The Place of Forgiveness

Anya said that forgiveness is the most important, yet neglected teaching in Matthew 5-7. While forgiveness is a nice concept it is not as important as the other teachings. Forgiveness is a concept that is about as valuable and important as a box of sand. The fact of the matter is that people hurt each other and many times they will never be able to forgive the other person. The important thing for them to do is not so much to forgive the person who harmed them but to move on with their lives. Can one blame a man whose daughter was raped for hating the rapist and wanting him to die? The important thing is not for the man to forgive but to allow the laws of the land to punish the rapist, whether this be death or incarceration. A person may have their own ideals of what the transgressor deserves but if they decide to go against what the laws, then they are no better than the criminal. Forgiveness is a concept that is good for a person when they are harmed in a minor way but when a person is harmed in a major way, all forgiveness does is dangle in front of their face to try and make the person feel bad for not forgiving. Therefore forgiveness isn't the most important teaching in Matthew, in fact it is more of a joke than a teaching. Many other teachings are more important, such as do not judge and the teaching of humility.