Christian Forgiveness

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. -- The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland is offering forgiveness and a funeral service for a homeless man who killed himself after fata...

The Chris Brown story illustrates real problems with the way Americans understand forgiveness and redemption. Too often, American-style forgiveness is a kind of forgetting.

As a forgiving people, the Amish of Nickel Mines desired not to create objects or monuments that recall the violence of that day. Nor did they want to be viewed as victims.

Scripture advises that anger clouds our vision and hardens our hearts. It makes us base rather than noble. It blinds us to our own failings and encourages a dangerous arrogance. It makes us forget we need forgiveness as individuals and as a nation.

When the quest for justice becomes a manhunt, the cycle repeats. And when forgiveness comes too early or too easily, the cycle stands to repeat again.

It may well be true that "Forgiveness sets you free." However, the idea of forgiveness as a psychological or emotional condition traces to 18th-century moral philosophy, not first-century Christian writings.

The Bible says: The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire. If there's a candidate for most likely to be thrown in, shouldn't it be Anders Breivik?

Dr. Barry explains that he is not saying forgiveness is the Christian thing to do, but that "it's the right thing to do, if what you want is the best chance of beating your disease."

By Francis X. Rocca Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) For more than a quarter of a century, psychologist Robert D. Enright has been a pioneer ...

I was desperate that New Year's Eve in 1983 to find shelter. I attended a service in a neighborhood church and hid in the back under a pew. I was ecstatic when the doors were locked.

By Roy Hoffman Religion News Service MOBILE, Ala. (RNS) In The Devil in Pew Number Seven, Rebecca Nichols Alonzo tells a deeply personal story of God...