What does forgiveness mean to you?

We all make mistakes, some more grave than others but no one has met the definition of perfection yet.

So what does forgiveness mean to you and is it one of your moral "high ground" values?

Take it both ways, forgiving others and being forgiven.

so contemplating sending an enemy into the fires of hell is not within my mental lexicon.

However, when people have grievously injured me, I have taken a step back and looked at the character flaws that allowed them to do so. Realizing those same character flaws will do a worse number on them than I could possibly do has allowed me to let go of any notion of revenge, and from that comes forgiveness.

After all, I'd rather see them than be them.

but when it comes down to it I have a difficult time with revenge myself.

In orthodox Christian dogma, forgiveness means that, through faith in Jesus Christ, you have been released from having to pay the penalty for sins committed thousands of years ago by someone else. Without forgiveness, every individual will burn in eternal, never ending torture.

Forgiveness helps the forgiver as much as the reciever. It recognizes our imperfections, and allows them in others, as well as ourselves. It recognizes our humanness and imperfections. It thereby brings about unity, rather than disunity. It is a very important concept in spirituality, I believe. It also allows us to love others, and ourselves.

Here is an interesting Wikipedia article on the concept, showing how it appears in many of the major world religions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgiveness

of misperception that bind you with another. It is a key to spiritual growth.

not forgetting, but detaching from the feelings that threaten serenity, and inner peace.

My way of forgiving is to think about what it is that I'm angry/resentful/hurt about.
To try to look at it from different angles.
To talk to trusted others about it.
To pray about it.
To pray for the person I'm angry about, mainly that they will be blessed with whatever I think that they might need to be happy. (Usually what I think I might need, like inner peace, etc.)

I will try to do this for as long as I realize that I'm still troubled about this person.

There are only a few situations in my life that this has not completely worked on.

I'm open to other suggestions about how to forgive people from the distant past who harmed me in ways that have had a profound effect on my emotional development. Those are the hard ones to even think about "forgiving". So I tend to keep them on a back burner somewhere that I don't react emotionally to them. But that isn't forgiving, and I feel that somehow, it is necessary to come to a peaceful detachment about them as well.

eat at you and poison your life. It doesn't mean that what the other person did was okay or that it doesn't still hurt at times. It simply means that you don't let your resentment rule your life.

I think we've all seen people who are so consumed with unending rage at real or imagined, large or small past wrongs that it warps their personalities. I see them as negative examples.

I once heard a sermon in which the priest said, "Forgiveness means that you stop trying to have a better past."

That sums it up.

I'm not one to hold a grudge or to seek revenge. A grudge means that forgiveness has not truly been given, and revenge only leads to more animosity.


I do, however, have a limit. If I feel I'm being taken advantage of I'll make the other party aware that there is a problem. If it continues I'll end the relationship while still forgiving. Forgiving doesn't necessitate opening oneself up to abuse.

I would be in a state of not-forgiveness. Which certainly caused problems in my younger years of school.

Anger is something fairly foreign to me.

To truly forgive, the offense must be 'erased', and brought up no more.

It is often difficult to forgive, and there are times when it may seem impossible; but there is always room to forgive, even for the most grievous of things.

I am slow to anger, but that has not always been the case. In the past, I saw problems that existed, generally because I made poor choices. Once I understood that poor choices brought with them consequences, I became much more aware of how to avoid those choices.

Personal forgiveness does not necessarily replace justice either. While it may be possible to forgive an offender, it is also possible to ensure that society remains safe as well. True justice comes in the form of a 'punishment' that fits the 'crime'. I might be capable of forgiving a personal slight, but if an offender will continue poor behavior, he/she must be dealt with according to the appropriate laws regarding such criminal behavior. Of course, the maximum permissible under law need not be the only sentence ordered.

Forgiveness is often elusive, but I have found no better way to cleanse the soul.

The only way to explain is by an example from my life. My father left when I was seven years old. It was out of the blue and totally unexpected. It left such a void in my life plus it didn't help matters that my mother wouldn't talk about it.

In the end I blamed him and blamed myself. I was very angry at him for many years. When I found out about how horrible of a mother he had, it explained so much of why he was the way he was. Once, I understood why my father did what he did, forgiveness came.

Plus I also decided I couldn't live with such destructive feelings. These emotions not only hurt me, but also hurt those around me.

I truly believe in the power of forgiveness. Our world would be so much better if more could forgive.

to make the effort...:)