Why Forgive?

Why Forgive?

Questions we all ask; stories that help with the answers

What if I don't feel like forgiving?
Forgiveness turns out to be much more about you than about the one who has hurt you.

What good is forgiving when things aren't going to change?
Forgiveness begets more forgiveness; it becomes a habit, a practice that enables us to live with the uncertainties of life without becoming jaded or resentful.

How is forgiving someone else really more about myself?
I saw the bitter cost of unforgiveness: nothing short of the utter erosion of one‘s life.

What does forgiveness look like from the outside?
Maybe it was some kind of forgiveness that saw her through. She was in her early thirties with two boy toddlers. Her husband left town. It was the mid-1930s, and she had no nearby extended family.

Why forgive when no one asks to be forgiven?
Forgiveness means relinquishment...If I forgive someone for a wrong done to me, I no longer allow that event to determine how I treat the other person.

Isn't forgiveness all about things that happened in the past?
It may seem odd to connect forgiveness and justice. Sometimes we even think of forgiveness as a way of nullifying justice or of making an exception to it...

What good is forgiving when the damage can never be mended?
If you don‘t forgive, you don‘t break the cycle of violence. It just goes on and on until there is no one left standing.

Where can I learn how to forgive?
In learning the way of forgiveness, it has helped to have mentors—those people whose demeanor, whose way of living, is singularly marked by a forgiving spirit.

What does Christianity teach about forgiveness?
Clearly, forgiveness is not an optional practice for Christians, but a requirement.  Yet we are so used to putting ourselves first that forgiveness may be a long time coming.  So how does a person begin?

How is forgiveness relevant when groups of people are at odds?
The bottom line is this: Forgiveness begets forgiveness. God forgives us. We forgive others. They forgive us. And don‘t forget this one: We forgive ourselves.

If God forgives me for what I do, can I move on and not look back?
"...Grace is for everybody... but mercy is for those of us on the inside of grace who still mess up..."

If I can forgive, why must I also forget?
If you are willing to forgive, but are unwilling to forget, you have not truly forgiven.