Forgiveness

I just came across this wonderful article on forgiveness over at the Good Samaritan Ministries blog, and it really got me thinking. I am currently working through some forgiveness issues of my own and I need to remind myself exactly what Jesus taught about the subject.

According to the current Wikipedia:

Forgiveness is the mental, and/or spiritual process of ceasing to feel resentment, indignation or anger against another person for a perceived offence, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. This definition, however, is subject to much philosophical critique. Forgiveness may be considered simply in terms of the person who forgives, in terms of the person forgiven and/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 acknowledgment, apology, and/or restitution, or even just ask for forgiveness, in order for the wronged person to believe they are able to forgive.

In a Christian context, forgiveness is a prayerful action in which we allow God to handle the situation. Forgiveness should not simply crossing people off our list of perceived offenders. "It is a choice, it is specific, and," the authors of the article insist, "it is emotional."

I'm not entirely sure I believe forgiveness should be emotional, at least as far as I understand the author. Because forgiveness is a choice, it really can't be emotional. Emotions flow, not from our perceptions but, from our rational understanding of the world. Emotions are the bodily response to situations and our philosophical "rules" devised to deal with those situations.

So, in a sense, the author is correct. If we have decided that "I" am not going to hold something against another person, then we can say that our forgiveness is emotional. I can now feel positively towards a person who is no longer offensive to me. He or she has offended God and God is the one who gets to decide what to do about it.

The trick is that we can't really forget the perceived wrong to us. God may be able to do so, perhaps, but we can not. This is where the rubber hits the road. How does one deal with a person who continually wrongs you, shows no remorse and, apparently, plans on doing it again? If we "protect" ourselves by putting up boundries, are we interfering with the forgiveness process? Are we somehow telling God that we can handle the situation?

For a Christian, forgiveness may be the highest form of worship because we do not presume to act on behalf of God. In the end, forgiveness is just another cross we must bear in order to truly be called children of God.