ABOUT FORGIVENESS

In life, everyone is at one time or another, victim of some injustice or evil act.

When that happens, some react with anger, others with sadness, but both types of victims, will experience pain and disappointment, and also some level of depression; and all of them will be damaged to some extent, depending on the evil suffered, and this will produce bitterness.

This bitterness will lead to a desire of revenge for many, in one way or another, depending on the individual. But most of them, directly or indirectly, legally or ilegally, will seek some form of compensation for their suffering.

SEEKING COMPENSATION IS A RIGHT

Whether the injustice suffered is physical, material or moral, human law throughout history and in order to keep society under control, has implemented devices to obtain some compensation for the victims of these abuses.

If you have been physically assaulted, charges may be filed against the attacker with jail time and monetary compensation.

If you have suffered material damage, such as a crashed car or fire or other vandalism, charges may also be filed against the perpetrator and seek monetary compensation or substitution.

If you have suffered a moral evil, such as infidelity, defamation or psychological abuse, you can obtain a divorce or raise legal charges against the perpetrator or receive other form of compensation.

For people who live outside the law, direct and violent revenge will be the way to compensate for the pain suffered.

THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST

In all this, the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to forgive those who have done us wrong in one way or another:

"Then Peter approached Jesus and asked:" Lord, how many times will I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?

Jesus replied: "Not only seven times, but seventy-seven times."

Matthew 18: 21-22

THE REASONS TO FORGIVE

There are basically three main reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to forgive one another:

1 - COMPENSATION DOES NOT MAKE YOU BETTER

Although compensation is the logical counterweight of a loss, it does not make you a better person than what you are.

You may think that you are a better person than a criminal, since you do not do the evil they do, but compensation does not make you a better person than you were yesterday.

When you claim the replacement of a loss, whether physical, material or moral, one is behaving at a natural level, as expected of any creature, but not in the manner of a being made in the image and likeness of God.

When you suffer a loss and get compensation, you are at the same spiritual level of a unbeliever, hungry for revenge, bitter, wishing that your offender may feel the same pain you felt, and you will not be satisfied until you have seen him pay for what was done to you.

2 - COMPENSATION PERPETUATES EVIL

Another reason is that the system of Cause and Effect perpetuates evil in the world.

When the compensation wheel rotates, the Cause and Effect system also continues to rotate as established in the natural world.

One takes, another one retakes, and so on indefinitely.

In some cases, the relatives or associates of the "offender" feel that the damage inflicted on the "victim" is deserved and therefore they will also seek compensation for the "compensation" granted to the "victim", believing they are the victims, as in the case of children from an external marriage during a divorce.

In primitive societies this has resulted in a generational series of murders that continues indefinitely.

3 - WE NEED TO BE FORGIVEN

The final and most important reason is that we too must be forgiven by God.

Only God is the Supreme Judge of the Universe and the Avenger of all spiritual and material fault; and we all, without exception, are indebted to Him for the sole fact of being members of the human race, because of Adam's fault, and due to our personal faults against God and our neighbour.

We are indebted to God for the Incarnation and Atonement of Jesus in our favour. 

God did in Christ what was impossible for human beings to do, which was to compensate God in the same way that we seek to be compensated by others.

God, showing a much higher level of love and mercy than the Cause and Effect system, He paid Himself in the person of Jesus, all the spiritual and material debt we had incurred against Him and our fellow men.

CONCLUSION

Forgiveness requires the human being to set his eyes beyond the material and physical. Forgiveness elevates the quality of our spirit to the level originally intended, to the image and likeness of God.

The practice of forgiveness transforms our hearts and makes us generous creatures as expected of the Citizens of Heaven.

Forgiveness breaks the cycle of Cause and Effect established in the natural world, ending the perpetuation of evil. All evil dies with the one who forgives and will not continue after that.

Forgiveness frustrates Satan's plans for bitterness and evil in the world.

Finally, when we forgive, we gain God's forgiveness.

God, as Supreme Judge and Full Source of Justice, has reserved to Himself the right to forgive others without consulting anyone.

To be forgiven, we are also asked to forgive others, to free ourselves from the chains of bitterness and revenge and be better human beings.

The damage caused by evil doers, however, does not go unpunished. The victims can be sure that Jesus Christ suffered in his Passion and the Cross, all the guilt and all the pain that the offender would have to pay to his victims, and based on that, the repentant offender can also be acquitted, in the same way as every human being can be forgiven; but whoever does not repent, God has a Lake of Fire awaiting (Matthew 18: 32-35).

Omar Flores