Forgiveness In Mark Mcminn's Irreconciliation

Introduction Mark McMinn begins his chapter on forgiveness by talking about the bodies ability to heal itself and then explains that we have the ability heal interpersonally to. God gave us the ability to forgive so that we might heal. However, McMinn does point out that interpersonal healing is much harder than the physical healing out bodies experience. To illustrate just how hard and complicated forgiveness can be, McMinn uses the example of a client that was sexually abused as a child. McMinn ask the questions about should she forgive or seek reconciliation, or should her anger be encouraged. Then McMinn says that forgiveness has a few imposters that it can be confused with. One of the imposters that forgiveness is sometimes confused with is excusing. Unlike forgiveness that takes effort and happens over a long period of time, excusing is casual and could be the client’s way of avoiding the problem. The second imposter is denial or passive acceptance. McMinn sates that when a client remains silent and refuse to confront the offense, attempting to keep …show more content…
I am glad that McMinn states this. I have heard it said so many times that when a person forgives that should reconcile. But, I have often wonder why you would reconcile a relationship with the person that is toxic and hurtful. Forgiveness and reconciliation may be the ideal situation, but we don’t live in an ideal world. If we did there would not be a need for forgiveness and reconciliation and I am not certain that reconciliation is always healthy. I do not think that I would ever tell a client that has suffered any kind of abuse that they need to reconcile the relationship with the abuser. I do not see how this is helpful or healthy. Just because the client has had a change of heart and is ready means that the abuse will have a change of heart and won’t try to harm the client