An interesting thing on the radio tonight. Jess had talk-back on in the car and there was this girl talking about a rape and convictions of the guys who were involved and the announcer asks her if she’s forgiven them.
Where does forgiveness fit in the secular, what meaning can it possibly have? Sure we teach little kids to say sorry regardless of religion, it’s polite, it’s the right thing to do. But for what we count as the big stuff like rape, like murder. Why should you – if you are not a Christian or of another religion that finds it important, forgive? What benefit does it have to you? Is it a feel good? If so, then why don’t people think about why? Who does it help? Is it simply a courtesy extended to the other human being? It makes absoultely no sense.
I was listening to some of this while flipping frequencies on the way to work tonight.
I’d go as far as saying it’s closure. When you forgive someone, it generally means you’re over it, you’ve put it behind you, it doesn’t cause you pain anymore. To forgive someone of such a thing as that is to be able to put it to rest, and bury it in your past, and not to have it rearing its ugly head every so often.
The emphasis being on the “forgivers” as a method of helping them get on with their lives and not dwell on it.