“Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy”

Forgiveness is a tough thing for a lot of people. I was a kid of childhood abuse and it was awful for me for years to even consider the phrase forgiveness towards my abuser. I always felt it would be letting them off the hook or excusing what was done to me.


A great friend of mine that’s a pastor explained to me one day when we talked about it that it’s absolutely okay for a Christian to forgive while also still desiring justice. He said all forgiveness is is a posture of trust between you and God where you allow the bitterness and anger to strip away from you because you trust that God, as the perfect and righteous judge, will handle it in the perfect way. You trust that God saw the offense and he will take vengeance in his holy way.


Once I trust God with handling this, it leads me to the next part of forgiveness which is, “do I hate someone enough to want them to spend eternity in hell?” That’s the question I have to ask and I know it’s really hard to get there. But even with me and my abuse, do I hate this person enough to wish them eternal torment? I couldn’t in my heart lift my hands to God and praise his mercy while having such hatred in me.


So in the end, I believe we as Christians stand on justice and hold people who break laws accountable while also praying for the evil in this world and in the hearts of man to be overcome by God’s great grace and mercy.

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How do we get to the point to where we truly mean the words of this prayer? The perpetrators from Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Utah all fall into the category of most needing the Lord’s mercy. But there is no chance in hell I can say those words and mean them at this time.

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You’re not necessarily expected to. Don’t forget about the REAL “Big Mike”:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

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How do we get to the point to where we truly mean the words of this prayer? The perpetrators from Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Utah all fall into the category of most needing the Lord’s mercy. But there is no chance in hell I can say those words and mean them at this time.

How do we get to a point where we are able to?

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Always remember that the forces of evil infected their soul. Those shrouded in wickedness are the most in need.

Ive been a broken record on this board...but there IS evil that must be destroyed. If you are unrepentantly evil, and hate God, I hate you and you are my enemy. These are the words of David who was a man after Gods own heart.

That said, I can pray both for God to destroy evil AND for repentance. If these people genuinely repent and genuinely ask for forgiveness, we will then forgive them.

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Once I trust God with handling this, it leads me to the next part of forgiveness which is, “do I hate someone enough to want them to spend eternity in hell?” That’s the question I have to ask and I know it’s really hard to get there. But even with me and my abuse, do I hate this person enough to wish them eternal torment? I couldn’t in my heart lift my hands to God and praise his mercy while having such hatred in me.

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We dont have to make this determination. God sees the heart, we do not. Saul held the cloaks of the men who stoned Stephen, one of the greatest, most compassionate, loving Christians that have ever walked the earth. Arguably just as heinous or worse than what this Utah dude did. God chose to save Saul and we know how that ended.

We can and should pray for God to destroy the wicked amongst us. He is fully capable of saving and forgiving those whom He chooses.

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We can and should pray for God to destroy the wicked amongst us. He is fully capable of saving and forgiving those whom He chooses.

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I understand your opinion. I’d just argue that when I find myself dabbling in a desire to see the wicked destroyed as a focus, I end up seeing my heart sink to a place that God doesn’t desire me to be.

JiminyCricket and FooManChoo are giving you powerful advice.

In regards to David’s psalms- we can cry out to God in pain and anger but we have to live by the words of Christ in regards to enemies. You can even look to how David treated King Saul as different than some of the prayers in his Psalms.

The Apostle Paul said our true enemies are spiritual powers and principalities, etc.

The Church allows for violence in self defense or defense of the weak and defenseless. It also says that all are should be subject to temporal judgement and punishment by governing authorities.

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God does not forgive those who do not ask for forgiveness. Repentance is a prerequisite.

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That’s true. Which is why I said we should pray for their repentance and faith.

We, as Christians, need to have a disposition of forgiveness and a willingness to offer it immediately upon repentance. That’s the disposition God has toward the repentant.

The requirement for entry into Heaven is sinless perfection, and the penalty for even one sin is the death penalty.

There is no man that has ever lived a sinless and perfect life besides Jesus, and He is also God., and God does not grade of a curve, nor is He impressed with us doing better. That’s not the point of unmerited salvation and being saved.

The cross of Christ is literally OUR CROSS. He took our death sentence upon Himself in our place so that if we would Believe solely upon Him alone and what He did on our behalf, our sins would be paid for, every single one of them, and we are assured of salvation through His grace and mercy. It now being about Christ’s righteousness imparted to us by faith in Him alone, and not our self righteousness.

We can’t earn it, deserve it, maintain it, or keep it, or else we are part savior and trying to save ourselves in one capacity or another, which is complete and utter unscriptural nonsense. Jesus is the savior of mankind, and if this were about being fair, none would ever receive salvation. For one, I’m glad it’s not about fairness or what I deserve.

I am delighted that 2000 years ago, Jesus died for every one of my sins I would commit, both before I trusted Him as my savior, and afterward as I attempted to live it out, which I fail at as much or more than I am successful at doing, which is why discipleship, service, and relationship is distinctly separate from salvation as it has to be because I am incapable of pleasing God through anything but believing upon His son, which is the Will of God for all mankind unto salvation.there are rewards and absence of rewards in the life to come, as well as effects from sin that hurt us on this earth, but if salvation is not a free gift of God and received rather than earned, deserved, or maintained, then we are trusting in ourselves, and not the perfection and Finished Work of Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf.

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How do we get to a point where we are able to?

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It's the single hardest part of being a Christian.