Article December 28, 1998 Issue

Is it possible to forgive—really forgive?

God's love wipes out resentment.

By Sharon S. Currin Mahaffie

Recently, a friend of mine remarked about someone else: "I just can't forgive him for the hurtful way he treated me. I'm still so bitter—it all seems so terribly unfair!" Who hasn't felt this way on occasion? No matter if it's a small slight or a large injustice, how does one manage to forgive—really forgive?

In praying about this, and in having to forgive a few things myself (as well as having to be forgiven a few), I've studied what the Bible and Science and Health teach about forgiveness. For example, Science and Health states: "Man's enslavement to the most relentless masters—passion, selfishness, envy, hatred, and revenge—is conquered only by a mighty struggle. Every hour of delay makes the struggle more severe. If man is not victorious over the passions, they crush out happiness, health, and manhood. Here Christian Science is the sovereign panacea, giving strength to the weakness of mortal mind,—strength from the immortal and omnipotent Mind,—and lifting humanity above itself into purer desires, even into spiritual power and goodwill to man" (p. 407).

No one wants to be a slave to evil characteristics. By understanding God, the "immortal and omnipotent Mind," and allowing this understanding to lift our thought above the lies being whispered (or sometimes screamed!) at us, we can rise, through prayer, to the point of real forgiveness.

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