Will God forgive me for cutting myself?
Question:
Um, yes, hello. I have been having a problem for a very long time about cutting myself and hurting my body. I just wanted to ask if God will forgive me because I know that He put me there in the first place. What I am trying to say is can you give me some advice, please?
Thank you for your time.
Answer:
People who hurt themselves typically do so because they feel they need to punish themselves. More often than not, the feeling that they need to be punished is irrational; that is, they are looking at the situation wrong. Often bad things are happening to them, for which they are not the cause, but someone is pressuring them to think that they are responsible. It becomes a trap where they think they are bad, but since it isn't really their fault, they can't correct it. Hence, the feeling that they need to punish themselves. It is a way to cope with what feels like overwhelming problems.
The problem is that cutting is wrong because you are harming yourself. You are acting as judge, jury, and executioner in your own case, but you are biased because you are involved. Your own emotions get in the way of seeing things accurately. The result is that you are going against what is in your nature, and I believe you know it. "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church" (Ephesians 5:29).
Cutting also doesn't solve anything. It gives the illusion that you are doing something, but nothing really changes; instead, you have yet another thing that you feel bad about. So in the long run you feel worse.
God forgives us when we turn away from sin. "Again, when I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die" (Ezekiel 33:14-15). So to get forgiveness for harming yourself, the first thing you need to do is stop harming yourself.
"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (I Corinthians 10:13). I'm willing to listen if you would like to talk about what is going on in your life. Perhaps I can suggest better ways to deal with problems -- ways that actually will make your life better.
