Could you back this up with scripture, please?
Sure...Matt 18:21-22..."Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
Jesus doesn't mention repentance in Matt.
"If he repents" is a condition for "forgive him."
You could indeed see it that way, but with Matt 18 in mind, and the lessons from my own life, I find forgiveness a way easier load to bear in the passing years.
The inverse is implied by the condition, "if he repents." Therefore "if he does not repent" then "do not forgive him."
Maybe, but if it is so important, why wasn't repentance mentioned in Matt 18?
Is that not a matter of the heart, at that point?
What sort of heart have you got?
Do you think that God will not show mercy to someone who has repented, even if he doesn't repent to the one he wronged?
Yes, certainly.
But you will carry the unforgiveness in your heart until you find out again that if we don't forgive we won't be forgiven...as per the Lord's prayer.
You don't.
If you've moved a thousand miles away, and the person who wronged you has no way of contacting you in order to repent, then you move on.
Why not "move on" with forgiveness in your heart?
That doesn't mean you forgive him. It means you give place to wrath. "Vengeance is mine," says the LORD God, "I will repay." You leave it in God's hands.
Can't you "leave it in God's hands" if they don't repent to you?
But you don't make forgiveness superfluous just because someone cannot ask you for forgiveness.
It isn't like you have to spend something of your own in order to forgive.
It is cheap and easy to do, thanks be to God.
I thank God every single day for His forgiveness of me, and for teaching me how to forgive.
I rejoice in the fact that nobody will end up in the lake of fire for what they did to me.
Part of the divine nature of the reborn, I guess.
Your doing so teaches sinners that God will forgive them even if they don't repent, and that's simply not the case.
If the sin in question were the only sin they ever committed, it might matter.
But sinners fates are sure to include all their other sins too.
Besides repentance from sin is the first step to salvation, after hearing and believing.
It wasn't, for me.
I can remember nearly all the times I have been hurt individually or corporately.
I recall Jesus saying..."he who has been forgiven for much, loves much."
And "he who has been forgiven for little, loves little". Paraphrasing, of course.
I have been forgiven for very much...
Why do you think not forgiving someone means you carry around a grudge?
I have been that "carrier"
Yes, and scripture proves it.
God says for us to hate evil (that includes people who are evil).
You have inadvertently added to scripture.
Someone who has not repented of their evil is evil. Therefore, hating the person who wronged you, and not forgiving them, is a good thing to do.
Hate by humans, is never good, ever.
If a sinner has not repented, do you think God is wrong to hate them? For God to continue hating them?
Nope.
Do you think God holds a grudge against those who do not repent?
Yes.
But I call it accurate record keeping.
Or is God just for hating the evildoer, because he has not repented?
Are not evil doers and unrepentant the same thing?
