Forgiveness: Not Necessarily What You Think

What the Bible Really Says, and What it Doesn't Say

By: Sister Renee Pittelli

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Have you ever been pressured to forgive before you felt comfortable about it? Has something not sat right with you all these years about the concept of biblical forgiveness? Is it just not making sense for God to require us to grant blanket forgiveness on demand, or even if it hasn’t been asked for, including to those who are downright wicked? As Christians, we all know our Father wants us to forgive. However, forgiveness and the requirement to forgive are not necessarily what we have been taught by our abusers and their enablers, or by others who are either misinformed or trying to deceive us. God wants us to be open-hearted and willing to forgive. But he does not want us to cheapen forgiveness by giving it prematurely and undeservedly to those who have every intention of continuing on in their evil. In this book, we will study the scriptures that talk about forgiveness and repentance, including relevant context and commentary, as well as dilemmas and questions we are often faced with. Our God is not an abuse-enabler. He is truly righteous and just. You may be surprised to learn that forgiveness and God’s instructions to forgive are not necessarily what you have been led to believe.

Useful, but angry

I'm estranged from my narcissist family and was looking for books from a christian perspective to help me cope with their continued harassment. The book has some excellent points that I don't wish to downplay, but I had to stop listening after the first hour because it seemed to come from a place of anger and bitterness at times. Anyone who has been subjected to that kind of abuse and harassment have plenty of reasons to be angry and bitter, but this might not be the book to go to if you're looking to drop that.

The primary point of it is a good one though: Without an apology or a confession of wrongdoing, forgiveness is difficult.

Regarding the virtual voice, Once a chapter it would sound like it got stuck on a word, but after a bit I got used to it. I know audiobook narrators are expensive, so what they used was functional for the job.