The Power of Forgiveness

However, forgiveness is the act of overcoming the bad feelings or encounters from others or the urge to revenge the bad feelings from the person who wronged us. Forgiveness is one of the most instrumental virtues although its perception is quite relative depending on an individual. There are some people with the mentality that some actions are unforgivable while others feel there is no sin that is unforgivable (Karremans & Smith, 2010). Accepting apology is one way of showing the act of forgiveness; ideally, every being is prone to mistakes and therefore, to forgive is another way of preparing to be forgiven of our follies. Further, learning forgiveness is equally important for self-forgiveness for if we forgive others, we learn to forgive ourselves especially when we suffer from personal guilt and therefore, it helps us to get out of the feeling of self-blame.

Her religious backings helped her overcome the obstacles that came with the forgiveness for she put her trust in God and realised that no one under the sun is perfect hence forgiving those who hurt her in the entire period of the war. Ten Boom faced one of the most challenging time during the times of holocaust but her trust of God made virtually everything worked perfect for her for whenever she faced any kind of difficulty, she would turn to God who always answered her prayers. Her encounters and the powers of forgiveness are summarised in her famous quotes like “If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest,” (Ten Boom, & Sherrill, 2006).

Besides historical background, the power of forgiveness marks the major theme in almost all religions. From the biblical point of view, unforgiveness stands between human and God and determines one’s fate in the eternity. For instance, all human beings are sinners and through the grace of God, we are forgiven our sins and we become righteous; therefore, the same way God forgives us of our sins is the same way we should forgive others. “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins,” Matthew 6:14-1. The story of Joseph encompasses reconciliation, repentance and forgiveness. Other incidences of forgiveness include Job’s prayer to be pardoned, Moses plea for God to pardon the Israelites from going against the ways of the Lord and turning to the warship other gods.

In a critical analysis of the incidences of forgiveness in the bible, the powers of forgiveness are evidence in God’s promise to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 33: 8 “I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. ” The New Testament offers a continuation of the concerns of forgiveness as indicated in the Old Testament although the focus now shifts to Jesus who at some points offers direct teachings on forgiveness. Although Jesus preached about forgiveness, he also claimed the powers to forgive sins. ” This means whenever one asks for forgiveness and repentance, the person increases the love with God although there is no condition that the person should not commit the same mistake again.

The Quran documents forgiveness and mercy almost 100 and 200 times respectively whereby Allah is depicted as the most merciful and forgives whoever asks for forgiveness. Allah says in Quran that “. And let them pardon and overlook. Would you not like that Allah should forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful,” (Quran 24:22). The apartheid was marked with the killing of thousands of people and various injuries for the uprisings that stood against the apartheid. Through the power of forgiveness, Mandela was successful in his one term leadership that was ,marked by the spirit of love and forgiveness and by creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a body that would look into the country’s past and help to forge ahead as one united nation.

Mandela did not just engage in forgiveness and reconciliation for personal gain, but instead did it for the purposes of the entire nation hence making him remain in history as one of the prominent figure especially when it comes to the matters of governance. Another instance where the powers of forgiveness is demonstrated in politics entails the case of Australia’s ‘sorry book’ that talks of the citizen’s remorse on the former government policy that mediated on the removal of the aboriginal children from their parents with the aim of fostering the cultural assimilation. President Clinton courage to apologise to the African American parents was latter supported by the proposal by both scholar and policy makers finally resulted to the Good Friday Agreement which marked the end of the separation of the aboriginal children from their parents.