I know God has forgiven me for my sins, but how can I begin to forgive myself?

There is nothing in the Bible that mentions forgiving yourself. Such a concept is unbiblical and worldly. Forgiveness is from the one against whom you have sinned. Ultimately, when we sin, we sin against God and break his law. But also, sometimes our sin can be against another person when we break the Law of God. For example, if we lie to a person, we have sinned against God and that person, so we need to receive forgiveness from both.

To seek forgiveness from yourself would be to ask yourself to forgive you for what you've done against yourself. But this doesn't make any sense. We are not the ones who make moral laws that we can break. Rather, God does that, so forgiving yourself just doesn’t make sense.

The Bible tells us much about forgiveness, about forgiving each other, being forgiven by God, but never about forgiving ourselves.

Eph. 4:32, “And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

Colossians 3:13, “bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

But, people feel guilty and need to be released

The idea of forgiving yourself carries with it the implication of guilt and the need to be released from the guilt. Sometimes we Christians do things that are truly regrettable, and the remnants of our sin haunt us. Usually it is in this context that someone might say a person needs to forgive himself, but again this is unbiblical.

Our forgiveness comes from God because ultimately it is God against whom we have sinned. If you are carrying guilt because of sin and you can't seem to get rid of it, then you need to realize that there is no sin you have committed that cannot be cleansed by the loving sacrifice of Christ. It is not an issue of your forgiving yourself. The issue is whether or not God forgives you. So, go to the cross and know that Jesus has already forgiven you, loves you, and will receive you to himself.

sometimes the lord will bring up your sins one by one, to show you havent been truly repentant or made restitution, so after you are contrite and humbled yourself then think that the Lord will remove our iniquities as far as east is from the west and remember them no more. G-d bless

Interestingly, the Bible nowhere talks about forgiving yourself. We are told to forgive others when they trespass against us and seek forgiveness. When we ask for God’s forgiveness based upon Christ having already paid for our sins and our having trusted in Him as Savior and Lord, He forgives us. It is as simple as that (1 John 1:9). However, even though we are released from the bondage to sin (as spoken of in Romans chapters 6-8), we can still choose to wallow in it and act as though we are not freed from it. Likewise with guilty feelings, we can accept the fact that we are forgiven in Christ, or we can believe the devil’s lie that we are still guilty and should therefore feel guilty.

The Bible says that when God forgives us, He “remembers our sins no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). This does not mean that the all-knowing God forgets because He forgives us. Rather, He chooses not to bring up our sin to Himself or others. When our former sins come to mind, we can choose to dwell upon them (with the resulting guilty feelings), or we can choose to fill our minds with thoughts of the awesome God who forgave us and thank and praise Him for it (Philippians 4:8). Remembering our sins is only beneficial when it reminds us of the extent of God’s forgiveness and makes it easier for us to forgive others (Matthew 18:21-35).

Sadly, there are people who don’t forgive themselves because they really don’t want to forget their former sins, choosing rather to continue getting a vicarious thrill out of reliving them in their minds. This, too, is sin and must be confessed and forsaken. A man who lusts in his heart after a woman is guilty of the sin of adultery (Matthew 5:28). In the same way, each time we mentally relive our sin, we commit the same sin over again. If this is happening in a Christian’s life, the pattern of sin/guilt/sin/guilt can be destructive and never-ending.

Remembering that our sins are forgiven should make it easier to forgive others their sin (Matthew 7:1-5; 1 Timothy 1:15). Forgiveness should remind us of the great Savior who forgave us, undeserving though we will always be, and draw us closer in loving obedience to Him (Romans 5:10; Psalm 103:2-3,10-14). God will allow our sin to come to mind (Satan may intend it for an evil purpose, but God allows it for a good purpose), but He wants us to accept His forgiveness and rejoice in His grace. So, the next time your former sins come to mind, “change the channel” by choosing to dwell upon His mercies (it might help to make a list of verses that encourage you to praise) and think about how we should loathe sin.

I like what R.C. Sproul said about an inability to feel that God has forgiven you is a form of arrogance. It's like saying I don't believe you, God - I know the Bible says you forgive those who earnestly repent, but because I can't let go of it, and because I don't feel as if you've forgiven me, then I guess you haven't forgiven me. We need to trust God and believe Him!

The only thing that works is to do your fair share in your relationship with the Lord by making the required sincere covenant with the Father that you will always obey all of Jesus' sayings .

R.C. SPROUL`S answer. I find it quite straight forward.

Frequently in his epistles, the apostle Paul goes to great lengths to describe what we call Christian liberty. In these matters God allows us freedom; he doesn't set down laws prohibiting something or commanding something. The apostle warns us against being judgmental toward our brothers, giving as an example in the Corinthian community the question about eating meat offered to idols. Paul says this has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. He says, "Those of you who have scruples about it, don't judge those who don't" and vice versa. This is a case in which we just have to respect one another.

In those admonitions, Paul uses as his basis this statement: "We are not to be judging people for whom Christ died." He reminds us that "your brother or your sister belongs to Christ. God has forgiven them. Who are you to withhold forgiveness from someone whom God has forgiven?"

Let's look at it this way. If somebody sins against me and that person repents, God forgives them. If I refuse to forgive them, can you think how ghastly that is in the sight of God? God is not obligated to forgive that person. That person has sinned against God, and God has never sinned against anybody. Here I am—a person who is a sinner refusing to forgive other sinners while God, who is sinless, is willing to forgive. Have you ever stopped to think about the arrogance that's in me when I refuse to forgive somebody that God has forgiven?

Now, how could you forgive yourself after God has forgiven you? I've had people come to me and say, "R.C., I committed such and such a sin, and I asked God to forgive me. I've gone to him ten times and asked him to forgive me, but I still don't feel forgiven. What am I going to do?" I don't have any brilliant theological answer to that. I can only tell them to ask God to forgive them one more time. When they say they've done it, I tell them this time I want them to ask God to forgive them for their arrogance. "Arrogance!?" they say. "What do you mean arrogance? I'm the most humble man in America. I've confessed this sin ten times." Doesn't God say that if you confess a sin one time, he'll forgive you? Who are you to refuse the forgiveness of God, and who are you to condemn one whom God has forgiven? That's arrogance. You may not feel arrogant, you may not mean to be arrogant, you may be rolling in humility with all of your confession. But I am telling you that if God has forgiven you, it is your duty to forgive yourself. It's not an option. You must forgive those whom God forgives, including yourself.

by forgiving

If you knew that, then the issue of forgiving yourself could not possibly arise.

You just accept what **** you've done and you move on mate. There's nothing more you can do O-o

I'm atheist however, so the belief system is different to some extent

Get your priorities straight. Ask those you hurt to forgive you and just as important also forgive yourself. Forgivness is admiting to yourself and others of the hurt caused by you and apologies for it. All the rest of this God stuff belongs in a Fairy Tale book.

How do you know?

What about all the other gods?

Which sins do you mean?

Did you know that all your sins can be forgiven if you paypal me $10?

first prove god exists, t=many times the bible has been proven wrong so you know if you've done something bad, even if god is real it doesn't matter.