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Christians teachings on forgiveness essay
Christians teachings on forgiveness essay
Christians teachings on forgiveness essay
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“Forgiving is not forgetting; it’s actually remembering, remembering and not using your right to hit back. It’s a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you don’t want to repeat what happened” The ideas that lie behind Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s quote are his faith in God and the goodness of humanity. In No Future without Forgiveness the reader delves deeper into the spiritual mind of his thoughts on the forgiveness process in a personal and communal manner.
Even though Tutu emphasizes the power of love and forgiveness he focuses on the idea of remembering the past, not to hold a grudge but give future generations the opportunity to grow and learn from mistakes. As he states: “In forgiving, people are not being asked to forget. On the contrary, it is important to remember, so that we should not let such atrocities happen again”. He continues on by saying that we should not condone what happens, but we should not protract the situation. Tutu believes in remembering because it is part of creation, before we fall to sin we ...
Forgiveness is crucial for a clear conscience and peace of mind for the both of them. However, all of this is arguable by the fact that today’s experiences are incomparable to those of Hitler’s times. One cannot begin to place one in each other’s shoes and know exactly how to respond to the events happening. One can only guess how they would respond, but until they are in that moment, all plausible reasoning can change. Nevertheless, forgiveness continues to be an aspect of everyday life in every century.
She explains that people who have found it within themselves to forgive often receive a feeling of relief from their internal struggle. Callwood references many people who have forgiven "great injustices,"(165) such as a woman whose seven year old daughter was tortured and killed and Nelson Mandela. Other famous figures referenced by Callwood such as the Dalai Lama and Bishop Desmond Tutu also have been said to agree that people "should [be] forgiving for [their] own sake,"(163).These people are quoted in Callwood's work to provide structure and evidence to her
Forgiveness and justice are very similar than we believe them to be. We believe that justice is
Life as we all know is full of disappointment and filled with disparity. Most of us are able to go through these and learn from and forgive ourselves. Yet, this isn’t always the case. People are faced with traumatic experiences that often take a long time to get over, if they ever do get over it. These experiences brew in our brain popping up at the most random points often bringing our spirits down. Although these experiences may scar us and fill us with regret and guilt, we can’t continue to live in the past and let these regrets haunt us. Self forgiveness is a key to healing and to moving on in life, no matter how hard it is.
As famed poet Maya Angelou once said, "It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive" (Angelou). Forgiveness is the decision to release any anger or blame towards a person or thing and let go, seemingly an easy task, but many people find it impossibly hard to do. In the aftermath of the devastating genocide in Rwanda, the most powerful step towards healing the nation was the forgiveness fostered by survivors. It was this strong belief that began to spread through Rwanda and brought people peace and acceptance. In Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza, Immaculée discovers forgiveness in her life, and begins to let go of the horrifying deeds that the Hutus committed against the Tutsis in order to move on and grow as a person, helping both herself and the killers move on.
—Forgiveness is a suite of prosocial motivational changes that happened after a person has incurred a transgression (McCullogh). McCullogh also asserts the forgiveness process includes empathy for the transgressor, generous attributions and appraisals regarding the transgression and transgressor, and rumination abalout the transgression where agreeableness takes a serious place in the person who needs to forgive someone. Andre was impressed by his father’s work, the emotion developed in Andre’s mind have given up revenge and resentment thought to his father. When Andre’s father had an accident that made his legs crushed and had to sit on a wheelchair for the rest of his life; Andre immediately felt how vulnerable people are. He cherished the relationship with his father, in fact after the accident Andre started to cherish everyone besides him. The accident was a trigger to a prosocial motivational change to Andre and his father’s relationship. “But deliver us from evil. Amen” (Dubus, 387). Andre prayed on his father’s funeral. Forgiveness needs something to trigger; Andre understand pop’s condition and forgave him. Andre knew that his father has done the best he could, and he was happy and grateful that he had a father. Moreover, Andre’s life was full of sports, the healing process was impacted by
Must one forget before one can forgive? Forgiveness involves not holding a sin against a person any longer, but forgiveness is a decision of the will. Since we cannot selectively remove events from our memory, it is impossible to truly forget sins that have been committed against us. Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, in his book The Sunflower, writes of an experience that occurred when he was a prisoner in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. He recounts a day when he was taken from work and lead to the bedside of a dying man. The dying man Karl, a member of the SS, confessed to Simon about his dreadful act for he sought absolution from a Jew. As Karl begs for Wiesenthal to forgive him, Wiesenthal remained silent and walked away. Wiesenthal’s purpose is to argue whether the inhumane acts of the SS should be forgiven. Because
“Forgive and forget” is a common phrase in our society. However, one may argue that mistakes are never truly forgotten. The Kite Runner suggests that the best way to resolve your past and make up for your mistakes is through doing good. Through Rahim Khan’s wisdom, the actions of Baba, and the journey of Amir, Khaled Hosseini illustrates that the need for redemption, due to unresolved guilt, can haunt someone throughout their life.
Sometimes it is better to forgive than it is to forget. Forgiving a person may not always be easy, but it can strengthen a friendship instead of holding a grudge. In The Kite runner by Khaled Hosseini, there are times when you are going to have someone be faithful to you, lie to you, and hurt you. Through it all you still have to be humble and forgive that person, because at the end God still forgives you if you ask him to.
Forgiving is a challenge in itself, especially when people do not feel there is justification for the wrongdoing. The ability to forgive is to forget about the harm afflicted by the active person. Forgiving is an act of obedience to God’s will, but how long does it take to achieve this? People may question the difficulty of the task. Forgiving can also seem like a battle between winning and losing. For instance, in this case scenario, if the mother decides to forgive her husband, she will feel defeated. There should be consequences and no remorse for his actions. In addition, the children are hurting from the pain of disloyalty. How can they forgive his actions according to Jesus and the Kingdom?
As I sit here thinking about was forgiveness means to me. I have come to realize that holding in hate is harmful and the outcome physically and mentally could cause undesirable effects. Although, the process of forgiveness can take many years and the process may start with you. The whole process shouldn’t be seen as an obligation, but a remedy to help with your recovery.
Case study # 4 says: One of your parents/ family members/ friends has been caught cheating with another person. She/he asks for forgiveness and desires to work through the problem. The worksheet that may be helpful for the case would be the Temptations worksheet. This worksheet talks about more than one example of Jesus being tempted. One temptation was in Matthew 4:1-4 and Luke 4:1-4. The devil is tempting Jesus to turn the bread into stones to prove that he was Jesus after he had fasted for forty days and forty nights. Jesus was famished but did not give in to the temptation but responded by saying, Matthew 4:4… “It is written, one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Forgiving someone and trying to work through the problem is an example practicing the word of God. Matthew 5:44-45 says, “…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…” I’m not saying that cheating one someone is okay and over time if the person keeps cheating I’m not saying that cheating one
Graybill cites Archbishop Desmond Tutu who advocates for forgiveness underpinning policy, rather than punishment. Those with this view advocate for the notion of Ubuntu, which does not have an exact definition, but connotes humaneness, caring and community (1118). In addition, to religious advocates, this policy of forgiveness has been adopted legislatively and embraced by the courts. The policy itself resulted in a very small fraction of the overall of the population applying for forgiveness. Graybill only examines the views of what can definitely be termed as the elite in post-apartheid society, in government and religious life. Furthermore, the fact that few applied for this amnesty sanctioned by the government shows either a distrust of the government or a general lack of remorse for past actions. In order, to understand how a nation is recovering from a decade’s long conflict where persons were detained captured and killed it is important to know the changing views of both victims and perpetrators. Although this notion of Ubuntu was implemented by the courts it is unclear in this piece if this idea is accepted by the population at large and if it is not tensions between these groups will continue to run
A strong Christian lesson on the true nature of forgiveness can be found in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount:
Forgiveness is the act of releasing an offender of any wrong or hurt they may have caused you whether they deserve it or not. It is a decision to let go of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group of people. When we choose to forgive, we’re wiping the slate clean, cancelling a debt, or as I love to say, “Letting it go.” In the Bible, the Greek word for forgiveness literally means to “let it go.” This concept, “forgiveness,” is easier said than done. Majority of people find it very difficult to let go of offenses and hurts caused by others. I really do believe that most people desire to let it go, but we lack the knowledge of how to do it. As believers, we are instructed by God maintain an attitude of forgiveness.