I find that the problem with making mistakes these days is that we can permanently stain ourselves. From a spiritual standpoint, we cannot because we are taught that we are always forgiven and our mistake is thrown into a sea of forgetfulness. Jesus is not necessarily who we need to be worried about when it comes to making choices that can change the way people think about us forever, it's ourselves.
Whatever religion you choose to believe, that entity seems to have the eternal capability to rise above our situation and love us anyways. Being Christian, I know that when I truly ask for forgiveness He gives it to me 70x7 and never brings it up again. Humans do not have this. There are books and seminars and sermons and therapy groups trying to teach us how to forgive and forget. Even when we say we forgave and forgot, if that same person wronged us again, we would immediately feel that "I told you so" feeling. I think humans are more reluctant to forgive and forget because we are of a sinning nature and that means we are often repeat offenders. What we said we forgot we suddenly remember when we get burned twice.
I was talking to my aunt about young girls posting videos and pictures that make them look like hookers. And in my families true fashion, she immediately goes into "how that makes Jesus feel..." blah blah blah... When that young girl realizes that she was making a mistake and asks Jesus about it, He is going to forgive her and forget it happened. But everyone at her high-school is not. Everyone little punky kid who masturbated to it is not. If you put out garbage your going to get flies. If you go so far out of your way to be looked at as a sex symbol it is going to be very hard to wash that off in this world, even if you've never had sex. You can be a hooker with a hymen, don't get that twisted. Plus, the internet seems to be forever these days. You can delete what you posted, but can't delete the memory of those who saw it, or worse, downloaded it. When you decide you want to be thought of as a nice girl, everyone will forgive you...but probably will never forget that you were twerkin it like a Russian prostitute.
We all make mistakes, and that is never going to change, but trying to alter the way we think about each other is always the hardest part when we try to bounce back from it. The things I have done will leave people who have never even met me with an instant impression that I might never even have the opportunity to change. Choices we make brand us, and it does totally suck.
As I am still figuring out who I am and where I want to be, hopefully I have learned from my past mistakes and will gradually make less of them. It took Einstein like a million failed lightbulbs until he got it right. Once I get myself right, I hope any bad-choice impressions I left laying around in peoples memories will fade. I know only Jesus truly forgets, but I can strive to cloud some memories up along the way :)
