Forgiveness is one of the most misunderstood subjects in the Bible. In this excerpt of Forgiveness, author Gary Inrig shares insights from Scripture to help those who are wrestling with the inability or unwillingness to forgive or to admit the need to be forgiven. Discover how you can develop a heart of true forgiveness when you rely on God’s power rather than your emotions in dealing with situations of offense.

After Injury explores the practices of forgiveness, resentment, and apology in three key moments when they were undergoing a dramatic change. The three moments are early Christian history (for forgiveness), the shift from British eighteenth-century to Continental nineteenth-century philosophers (for resentment), and the moment in the 1950s postwar world in which British ordinary language philosophers and American sociologists of everyday life theorized what it means to express or perform an apology. The debates that arose in those key moments have largely defined our contemporary study of these practices.

Why is revenge such a pervasive and destructive problem? How can we create a future in which revenge is less common and forgiveness is more common? Psychologist Michael McCullough argues that the key to a more forgiving, less vengeful world is to understand the evolutionary forces that gave rise to these intimately human instincts and the social forces that activate them in human minds today. Drawing on exciting breakthroughs from the social and biological sciences, McCullough dispenses surprising and practical advice for making the world a more forgiving place. Michael E. McCullough (Miami, Florida), an internationally recognized expert on forgiveness and revenge, is a professor of psychology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where he directs the Laboratory for Social and Clinical Psychology.

The Forgiving Life offers scientifically supported guidance to help people forgive those in their lives who have acted unfairly and have inflicted emotional hurt. It does not minimize the devastation of that hurt. It does not require reconciliation with the one who inflicted the hurt. Rather, it describes a process, followed with success by people around the world, to confront the pain, rise above it to forgive, and in so doing, to loosen the grip of depression, anger, and resentment that has soured life. In this book, noted forgiveness expert Robert D. Enright invites readers to learn the benefits of forgiveness and to embark on a path of forgiveness, leaving behind a legacy of love. Guided by thought-provoking questions, journaling exercises, and Enright’s kind encouragement, readers can chart their own journey through a new life of forgiveness.

This volume collects the state-of-the-art research on forgiveness and mental and physical health and well-being. It focuses specifically on connections between forgiveness and its health and well-being benefits. Forgiveness has been examined from a variety of perspectives, including the moral, ethical and philosophical. Ways in which to become more forgiving and evolutionary theories of revenge and forgiveness have also been investigated and proposed. However, little attention has been paid to the benefits of forgiveness. This volume offers an examination of the theory, methods and research utilized in understanding these connections. It considers trait and state forgiveness, emotional and decisional forgiveness, and interventions to promote forgiveness, all with an eye toward the positive effects of forgiveness for a victim’s health and well-being. Finally, this volume considers key moderators such as gender, race, and age, as well as, explanatory mechanisms that might mediate links between forgiveness and key outcomes.

Based on a Christian frame work, the author leads the readers to the place of being willing to take the risk of releasing their offenders and learn to live in freedom. In the book the reader will see the necessity of forgiveness to release every offender in their life. To accomplish that objective the reader will first understand what forgiveness really means. There are too many misconceptions of what forgiveness really is and it requires clarification. When one really understands what they are doing when they forgive another, they might not be reluctant to forgive, or even struggle with the idea of it. The author then examines how one opens the door to bitterness and gives it a home in their heart. This subject is covered because it helps unravel the areas where we have entangled ourselves that have kept this door open. The book In conclusion, seeks to help create a heart where bitterness has a difficult time penetrating into it. Wouldn't it be great to walk through life with a Teflon© nonstick spiritual armor, where offenses slide off rather than stick as they are thrown at you daily? Building a heart that quickly resolves offenses is actually the most important aspect of this book. It is imperative that our hearts be ruled by a stronghold of compassion so we will react and see everyone - even our offenders - through the eyes of Jesus

DIV John and Paula Sandford explain how ego and pride are involved in hurtful situations and how, in the world’s eyes, it would be natural to seek revenge. But unforgiveness and sin have a way of keeping us in a constant state of chaos and trouble. /div