On Forgiving Yourself

I was in a bible study and one young lady, a devout Christian said this: "God doesn't forgive you until you first forgive yourself!" I was astounded! "What is your scripture reference for this?" I asked. She responded, "I've just always heard that!" We hear many things which are doctrinal, psychological, fable, legend, and outright lies. Knowing that there are things which we can do to find truth, refer to the following:

1 Thessalonians 5:21 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

We are to test everything before we accept or reject it. I tested her allegation, and found it lacking. If it's there, I found no reference that what you "do" effects your forgiveness with the exception of having guilt, being sorry and repenting; which, incidentally, are all by the grace of God. Unlike the animals, man has a soul. Guilt, sorrow and confession to ease the conscience are all human attributes given to us by God which demarcate our humanity. When God designed people, he did so such that we would respond to his call; the call of the Holy Spirit!

John 16:7b "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment..."

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, "blames" the sinner of sin! It's that blame which calls a person to repentance. If people aren't reproved, they go on and on and on with sin. Those who are reproved and never respond are called "reprobate". God's faculties, which he gave to those deep in sin, are out of balance. The Spirit is the catalyst for forgiveness and grace is the actual forgiveness!

Some will argue that blame, sorrow, guilt, and repentance are not necessary because they're works. I submit they are God-given attributes which we have for one main purpose: to have the hope of salvation. Although those actions are within each of us, they are not our doing because they are God's gift to mankind! Without this system of interaction with our Creator, all mankind would be forever lost!

With that said, let's look at how people are "saved":

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God..."

It's by grace! Whose grace? God's. It's saved through your faith. Where does the work of having faith? You do! However, scripture says it too is a gift of God! Then are you saved "of yourselves". No!

Ephesians 2:9 "Not of works, lest any man should boast."

If one refers to my past writings (this blog), I propose that "the other God before (or besides) me" is each person's identity, called "the self". (Two Trees - Two Gods - Two Books, 3 parts June 2015). Crediting our own "self" for salvation by boasting is magnifying our idol, our "Self"!

Hence, there are merely four possibilities regarding salvation: 1) God, 2) Yourself, 3) it takes both or 4) no way to be saved.

I'm a proponent of eternal life. I believe that there is a hope for an eternal life. Those without that hope condemn themselves. They are, well... hopeless! Therefore, we either are saved because we did something or because of God's grace. Ephesians 2:8 says "not of yourselves: it is the gift of God". (2 and 3 are eliminated as candidates for saving us).

This notion hurts a person's "other god"; the one who he caters to and worships everyday! Excuse me self-righteous people, you had no part in saving yourself! Therefore, you  never ever have to forgive yourself before God does, nor at all!! God doesn't want you to bow down to yourself. He wants all your attention and he'll give you all the grace which you'll ever need! Forgiving yourself is heresy because by endeavoring to do so, you are "worshiping others gods besides me", meaning God!

"The Self" is called "the flesh". Your self is called "yourself". No one is not to credit "yourself" with what God did for free!

Romans 8:8 "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

Simply put, "in the flesh" are those who pleasure and have pride in their own humanity. Evolution credits chance for your existence. You just happened, and because you did, you are your own god. The God of truth says that you are his creation, and as such you are no God!

 Romans 1:25  "Who (those in the flesh) changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

Actually, this passage validates that the "creature" (us) is the other god of whom God is jealous.  Ironically though, men seek salvation to save their flesh. They seek the Almighty God to save their weak mortal god. Jesus came to experience what we experience, and by his grace he forgives that we seek him to save our little god. It's not the little god who has any part of saving, but the great Almighty God. To believe that we are saved because of things we did is still worshiping the flesh! God cuts off the flesh and topples our idol just as the pagan idol Dagon was toppled in the presence of God!

Baptism is symbolic of the toppling of "The Self". The old creation goes under the water and a new creation arises! By salvation and ultimate baptism, the flesh is cut-off. Circumcision in The Old Testament was a picture of Christian Baptism. Rather than a little flesh being cut off; all the flesh, with Christ, is cut off!