Agreed its not a gotcha. But you are fundamentally misunderstanding whats happening here. The act of forgiveness is not transactional. You putting away grudges and hurt feelings is that act. It doesn't require anyone presenting themselves to you. Your forgiveness is not for them. Its for you.
I would refer you to the beatitudes, luke 6, christ on the cross (Father forgive them...), the story of the adulteress, (go forth and sin no more).
We are shown that Christ is willing to forgive without our explicit repentence, but more importantly, we are told repeatedly what we are to do and that we will be judged by how we judge others.
When we turn the other cheek, it is not a act of defiance. Its an act of forgiveness... They do not ask for this. We forgive so that we remain blameless before our Heavenly Father.
Your forgiveness has no bearing on anyone except yourself. Its not a token that is for you to give to another.
Again, when some one is asking for your forgiveness, what they are really asking for is permission to forgive themselves from their own persecution and self torment.
GrumpyGardener
npub159…pcsm3
2025-04-13 04:09:57
in reply to nevent1q…eqla
Author Public Key
npub159wczz79n0x95p4vq5rggdkhz36u3852n8xfwv3u4ehdylrnr97qnpcsm3Published at
2025-04-13 04:09:57Event JSON
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