Elie Wiesel (vee-zel), the Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, said in a prayer on the 50th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz: “God of forgiveness, do not forgive those murders of Jewish children here.”

If you have suffered greatly, there may be a part of your heart that resonates with Elie Wiesel’s words. You might be saying, “How can you tell me to forgive? You don’t know how much that person has hurt me!”

You’re right, I don’t. But I do know the person is still hurting you, because the pain is still obviously there and you are still bound to the past.

We don’t heal [first] in order to forgive we forgive in order to heal. Forgiveness is necessary for healing. But forgiveness does not mean tolerating sin or placing oneself back under the power of an abuser. God never tolerates sin and neither should we. We must take appropriate steps to protect ourselves for continuing abuse.

We don’t forgive another person for their sake. We do it for our sake. To forgive is to set the captive free, and we were the captives!

Neil Anderson & Rich Miller, Getting Anger Under Control, 2002, Oregon USA: Harvest House Publishing, p.140-142

Elie Wiesel (vee-zel), the Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, said in a prayer on the 50th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz: “God of forgiveness, do not forgive those murders of Jewish children here.”

If you have suffered greatly, there may be a part of your heart that resonates with Elie Wiesel’s words. You might be saying, “How can you tell me to forgive? You don’t know how much that person has hurt me!”

You’re right, I don’t. But I do know the person is still hurting you, because the pain is still obviously there and you are still bound to the past.

We don’t heal [first] in order to forgive we forgive in order to heal. Forgiveness is necessary for healing. But forgiveness does not mean tolerating sin or placing oneself back under the power of an abuser. God never tolerates sin and neither should we. We must take appropriate steps to protect ourselves for continuing abuse.

We don’t forgive another person for their sake. We do it for our sake. To forgive is to set the captive free, and we were the captives!

Neil Anderson & Rich Miller, Getting Anger Under Control, 2002, Oregon USA: Harvest House Publishing, p.140-142