Forgiveness

Too often when people say they are sorry or apologize, what they want is not forgiveness but for you to brush their sin away as if it never happened (I'm sure there's a single word for that but I don't know it). They want everything to be okay again with no consequences or restitution or even real repentance.

I think forgiveness has become just a word sometimes. You see it when tragedies occur, like school shootings, and immediately people start forgiving the perpetrators. First, I'm not sure you can forgive someone for what he has done to someone else; second, this sort of "forgiveness" allows the person to side-step repentance or even apologies. He's already been forgiven so there is no need to even acknowledge guilt.

I think that for forgiveness to be real, repentance must also be real. It includes admitting that there was sin and hurt and this needs to be dealt with. Otherwise it becomes meaningless.