Brown and Lucy and the football. He forgives her and forgets the pain and hurt she causes him and thus he lets her do it again.

Part of our duty is not to set things up so others sin due to our actions. If you know someone is weak and they sinned against you, you must help them not sin again. If you forgive and forget, and they do the same thing how have you helped them not sin?

If the Jews were to forgive and forget the Holocaust, they would not take actions to prevent it from happening again. The Nuclear arsenal of Israel is for that purpose. While they forgave the Holocaust, they are not going to forget it and once again go meekly onto the trains. The next time they are in that situation they shall take as many of the enemy with them as they can.

Lastly, "forgive but not forget" was first used by the survivors of the Andersonville Prison in the US Civil War. They were willing to forgive the South but they were never going to forget it. The outcome of that event was the first time a person was tried for war crimes, convicted and hung. If you forgive and forget, the guilty go free.

Answer 3

Jeremiah above is talking about G-d forgiving sins, and this is just the very last stage of forgiveness. To apply this to human forgiveness, there is a process starting with willing ourselves to consciously let go of revenge - G-d can do a better job at sorting it all out acutally, and when we hold onto bitterness and hatred it can cause mental and physical disease. This may take time, practice, talk, tears and prayer. It may involve feeling overwhelming waves of loss and frustration, but at some point, with the help of Gd and friends, we let go of the hurt and the revenge. Then, once we let go of destructive negative emotions (that can wreck hormones, mood, and physical health) there are a number of options:

1. If someone has not changed their ways, then don't be foolish and give them the opportunity to sin and hurt you again. It is up to you to protect yourself. Let go of revenge, but don't let them get close enough to hurt. Don't forget too soon!
2. If they see what they have done, understand, and ask for forgiveness, make amends, and turn around back to Torah and the ways of G-d, then begin to reinstate them back to their original position of trust.
3. Once they have shown themselves trustworthy, then fully reinstate them. (forget about it!)

Answer 4

We do it all the time. At some point in your life if you have children you even understand better how this works. Now of course this parable is referring to a deal He made with His children. No matter how serious you want you cant get any more serious than that unless your joking and playing a game and dont really mean it.

Answer 5

Jesus show that it is possible in Matthew 18:21,21: 21 Then Peter came up and said to him: “Lord, how many times is my brother to sin against me and am I to forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him: “I say to you, not, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy-seven times. If you can't forgive and forget, probably you need to take the steps describe in Matthew
18:15-17: 15 “Moreover, if your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two more, in order that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 If he does not listen to them, speak to the congregation. If he does not listen even to the congregation, let him be to you just as a man of the nations and as a tax collector.
This procedure is in harmony with the love that is a perfect bond of union between the Christians.

Answer 6

I have no idea. This is one of my biggest life challenges. I have trouble with both forgiving and forgetting. Maybe it's just human nature and we can't necessarily meet this goal all the time.

Answer 7

When I learned to forgive myself, then I was able to forgive others. I also believe for myself it was when I truly came to believe and understand exactly how much Jesus loves me and why he died that made forgiving easier. I prayed for a forgiving heart. Forgiving others brings me much peace and comfort knowing that my Father has forgiven me.

Answer 8

The forgiving part is not as hard as the forgetting.

Answer 9

God forgives and forgets. We are to forgive others, we don't have God's mind so we don't always forget them. If someone does something to me I try not to think about it, but is it forgotten from my mind? no it's not. When we get to Heaven and have new bodies then we want remember. God knows our mind, He created it.

Answer 10

Well first we aren't God so don't try to be able to do what God does.We can forgive but to not remember is another matter.
Some where in Proverbs or Ecclesiastes it reads...a brother offended is harder to win than a walled city.
What we are to do is say in our self,I forgave them Lord help me to forget.