Difference between revisions of "Forgiveness"

Revision as of 02:57, April 15, 2014

Forgiveness is the renunciation or cessation of resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, disagreement, or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.

Forgiveness is offered to a sinner or villain. God, being without sin, can forgive sins; also, the Son of God had the authority to forgive sins - even before his crucifixion; see Jesus Christ. Lesser mortals have the option of forgiving an offense: indeed, it is taking the moral high road to do so, and Jesus commanded it (even 70 x 7 times):

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV)

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took [him] by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. Matthew 18:21-35 (KJV)

Is forgiveness free, or does it come at the price of some sort of apology? Can even Christ forgive those who do not repent? The classic formula when requesting forgiveness is (1) to acknowledge the offense, (2) to express regret for the pain caused, (3) and to promise not to repeat the offense.

Forgiveness usually results in freedom from punishment. It is safe to confess to a forgiving person, because the confession will not make one "guilty" but actually lead to a remission of guilt.

[This point is often poorly understood by non-Christians. Associating guilt and confession with "justice" and "discipline", non-Christians generally expect any evidence of wrongdoing to correspond to punishment and will accordingly avoid confession like the plague.]

Quotes

• Forgiveness does not change the past but it does enlarge the future.
  • Paul Lewis Boese, in Quote : The Weekly Digest, Vol. 53, No. 8, p. 146 (19 February 1967)

• Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
  • John F. Kennedy, as quoted in Mayor (1984) by Ed Koch

• Forgiveness is an absolute necessity for continued human existence.
  • Desmond Tutu, as quoted in Pastoral Care for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Healing the Shattered Soul (2002) by Dalene Fuller Rogers and Harold G Koenig, p. 31

• It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.
  • Grace Hopper, in "Only the Limits of Our Imagination", interview by Diane Hamblen in U.S. Navy's Chips Ahoy magazine (July 1986)

• The fairest action of our human life
  Is scorning to revenge an injury;
  For who forgives without a further strife,
  His adversary's heart to him doth tie:
  And 'tis a firmer conquest, truly said,
  To win the heart than overthrow the head.
  • Lady Elizabeth Carew, chorus from "Maxiam"

• His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the memory of a wrong.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, Letters and Social Aims (1876), Greatness

• Bear and forbear.
  • Epictetus. See Gellius, Book XVII. 6

• Æquum est
  Peccatis veniam poscentem reddere rursus.
  • It is right for him who asks forgiveness for his offenses to grant it to others.
  • Horace, Satires, I. 3. 74

• For 'tis sweet to stammer one letter
  Of the Eternal's language; — on earth it is called Forgiveness!
  • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Children of the Lord's Supper, line 214

• These evils I deserve, and more
  * * * * * *
  Justly, yet despair not of his final pardon,
  Whose ear is ever open, and his eye
  Gracious to re-admit the suppliant.
  • John Milton, Samson Agonistes (1671), line 1,170

• Forgiveness is better than revenge.
  • Pittacus, quoted by Heraclitus

• Humanum amare est, humanum autem ignoscere est.
  • To love is human, it is also human to forgive.
  • Plautus, Mercator, II. 2. 46

• Good-nature and good-sense must ever join;
  To err is human, to forgive, divine.
  • Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1709), line 522

• What if this cursed hand
  Were thicker than itself with brother's blood
  Is there not rain enough in the sweet heaves
  To wash it white as snow?
  • William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act III, scene 3, line 43

• I pardon him, as God shall pardon me.
  • William Shakespeare, Richard II (c. 1595), Act V, scene 3, line 131

• Tout comprendre rend tres-indulgent.
  • To understand makes one very indulgent.
  • Anne Louise Germaine de Staël, Corinne (1807), Book XVIII, Chapter V