Some sins only God can forgive

Some people misunderstand the Bible and stories about the saints where they read that saints who were martyred often forgave their murderers, even as they were being tortured and killed. It is true that holy people do often forgive their tormenters even as the crimes are being committed. But people are jumping to conclusion when they assume that just because holy people forgive crimes against them that God validates their forgiveness and likewise forgives.

Holy people do not have the right to forgive on behalf of God. Holy people who are persecuted in God's name can forgive their hurts and harms but because they were harmed because of their relationship to God, the sin is actually against God, not the holy person. Even Jesus did not forgive his persecutors; Jesus prayed to God to forgive them. The holy person cannot forgive and absolve a person for their sins to their body and minds that are proxy for the persecutors offending God. The obvious example is that Jesus was persecuted and killed because of his true relationship to God and having been sent by God, his persecutors refusal to believe him translates to them refusing to believe God and obey his will through the Messiah Jesus Christ who spoke God's instructions.

So, for example, if someone is harming me as a human being because of an issue related to God, while I could in theory forgive a person if they asked me and performed penance, the odds are that I will not give false assurance to that person, because my forgiveness does not mean that God will forgive. God understands that I would basically put in a position to be "forced" to accept an apology and that would not be valid. God also recognizes that hurting me in his name is something only he can resolve. Also the depth that I am hurt goes beyond restoring, for example, a stolen good to me. To be harmed because someone wishes to be profane to God is a very deep hurt that cannot really be forgiven because it cannot really be completely restored. The soul comes through such harm as I've endured, but the spirit is irrevokably diminished. My spirit has been literally diminished by what I have unjustly endured and still am being forced to endure. You cannot restore the part of my spirit that has been lost, you can only stop worsening the loss.

This is why Jesus Christ warned that sins against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven by God. Jesus was trying to get people to understand that to rob each other of some object, for example, is one thing, but to rob a person in order to defy the Holy Spirit and God himself is an unforgivable offense. Humans cannot forgive on behalf of God, only God can do that. The first priority is for humans to obviously stop hurting the other person in the name of God, and to make penance, since God will not even consider mercy while you are still doing the sins, crimes and tormenting. That is why a holy person can forgive in martyrdom but if you read the Bible carefully you will see they are praying to God for the persecutor's forgiveness, but not able to give it themselves.

I'm not going to lie to you. I may forgive a person for what they have done to me, for example, friends who have harmed me and continue to do so, if and when they ask and perform penance. (Though I'm not holding my breath. Anyone who would go to the lengths people have done to hurt me when I never harmed them and refused to stop even when Godly evidence is given in my defense is unlikely to have a true change in their heart.) But the odds are I cannot forgive because harm that has been done to me has been done for anti-God profane reasons and I'm not empowered to forgive them even if I was inclined to do so. But you cannot even have the "forgiveness dialogue" with God so long as you are harming me.