Why do we believe it's important to forget as well as forgive? Aren't memories part of gaining wisdom and experience? If we always forgot, wouldn't we be doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over?
by 
Jodie44
ANSWERS: 4
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I can never forget bad things that have happened in my life and have trouble remembering the good stuff. I have learnt a lot from my mistakes and would never wish to repeat them. So forgive and forget, no way.Forgive maybe forget never
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I don't think its meant to completely 'forget' as much as it is to not dwell on it & think about it over & over again. To let go more then completely forget. And forgiveness helps us more then the ones we forgive because things can drive you crazy & eat at you if you hate something & constantly think about it. But thats a good question.
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I don't think in this case that "forgetting" is to be construed as losing the memory of something as much as "to move on". You are right, we need to learn the important lessons, and try to extract something positive out of all experiences. Obsessing over bad experiences/memories is a kind of "enslavement" where people, in spite of themselves, continually give those memories power over their life - we want to try to avoid this as much as possible. This is where the wonderful power of forgiveness comes into play - the most benefit really comes to the one who forgives. In essence, the one who can forgive is "freed" from the bad experience.
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I believe it is God who forgives and forgets. I believe people, however, need to remember in order to protect themselves from future harm and to not make the same mistakes again. For example: Suppose your husband lies to you about something really important. He repents and you forgive him. But, if you forget, then you leave yourself open to repeating that mistake again. I'm not saying bring it up every chance you get; but, just have that knowlege somewhere in the back of your head in case the same signs start to appear. He may be doing it again.
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