Christianity and forgiveness
Linda Biehl in South Africa
- Christianity is based on forgiveness. Parables like the Parable of the Lost Son show that God is always willing to forgive people if they ask for forgiveness.
- Christians also believe that humans had become cut off from God because of human sin. They believe that God sent Jesus to die so that people could be forgiven.
- Christians consider that if God went to such lengths to secure forgiveness then they should be forgiving too.
- Although forgiving people all the time can be very difficult in practice there are Christians who have managed to follow Jesus’ teaching in the hardest of circumstances e.g. Peter and Linda Biehl managed to forgive and meet the murderers of their daughter Amy in South Africa because they were committed to following Jesus’ teaching.
They believe these things because:
• Jesus died on the cross to bring forgiveness and reconciliation.
• Jesus told Peter that he should forgive people up to ”seventy times seven times”. He didn’t mean forgive them 490 times but rather go on forgiving again and again and again.
• Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of his executioners when he was on the cross.
• Paul said that Christians should try and live in peace with everyone.
Christians do not think that forgiveness and reconciliation is possible if the argument is over a religious or moral issue and others are going against Christian beliefs.
Key quote
“’Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’”
(In this passage Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer) From the Gospel of Matthew 6:12, The Bible
Islam and forgiveness
Islam teaches that God is merciful and all who truly repent of their sins will be forgiven. Muslims believe that they too should forgive when people cause them offence.
They believe these things because:
• Allah is believed to be compassionate and merciful so Muslims should be too.
• Muslims believe that Allah will judge them on the Day of Judgement. If Muslims want Allah’s forgiveness then they need to show it to other people.
• The Qur’an says that Muslims should forgive.
• There are many hadith (sayings from the Prophet Muhammad) about forgiveness.
Muslims will not forgive those who are working against Islam or who are denying Muslim principles.
They believe these things because:
• Allah is believed to be compassionate and merciful so Muslims should be too.
• Muslims believe that Allah will judge them on the Day of Judgement. If Muslims want Allah’s forgiveness then they need to show it to other people.
• The Qur’an says that Muslims should forgive.
• There are many hadith (sayings from the Prophet Muhammad) about forgiveness.
Muslims will not forgive those who are working against Islam or who are denying Muslim principles.