Archive for the Scripture Thoughts Category
In the LDS Church, when a person teaches the principle of forgiveness, we often hear about the importance of forgetting the acts or events that caused the offense. My impression is that this supposed doctrine or principle has arisen based on the commonly-heard but non-scriptural saying “forgive and forget.”
We also often hear the negative example of someone who stubbornly states “I will forgive but I will never forget.” This is considered a negative example because it is obvious from the tone of what is being stated that resentment still exists and that forgiveness is not in fact taking place.
I can understand why that attitude is a problem and why this negative example is used.
However, I am less sure about the scriptural foundations of this “forgive and forget” idea. As far as I know, there is no scripture in the canon that teaches us that we should forget any thing.
The common scriptural injunction and emphasis, in fact, is to remember and not to forget. But what are we commanded to remember? We are told to remember God, to remember Jesus, to remember our covenants, etc.
So I don’t think we forgive because we forget something that has happened - rather, we should forgive because of the things we are commanded to remember - the things we are commanded to contemplate continuously. Perhaps the most important thing we are commanded to remember is the atonement of Jesus Christ, what He did for us in the garden of Gethsemene and on the cross.
Laying the scriptural approach aside at least momentarily, I also want to make another point. I don’t think it’s actually possible, in many instances, to forget something that has happened - particularly something that was painful. Often, maybe without consciously choosing to do so, we will mentally revisit negative experiences in our lives and mull them over.
This doesn’t mean that the “forgive and forget” saying is foolish or lacks application. Rather, I think to “forget” in this context is meant to signify that a person has arrived at a place where he or she will not actively and consciously dwell on a negative memory or experience that had previously created feelings of offense. Instead, feelings of anger and distress are replaced with a desire to forgive and a desire to feel peace.
… and often we have minds of our own too.
Last Sunday in Gospel Doctrine class, we discussed the story of Moses, the people of Israel and the fiery serpents (see Numbers chapter twenty-one). The main problem arose because the people started to complain about being taken out of Egypt. The Lord apparently did not appreciate this line of reasoning and consequently he
“sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” (verse six)
So the people came to Moses and said:
“pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” (verse seven)
The Lord answered Moses’s prayer saying:
“Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” (verse eight)
So Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on a pole. Anyone who wanted to be healed could receive that blessing by glancing at the brass snake. But some refused to do so.
I think now I finally understand the human dynamic that was involved.
All my life I’ve been hearing this story and been told how stubborn some of the people were. During this particular lesson it dawned on me that they were annoyed because God didn’t solve the problem the way they asked. He chose a different approach, His own way to do it. That’s exactly the kind of thing that really ticks off our human pride.
Let’s go back to the original request that the people made to Moses. He was expected to ask the Lord that “he take away the serpents from us.” This is the simplest, most direct and obvious solution. It’s perfectly reasonable for people to want the snakes to be removed. It also seems easy enough for God to send his exterminating angel to kill the fiery serpents. Problem solved.
But in this story God’s answer is quite different from what was requested. In essence he is saying: “No. I’m not going to take away the serpents. They stay. You will continue to be bitten. But I’ll arrange for an antidote.”
And now, from that perspective, I understand perfectly why at least some people were angry and would even rather die than respond to what seems like the simplest thing to do. Stubborn, yes. Proud, yes. Even stupid, yes. But suddenly this story fits very well with what I know about human nature and (sadly) I can identify with those feelings to a certain extent.