pple,
i recently have been wondering if forgiveness of sin cannot be attained if restitution is not done.
sum pple strongly believe restitution is the price paid for a sin commited in order to get forgiveness from God - but i think as according to the bible, salvation is by grace and also we are made to know that when we sincerely confess of our sins, He (God) is willing and just to forgive our sins.

i need to get ur view as regards dis issue - please!

Yes, I think it is necessary

@adetunrayo
i heard alot of people saying its necessary, but if i need to accept it as necessary, i think i should be convinced - and with probably reasons too.

i'll simply appreciate it if you can tell me why it's necessary.

I think it depends on the circumstances. Whereas there are situations where for concience sake, the individual will go about to restitute for certain sins commited example, returning a car or piece of land which was wrongly acquired. For this to be taught as a doctrine of Christ bothers me b/c in actual sense,how much can you pay that will amount to the price already paid for your salvation.

I see it as a display of self righteousness as well as outright folly to teach this as a doctrine of Christ. Imagine someone going about looking for a man from whom he stole 20 kobo in 1979. Rather than recieve forgiveness and believe the Word of God which declares him a new creature in Christ,he puts himself under satan's condemnation by dwelling on the past. And they see others who have had their guilt rolled away as incomplete. Well if they carry on like that not recieving the fullness of Christ, they'll surely be condemned to hell at the end.

While i believe the christian should do all he can to maintain a clear concience at all times, these things should be put in their proper perspective. Thank you.

@donnie
i appreciate.
soem denominations teach it as a doctrine + they cite that repentance is not complete without it!

to some extent they substitute restitution for repentance - for instance, returnin a forcefully taken property without any remorse for the act. "afterall, i have given back what i had forcefully taken"

its really disheartening to see some poeple being misled to over-emphasize restitution at the expense of the aboundant grace of God + ability to obtain total forgiveness from God.

Yes, it is if God demads it.

Hello Friends,

I appreciate the revival of a vital subject that the modern church has unfortunately relegated to the background. I admit that salvation is by grace and no human effort is enough to qualify him for redemption.

But salvation is predicated on genuine repentance, made of course freely. The fact that one is saved does not necessarily blot one's ugly pasts. The past must be revisited to make the new status indeed believable. I agree some restitution are unnecessary and simply playing to the gallery but some are just inevitable. tHAT one is saved does not mean one had no past and must break away from it completely.

Personally, i found it laughable that some members of a reputable holiness church confessed that they passed their WAEC with fraud and approached the council for due penalties. That is simply unnecessary. There are some aspects of one's past that cannot be redeemed, how matter hard you try.

Recently, a friend told me a lady abdicated her OND certificate because she gained the admission fraudlently. I realised she was just trying to impress God to receive forgiveness. She did not put her poor parents into consideration.

I have had to restitute my sins too. I gained admission with a fake result. Years after, God convicted me and I approached the registrar to confess. He advised i quickly opt out of the HND programme. I did, though it was painful. But that did not alter what I did. I just knew God would want to apply brake and refuse to tread that path. You all know what? Those who stayed put were disgraced. MANY who escaped are retarded in life. But God honoured my foolishness and promoted me incredibly.

So, the bottomline is being sure God wants you to do it. And being sorry enough about your past to feel no shame with exposing it., AS long as the past remains unconfessed, in any form, it maintains a grip on one. And the result is that movement become tortous and herculean. But there is no need to impress God or please people. I hope I have been helpful.

hmm.

it is absolutely neccesary for your own sake.

Restitution for sins u can remember(infact,God will constantly remind u) is like freeing a bird into the air.

I gave my life to Christ in 2004 but struggled in my heart with restituting some past sins for close to two years just like the poster is most likely doing. i qouted the bible so many times trying to tell myself i have been forgiven and everything has been swept away. The answer the holy spirit always gave me was that yes, ihave been forgiven by God but i must as much as possible have a clear conscience with man.it was tough and everytime i heard about restitution i was not happy. Until i took the step of restituting the sins i could remember, my conscience never let me rest.I believed i was qualified for heaven but i still wasnt totally free.Most of us are scared of the consequences of making restitutions.we are scared of punishment, shame, backlashes and whether people wont think u are going nuts.Its natural and God understands our fear.But most of the times,these fears dont come to pass.they are just fears.

However,delicate restitutions must be handled with care.if u rush into some restitutions,u will get ur fingers badly burnt.remember,'my people perish because they lack wisdom'.Seek advice from true,mature and caring elders in ur church for delicate cases.for not so delicate cases u can go all the way after serious prayers.If u still need help,am sure God will let u know.He cares and he wants ur heart to be totally free towards ur fellow man.U might start wondering why he cant just help ur conscience to be free.he has a standard and he cant break it. restitution is one of the biggest fruits of repentance.fruits christ expects us to bear.

imagine wat happened to zacheus in the bible.he was a tax collector-a set of people percieved as extortionists and wicked people in those days.Infact they had a more terrible image than our checkpoint police.he just got changed and Jesus went into his house to dine just like jesus dines with any sincere seeker.He never rejects sincere seeker.av u imagined how he knew that zacheus whom they have never met b4.he knew him becos he sees the heart of man and knows those who are sincere.sorry for the digression.Zacheus was dining with christ and the people started murmuring.This was natural considering Zacheus' image.But zacheus was so touched by his sins that he vowed in public to restore goods he has stolen 4 times. this served two purposes,it showed the people he has changed and showed he was truly touched.

True Restitution is not showing off or trying to earn Gods fforgiveness.God demands it.Do it quickly wholeheartedly and see Gods blessing just like Shinystar did.Take care.

@Donnie

restitution is very necessary for a Christian having a clear conscience. You do not need to extrapolate the act. It is anything that clears your conscience towards God and Man.

Jesus preached this message. "If you have any , against thy brother leave what you have before the alter and settle, "

We must have a clear conscience before man and God.

If you have stolen from the Government and you are driving around preaching that those who steal should steal no more when you have the money of the government still in your hands. Even if it pains you return it!

The doctrine is a Good doctrine and it is not forced on anyone. It is for the conscience sake. you may have to seek a senior Christian opinion but pray about it first.

It is necessary.  The utmost extreme's should be taken with caution and let the Spirit of God guide you.  You may need to confront your pastor. 

Restitution is not easy but the grace of God will see you through. Trust me, it worths it.

It very necessary when it is necessary.
If you have committed open sin you need open confession and when the sin is in secret you need secret confession.

Can you imagine in a church that you inpregnated one of the elders wife unknown to that elder that the lovely baby that was born to him was by you and you want and told him that you did pregnanted his wife and the child was out of you meeting his wife, what do you think will happen to you and elder and his wife and even the entire church?

Or someone you killed his lovely one either by juju or what ever mean and you went to that person in form of confessing that his/ her late father, mother, son or relative that died some time ago your responsible for it what do you thing that will happen to you if that person have knife or gun with him or her in the house?

Confess open if your are known killer that your no more in those acts people know you with. your are known robber that your are nomore into that act not going to some one you killed his or her beloved one to confessed you did which may attract death.

@dreamnaira

Open sin or close sin, you need to restitute. There are some that you won't have to because of the repercussions following it. Restitution is for building not for destruction. If you pregnated someone, you have to restitute that. It's only rare cases that you don't restitute. It's a serious and sensitive issue. I did mine but I went through it. The truth of the matter is that you'll be able to be sanctified and then move higher in your walk with God. You'll never go back to those sins again (that's for sure). If you used sorcery to inflict harm, you'll have to restitute those craft also. Go through the five books of the law. , like I said, restitution isn't easy. I can assure you, you'll never be the same.

@all
Is you said restitution is necessary or compulsory, give reasons for your decision and back it up with new testament scriptures.