Reconciliation, not Catharsis

We live in an age of grievance. It's not just that people are mad at each other, but that people feel wronged by each other. For many in and out of the church, forgiveness is not just hard, but it is morally wrong. It is wrong because it asks me to suppress the claims of my I. It requires that I value the needs of the other over my needs for justice or my needs to feel better. Journalist Elizabeth Bruenig put it simply, “There’s just something unsustainable about an environment that demands constant atonement, but actively disdains the very idea of forgiveness.” But this problem has more to do with our warped thoughts about what forgiveness is for, rather than what God's motivation and purpose is.