a guy just told me yesterday that when jesus was asked on how much you should forgive people who do bad things on you he answered, 70 x 77.
Now i do think its a brillant answer. and was just wondering have the numbers any signifignce, why 70 and 77.
Any answers.

You are referring to the quote from Matthew 18.

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."

Some translations say "seventy times seven", but the number is actually unimportant. The point Jesus is making is that you should always forgive because that is the key to God forgiving you. He says so in Matthew 6.

14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

In the 1960's, there was a movie entitled 491

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057810/

The title was explained with the tagline:

It is written that 490 times you can sin and be forgiven. This motion picture is about the 491st.

But, of course, Kogiah is correct. The Jesus character is often witty in his sayings and replies, and here plays on Peter's suggested limit to convey his view that there ought not to be any limit.

As you say, a brilliant answer.

There is a limit there.. 77 or 7^3 are not infinite numbers. 77 is actually a low number for some people I know. Since I have forgave them more than 77 times does that make me a more forgiving person than Jesus?

Isn't it obvious that it is a figure of speech to make a point that you should simply keep forgiving....

there is another place where same style is used, forgive me if I got the numbers wrong but you get the picture:

When god wanted to destroy a city, Abraham asked him, what if there are 40 people that are righteous , will you
kill them because of others who are sining?
God said, no if I can find 40 righteous people I will spare the city on account of them
Then Abraham asked, but what if there are 35 people that are righteous, and god said
if I can find 35 people that are righteous I will spare the city
then the Abraham kept asking again and again and each time a lower number
the eventually they came to a small number, until Abraham stopped asking

Same style is used, to make a point that righteous will never really suffer by the hand of god because those who sin.

The single hardest spiritual lesson a human can learn, is to master is the art of forgiveness. Expressed within all major religions it is a concept that frees the forgiver from anger and resentment which leads to hatred the most destructive of all emotions. Hatred is the cancer of the soul and only serves to destroy those that chose to succumb to it.
From Wikipedia,
Forgiveness is the mental and/or spiritual process of ceasing to feel resentment or anger against another person for a perceived offence, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the feelings of the person who forgives, or in terms of the relationship between the forgiver and the person forgiven. In some contexts, it may be granted without any expectation of compensation, and without any response on the part of the offender (for example, one may forgive a person who is dead). In practical terms, it may be necessary for the offender to offer some form of apology or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe they are able to forgive.

Studies show that people who forgive are happier and healthier than those who hold resentments. One study has shown that the positive benefit of forgiveness is similar whether it was based upon religious or secular counselling as opposed to a control group that received no forgiveness counselling.

Irish

The single hardest spiritual lesson a human can learn, is to master is the art of forgiveness. Expressed within all major religions it is a concept that frees the forgiver from anger and resentment which leads to hatred the most destructive of all emotions. Hatred is the cancer of the soul and only serves to destroy those that chose to succumb to it.


That's Beautiful, Irish

Youre okay, lad

I couldn't agree more.

70 and 77 are extremely significant.

You will have to read the Urantia Book to discover why

But just how far?

If someone has hurt you do you give them a second chance to hurt you? Then a third? A fourth? More?

When does letting by-gones by by-gones turn into being a fool?

I agree with Kogiah - the point being made is that forgiveness should be given every time. However, that doesn't mean that we should not protect ourselves. As MasterPo suggests above, what if they hurt us a second time, a third time, a fourth time..........

Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting everything and letting things go on just as before. Forgiving doesn't mean being a sucker to anyone that comes and says sorry, and takes advantage of you. I had a friend in High School who became a con-man. He ripped me off money, not to mention other people. After he ripped me off, he'd turn up at my door every once in a while and ask for forgiveness. He would profess to be a changed man. He promised that he'd repay the money he took and if we could be friends again. The first couple of times, I forgave him and let him back in to my life. But he had not changed. He was just there to try and get more money out of me. So I'd cut off ties again to protect myself. After the second time, I still forgave him, but I also told him that I didn't want him in my life.

I forgive him for what he has done, but he has not changed, and I will not put myself in a position to be exploited by him.

Well said libra.




Most times for me forgiving can be relatively easy, or at least i think it can be anyways...it's forgetting i always have trouble with.

70x77 is a number large enough that only someone who was really unforgiving at heart would actually keep a count waiting until that 5,391st act so that they could stop forgiving, so basically Jesus was saying just keep forgiving. But I agree with PA, this does not mean you do not protect yourself from someone who keeps aggravating you, but you still forgive them.