Luke 17:3-4 (ESV) more accurately instructs on forgiveness. It states:

3. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
4. and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.

The key here is that the other person repents. Why would one "forgive" a person who refuses to acknowledge their wrong doing and repent? What good does "forgiveness" do for that person who refuses to repent? We are to rebuke (sharp disapproval or criticism) a person who sins against us, not lavish them with kindness and gentleness. Not to say that one can't have all those virtues listed in the first list while also following Luke 17:3-4.

Wow, this is so enlightening .
By daily praying and listening to Christian music I try not to think about the traits of one who is in the devils camp.
Unfortunately , they do creep into my thoughts at times .

I don't think anyone achieves all the fruit of the Spirit equally. Some speculate that Paul might have lost control of his temper and Peter did .

The Spirit of Christ who works in our hearts to help us live above sinful practices, as well as the offering of loving counsel by Christian brothers and sisters, enables the fruit of self-control to grow for the glory of God. As a result, we can model God’s values, demonstrate in our behaviors His power to aid us daily, and more effectively share His love for others.

I need to work on this .

The subject of forgiveness has come up a lot in my life over the last week. Wow.

Thanks for that list. I would rather be in God's camp daily. But, like you said, it's a moment to moment choice.

Thank you hmgm. I also read that same scripture this morning and am confused..i used to lavish forgiveness and mercy on everyone who abused me even if they didn't repent..but then I stopped that and distanced myself from those people. I am closer to the Lord now, able to focus on Him and not the people who are trying to such my goodness and joy out of me by belittling me constantly

As the teacher said yesterday when I asked her about how to relate to unbelievers who are acting like the devil..She said that it is not that person who is behaving that way , but the devil controlling them..

I do think that its better to tell the person ..After all the Lord wants us to repent which doesn't just mean say sorry but actually change our ways.

Thanks you for your great responses Strwy and Mary

Also hmgm, I just remembered..forgiveness doesn't always help the one who doesn't repent but it helps us and it frees us.

Kathilee, I too used to do that. At some point, you realize that the other person won't change from their evil ways despite forgiving them and showing them mercy so the only choice is to protect yourself from more harm. So we move on which is akin to forgiveness.

I know from my own personal experience that being rebuked by another, eventually led to making changes in myself. While I did not see it that way at the time, being rebuked and facing hard lessons for my behaviors all led me to the awareness I needed to change. And then I learned my lessons, repented, asked for forgiveness and set myself on the righteous path. This is what God wanted. I don't believe that God punishes us, but rather teaches us through life's lessons. Had I not been rebuked, I wouldn't have had anything to bring attention to my behavior and eventually see the connection. How many people do we know who continue to do the wrong thing and nobody wants to speak out? There are some who interpret the Bible as imposing a duty on us to speak out. For example Ezekiel 33:8 (NIV):

8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for[a] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.

I took a class like this at my church and it was very insightful but also very freeing. Never realized how not forgiving is a self imposed prison. I recommend a class like this to everyone.

As to the camps, I am so in Gods camp. I did notice there was no “Homeless Camp” or “Refugee” listed.

Yes Christopher not forgiving is a self imposed prison.

Hmgm, I agree with you very much. I have been rebuked so to speak and it helped me to grow and change for the better. I think it better to tell the person their hurtful behavior.

There have been people who have said sorry to me but continued to do the evil behaviour over and over never repenting because as I stated before I think repenting is turning from the behavior and truly being sorry not just shrugging it off with a quick sorry that means nothing.

I also know that we all all human and the Lord forgives us and gives us mercy when we have hurt him and have not even been aware of our hurtful behaviour.

As my teacher said this topic can be discussed for a very long time..There is a lot to think about and understand. I for one am trying to understand.

If I am able to pray and wish the best life for the people who have abused me but have no desire to be around them as I don't trust them and think they are being led by the devil . Why would I want to be around the devil?

Sorry for venting and going on and on..

Good call Kathilee !
I was verbally abused by a cousin and have forgiven her But cut off a relationship with her . She says she wants to follow Jesus but her actions don't demonstrate her words .

God does not want us to be abused .We are His Children.

FORGIVE AND FORGET

Deffiantely God's Camp although "hate" is not entirely in the Devil's Camp. We are supposed to hate the evil of sin and corruption which exists in the world and Ecclesiastes tells us that there is indeed a "time to hate". As well I believe that God's Camp should include courage, strength and standing up for what is right. I will give an example which is generally at the forefront of today's society which is the LGBT world. Their perverse. disgusting, non-Biblical lifestyles deserve our attention especialy in regards to the public school systems in the United States and Canada. It has become tolerated and heaven forbid even accepted that so called families which are made of of a pair of homosexual men or women with adopted children is a good "alternative" to what the liberals like to call the "traditional" family unit of a mother and a father which we know to be the Biblical family model which God ordained. God made them male and female or as a very good friend of mine has pointed out it was Adam and Eve NOT Adam and Steve!!! If I sound full of hate please don't :miss" my point. These people are free to do as they wish, but I for one don't have to tolerate it or accept it and God calls me not to do either because as a Christian I AM called to a "higher" standard. We are in a time like none other in our history when gay marriage and gay couples in Christ's Church is going on and nobody is willing to make a stand to say, "Wait a minute are you kidding me people? What happened to good old fashioned Biblical morals? I guess they were left behind in the 1950's and replaced with the lax and eminently sinful society of the 21st century". It is absolutely horrible that pastors in churches are being told by the government that they must perform gay marriages. Frankly it disgusts me to my core and I am cetain I don't stand alone in this view. If gay people want to become members in Christ's Church it should be with the express intent of leaving their sinful lifestyle behind and asking Christ and the members of His church to help free them from their sinful ways. Otherwise they are NOT welcome in any church I attend and if I ever found out they were I would stop going to that church immeditely. It comes down to this folks, "You've got to stand for something or you WILL fall for anything!!!" My hope and indeed my prayer is that EVERY Christian wil stand on the right side of this issue and not be bowled over by the power of Satan. We owe it to ourselves, our Savior and His church to do so. If this seemed like a rant I do applogize, but I stand firm in my convictions and I know they are right in God's eyes.