We assume that once we are saved that God forgets everything that we have done that was wrong. This is not true.
There is a belief that once you forgive, you should also forget or you have not really forgiven. That is an illogical assumption of people who do not understand. Forgiveness is the action:
- to cease to feel resentment against someone
- to grant relief from payment of something
No where does it say that it is forgetting what has happened. To forgive and forget is foolish and will lead to repeated incidences. You can forgive someone and never trust them again.
So why would we expect God to forget?
I bring this up because people are confused by 1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 13 New International Version (NIV)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The bold text above is where the confusion lies and the underlined part is what this message is about.
Love keeps no records of wrongs. That sounds a lot like forgiving and forgetting or does it? People are using this to say that the Bible is contradicting it’s self, but that is not true. If God is love and love keeps no records of wrongs, then how can God use anything you have done to prevent you from entering into Heaven. That would make sense right?
There a few things that are wrong with this.
- You cannot break a single verse or part of a verse out from the whole and expect it to make sense. It is as though people throw grammar out the window when they read the Bible. In this particular verse, Paul was talking to a bunch of immature Christians who were constantly quarreling and suing each other. Paul was trying to teach them and help them grow.
- We have a tendency to think that people should be allowed to do what they want, when they want, and how they want without consequence for their actions. I love my children and as part of that love, I have had to discipline them from time to time. Well that requires judgement on my behalf to hold them accountable. If I did not love them, then I would let them do as they wish only to learn the hard way that is not how the world works.
- The Bible was not written in English, but translated from Hebrew and Greek. We need to stop thinking that it was written last week and more like 2000+ years ago. The way they spoke then is not the same as we speak today and the translation may be a bit off. Those that translate the Bible are doing the best job they can to provide us with accurate wording, but it is not an easy task. If you feel that something is a contradiction, then go look at the original text and see how the verse is written in the native language for that time to get a better understanding.
- God owes us nothing since He is the creator. We cannot expect that God will live according to how we are supposed to live and no that does not make Him a hypocrite.
AS an example, God told the Israelite’s to go and destroy entire nations, but He also says that we are not to kill.
When your boss says jump, do you say no or do you say how high? Why would we think this is any different with the Lord? When the Lord tells you to do something, you do it or it is sin. Now it is not easy to always do what the Lord tells us, but that is what is required.
If you are saved, then God has said that you will enter Heaven when you die. However, I still feel that God will hold you accountable for what you did on Earth while you were alive in other words He has kept a “Record of your Wrongs”. He has forgiven you, but that does not mean that you are still not responsible for your actions. So while you cannot get into Heaven based on your works, it is still important to do good works because it is what is expected of you.
What will you do?