WiseReader

Revolutionary Forgiveness: Developing a forgiving lifestyle
Eric E. Wright
Evangelical Press, 2002
ISBN 0 85234 525 9

______________________

“To err is human; to forgive, divine” wrote Alexander Pope, 18th century English poet.  John MacArthur claims “Man is never more like God than when he forgives because God is never more like God than when He forgives…forgiveness is Christianity at its highest level.” 

But C.S. Lewis observed, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.”  It produces a snicker, but it rings true.  Why?  “Our fallen psyches seem to derive a perverse sense of satisfaction from fanning the sparks of anger into a flame of resentment that feeds the engines of revenge and retaliation,” asserts Eric Wright.

Without question we live in a world of revenge and retaliation.  From the Middle East to the Congo to the teeming cities, ours is a violence-riddled world.  Homes, workplaces, schools, and churches are filled with unresolved conflicts, anger, resentment, and bitterness.  With its tit-for-tat mindset, humanity careens from crisis to crisis. 
 
A leader in one of Canada’s larger evangelical denominations recently bemoaned the rising number of churches hiring lawyers to help the handle conflicts.  Churches increasingly mirror the litigious-driven culture of North America.  The golden rule has metamorphosed into a “Do unto others before they do it to you” ethos. There is clearly a need for an authentically biblical treatment of forgiveness, complete with practical applications. Eric Wright has produced just such a resource in this full-orbed study about developing a forgiving lifestyle.

In the first half of the book he discusses the need to create a climate of forgiveness, building a biblical theology of forgiveness.  The last half of the book explores practical issues surrounding a forgiving lifestyle.  Questions about taking the initiative, forgiving the unrepentant, making restitution, dealing with the sins of one’s ancestors, handling wounded emotions, and becoming a forgiving person are grappled with in light of biblical teaching developed in the first half of the book.  Each chapter concludes with a series of questions encouraging further reflection and discussion making this an excellent resource for personal or group study.

Wright says he found no writer giving adequate attention to three major concerns concerning forgiveness:  the distinction between forbearance and forgiveness; the cycle of alienation that feeds unforgiveness; and the difference between individual and congregational handling of forgiveness.  For example, when discussing the difference between forbearance and forgiveness, Wright says, “Sins require forgiveness but inadequacies due to human frailty, even oversights due to carelessness, call for forbearance.”

The critical importance of a forgiving lifestyle can be seen in George MacDonald’s observation:  “It may be infinitely worse to refuse to forgive than to murder, because the latter may be the impulse of a moment of heat; whereas the former is a cold and deliberate choice of the heart.”

Wright asks,” What would happen to society if everyone could begin each day with a slate wiped free of grievances, bitterness, anger, failure and sin?”  The benefits for families, churches, workplaces, and nations would be breathtaking.  True forgiveness is truly revolutionary.