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猫咪社区APP / Alumni & Friends / Benefits and Services / Bukala Forgiveness Initiative / What is Forgiveness?

Let鈥檚 consider what forgiveness is and what it is not:

  • When we are hurt we should strive to understand the hurt as much as we possibly can, and we profit from having someone special at our side to help us to do so.
  • Forgiveness is a process, and the words of apology and words of forgiveness will differ in every situation.
  • Forgiveness is something very special, actually a gift that we give ourselves and then to the other. Forgiveness is for-giving. Separate the words 鈥渇or鈥 and 鈥済iving.鈥
  • Forgiveness is ultimately always for the forgiver. If we are interested in our own happiness, we forgive over and over again, as Jesus taught us, in all situations and circumstances.聽 All the time, no exceptions!
  • Forgiveness doesn鈥檛 mean we act as though nothing happened. It doesn鈥檛 erase, nor does it continue to highlight, what happened.
    forgiveness statues
  • Forgiveness doesn鈥檛 mean we immediately forget. If we could, I鈥檓 sure wewould.聽 But who wants to waste precious time in recalling a hurt of the past when there are so many wonderful things to experience now and in the future?
  • Forgiveness doesn鈥檛 cancel civil sanctions.
  • Forgiveness doesn鈥檛 always lead to reconciliation. However, it can be the gift that repairs a broken relationship.
  • Forgiveness erases hate.聽 Dr. Martin Luther King once said that 鈥淩eturning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only love can do that.鈥
  • We need to remember that Jesus distinguished between a sin and the sinner, and that he always forgave first before he healed individuals of their infirmities. Don鈥檛 forget the many men and women who sinned and are now saints.
  • When we forgive, we begin to feel the love that Jesus feels when He forgives.聽 鈥淟ove one another as I have loved you.鈥 鈥淔orgive one another as I have forgiven you.鈥
  • Of course, we also consider the need to forgive ourselves.
鈥淭o forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.鈥 鈥 Lewis Smedes

Basic Truths of the Human Condition

Basic truths of the human condition, as suggested below, will relate to 鈥淛esus as healer of broken hearts鈥 and constitute the path to be taken for the ultimate realization of forgiving and being forgiven:

  1. A human being is basically good. The greatest compliment that can ever be paid a person, in life or in death, is that he or she is/was good.
  2. Every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Nonetheless, every human being is 鈥渇allible,鈥 that is, every individual can and does make mistakes. No one is exempt from this reality. A human being will always need to forgive and聽 be forgiven.
  3. The 鈥淕olden Rule鈥 reminds us of a fact that almost everyone accepts as important in living our lives in society. Putting this rule into practice is an entirely different thing, possibly the kind of challenge