The Art of Forgiveness
Victor Agbasi Professor Awbrey Eng111: Documented Essay Thesis & Outline April 3, 2009 Thesis Statement: In their spiritual journey, Christians should develop the discipline of forgiveness. When developing forgiveness, Christians who have been wronged must recall what has been done to them. {text:list-item} {text:list-item} When developing forgiveness, Christians must view the situation from the wrongdoer’s point of view. {text:list-item} {text:list-item} When forgiving, Christians must be sure to let go of the offense after they have forgiven the wrongdoer. {text:list-item} {text:list-item} Victor Agbasi Professor Awbrey Eng111: Documented Essay April 3, 2009 The Art of Forgiveness “Forgive one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32 is one of the basic guidelines that most, if not all, Christians are familiar with, yet sometimes it can be oneof the hardest one to follow. Christians must form a habit of forgiveness. William James wrote an essay about habits. In the first paragraph of this essay, James talks about how we see every living creature as a “bundle of habits”. He goes on to say that all creatures except for human beings acquire instincts or habits at the time of birth. Conversely, humans pick up similar habits or instinct through education. Habits or instinct obtained by education are commonly called “acts of reason.” He concludes,“habit covers a very large part of life”(1). Just like humans acquire innate tendencies, Christians should also have developed certain instincts from studying God’s Word. In their spiritual journey, Christians should develop the discipline of forgiveness. Marianne Williamson once said: Forgiveness does not mean that we suppress anger; forgiveness means that we have asked for a miracle: the ability to see through mistakes that someone has made to the truth that lies in all of our hearts. Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more
Cited: Beacher, Henry Ward. Forgiveness Quotations. 25 October 2007. 1 April 2009 http://www.forgivenessweb.com/RdgRm/Quotationpage.html. Boese, Paul. Forgiveness Quotations. 25 October 2007. 1 April 2009 http://www.forgivenessweb.com/RdgRm/Quotationpage.html. Holmgren. Forgiveness Quotations. 25 October 2007. 1 April 2009 http://www.forgivenessweb.com/RdgRm/Quotationpage.html. James, William. “Habit.” The Principles of Psychology. 1890. 8 November 2006 http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/ Principles/prin4.htm. Luther, Martin King. Forgiveness Quotations. 25 October 2007. 1 April 2009 http://www.forgivenessweb.com/RdgRm/Quotationpage.html. MacArthur, John. Forgiveness Quotations. 25 October 2007. 1 April 2009 http://www.forgivenessweb.com/RdgRm/Quotationpage.html. New Believer’s Bible. Trans. New Living Translation. Laurie: Tyndale, 2006 Ustinov, Peter. Forgiveness Quotations. 25 October 2007. 1 April 2009 http://www.forgivenessweb.com/RdgRm/Quotationpage.html. Williamson, Marianne. Forgiveness Quotations. 25 October 2007. 1 April 2009 http://www.forgivenessweb.com/RdgRm/Quotationpage.html.