Among the many tender qualities which characterize the thought of the true Christian is the quality of forgiveness. To the Christian Scientist, however, forgiveness is more than a Christian virtue; to those who seek to know the love of God, it is also a scientific necessity.
A human sense of forgiveness may seem to imply the encouragement of wrongdoing, or the submissive acceptance of an apparent lack of justice. True forgiveness, however, demands that we look beyond the deceptive human appearance of things to behold the perfect reality underlying every situation. Unless we do behold reality, we have not demonstrated the scientific truth of this Christlike virtue which our Master embodied so consistently through his grand career.
Forgiveness is more than ceasing to hate; it is also learning to love. We must cease to believe all that seems to be evil and learn to understand and love every identity of God's creating. Actually, God expresses goodness and truth through every one of us, and unless we see and know our true being, we also need to forgive ourselves.
