What a curious, if not strange, post and interpretation of the truth.

"Only God can forgive?" Whew. That's so messed up on so many levels.

Firstly, every child of God is called to follow Christ's path, which is the manifestation of God's path. As God forgives, so do we. This is HOW we emulate God. It is God's nature shining through us.

Secondly, what is sin? Sin is any thought or action that results in establishing a connection to Satan. Committing a sin creates a connection to Satan, and a condition for Satan to engage with the sinner, spiritually.

Metaphorically speaking, it creates a 'claim' that Satan can legitimately assert before God that he has on the sinner. It creates a spiritual debt. Satan can claim the debt. Christ can forgive that debt, and resolve it, (and God through Christ).

But the principle when someone wrongs you is the same. They create a debt to you. This is the entire basis of common law. So, when someone wrongs me, I can forgive the claim I have on them. They damaged by car. I can forgive them, if I want to. I am the owner who has the claim on the debt.

But when a sinner commits an act that both sins against God and hurts me, I can certainly forgive the debt the sinner owes me, and that is 100% separate from the dept that is owned by Satan and owed to God.

Two different things.

Example. If someone owes me $1000 I can forgive that debt. Unilaterally if i want to. Of course. The person might come to me and say, here's your money, and I could say, don't worry about it. I forgive your debt. You are free of that debt.

Or, I might make some condition. Say you are sorry, and I'll forgive your debt.

When (whoever) murdered her husband did that action, they created a debt not only to God but also Erika. Erika can forgive the debt to her, but (obviously) not the debt incurred to God or the claim held by Satan.

So, we can say that one function of forgiveness is to remove a debt (someone - the debtor) owes to (someone - the creditor). But, one can only remove a debt that is owed to (me) or a debt that I have authority over. God can forgive the debts owed to Him.

But there is also another, very important function of forgiveness. When someone wrongs me, the natural response is pain and hurt. If someone you love wrongs you, it hurts you deeply, in the heart.

This creates a wound, which if left unresolved can become calloused. Hard. Like scar tissue. It can fester, it can grow. Those scars on the heart are what prevent us from loving others in the same way that God loves us: Unconditionally.

This is the core human issue. Our natural and innate ability to love others is impeded by the scars and wounds our hearts suffer from before we are born until we depart the earth. Those scars can also cause our heart to contract inwards, to tighten up, like a fist, or like a battered weather beaten skin that grows hard to protect itself from the pain caused by being alive and sensitive.

Forgiveness is the tonic of love that can remove the scar, and bring healing to the hurt in one's heart. It is invariably true that you cannot truly love someone if you hold a hurt (resentment) against them. If they wrong you, but you do not forgive them, you cannot by definition truly love them.

So, as many here have pointed out, one of the reasons we forgive is to liberate ourselves from the hurt, pain and negative connection that was caused when someone hurt us. We can most certainly do this unilaterally. We do not require their repentance or request for clemency.

In practice, of course, repentance on the part of one who hurts us can make it easier for us to forgive, but we can observe there are many instances when someone repents but the other person refuses or decides they will not ("cannot" is a choice here) forgive the other.

Who here is hurt? The one who cannot forgive. Because the hurt creates a barrier, often one that grows, to their ability to give and ALSO, to receive love, too.

And, the very purpose of our lives given by God is to grow and mature our ability to give and receive love.

Why did Christ pray on the cross "Father, forgive them?" Not because those who rejected and crucified him repented. But rather, he was interceding on the behalf of fallen humanity. Personally, I think he did this partly in order to comfort God's heart, and through that love, help to heal God's painful heart.

Jesus opened the way for God to forgive all humanity because of his (Jesus') love.

Before Jesus arrived on earth, there was never anyone who could love God to the extent that Jesus could, or love other human beings, fallen humankind, to the extent that God could. From a real, practical and spiritual perspective, THIS is how and why Jesus could become the intermediary, reconnecting lost humankind with God, the Father. Love.

Jesus faced and overcame the ultimate pain. The ones he was sent to love, and loved with a heart as great as God's, rejected him. Jesus loved every single person he ever met, even when he rebuked them or chastised them. Do you really think he did not love the Pharisees? Or the people who shouted for his Crucifixion?

He who loves opens himself to pain. It's axiomatic. The (spiritual) heart is a spiritual organ at the base of our being that can access and transmit the power of love. We feel love through that spiritual organ. It is our root, or core nature.

Jesus' love never wavered. And by overcoming the pain their rejection caused him, and loving them still, he did a few things. One, he became the first person to bring true comfort and relief to God's heart, the Father whose children betrayed him and united with his enemy.

That heart of God was wounded deeply, and only really began to heal when Jesus came and loved him. And, when Jesus experienced that same rejection that God did, without cursing or turning away, no longer was God alone in loving humanity.

Jesus could not have maintained his love if he did not forgive those that hurt him. You cannot truly love if you are unable to forgive.

When Erika Kirk forgave Charlie's murderer, she didn't liquidate the debt owed to Satan that the murderer incurred by his choices, his actions.

But she did liquidate the debt he owed to her. And, more importantly, she opened the way within herself to be able love that murderer. Despite the incredible pain she bore, she removed the scar and damage on her heart that could have prevented her from loving that person.

It is often the case that forgiveness will in fact precipitate repentance and sorrow from the one causing the hurt. Why? Because forgiveness is the practical manifestation of love, and some people need love and are moved by love to change course.

So, in the end, we should not confuse the issues at stake. The sin that the murderer committed against God, only God can forgive. But the wrong that the murderer committed against Erica, only she can forgive. And in forgiving, she freed herself from the negative bonds of pain, anger, resentment etc, that Satan wanted to forge in her heart. She overcame.

The murderer now has options. Confronted by such great tangible love, he might actually see the error of his ways. Or, he might not. He may continue along what is left of his life trapped in the hellish nightmare Satan created for him.

The issue here is not 'oh, if you simply forgive all the people that are doing evil in the world, they just continue to keep doing it'. The issue is, if you are unable to see these people as the instruments (victims) of Satan that they are, you may become unable to free your heart from impact of the wrongness they commit(ted).

If the supreme value in the universe were Justice, no human being would ever escape hell. But because the supreme value is true, perfect love, the way is open for God to forgive us. Jesus opened up that way, spiritually, because he practiced true, prefect love. That's why he forgives. When we emulate him, we multiply his reach.