“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

-Matthew 7:23, KJV

While I believe God makes forgiveness available to all (John 3:16, 2 Cor 5:14, etc), I do not believe all are forgiven.

This verse from the Sermon on the Mount makes that much clear. Jesus–while incredibly forgiving–apparently does not forgive those living a lifestyle of iniquity.

Repentance is necessary for godly forgiveness.

This is important to keep in mind when dealing with victims of soul rape. They may only get to the point where forgiveness is available to the perpetrator once he or she forgives. And that is godly.

And getting to that point will take time as the wounds are deep. Such trauma does not generally heal overnight. It takes practice choosing to give the hurts over to God for Him to judge or forgive as He sees fit.

God is very forgiving.

However, even Jesus taught that people remaining in a lifestyle of sin ought not to expect His forgiveness in the end. Any concept of forgiveness without this taken into account is an ungodly one.

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*A version of this post ran previously.