Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional
Review: "Forgive and Forget" covers forgiveness for deep devistating hurts through to minor slights. This book is profound and poignant. It helps you understand what forgiveness really means and how to know when you have started to forgive."The only way to heal the pain that will not heal itself is to forgive the person who hurt you. Forgiving stops the reruns of pain. Forgiving heals your memory as you change your memory's vision." "A major ingredient in free forgiving is respect for the person being forgiven." Mr. Smedes includes in his book:
- The four stages of forgiving
- Forgiving people who are hard to forgive
- How people forgive
- Why forgive? This book answered many of my questions on forgiveness, though not all of them. It is a superb book, worth reading more than once. I recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: "Forgive and Forget" covers forgiveness for deep devistating hurts through to minor slights. This book is profound and poignant. It helps you understand what forgiveness really means and how to know when you have started to forgive. "The only way to heal the pain that will not heal itself is to forgive the person who hurt you. Forgiving stops the reruns of pain. Forgiving heals your memory as you change your memory's vision." "A major ingredient in free forgiving is respect for the person being forgiven." Mr. Smedes includes in his book:
- The four stages of forgiving
- Forgiving people who are hard to forgive
- How people forgive
- Why forgive? This book answered many of my questions on forgiveness, though not all of them. It is a superb book, worth reading more than once. I recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: This book changed my life.
Review: Forgive and Forget sounds like wisdom handed down from parents or grandparents. Lewis Smedes gently leads us through the WORK of forgiveness to the realization that forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. This book changed my life and I am grateful.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but frustrating at times
Review: I'm not sure what to make of it. It has a lot of excellent qualities, as the other reviewers point out. And I agree with those points. So why am I giving him 4 stars rather than 5? Well, there are times when he is writing more as an academic than as one who has experienced sexual or physical abuse and has transmuted all of that pan through forgiveness. Or he'll raise tantalising scenarios and then eave you hanging. maybe I just expected too much. Its definately a good book, and definately worth the money. But if you have survived extremely traumatic abuse, be it sexual or physical or emotional, you may not be able to completely "connect" with it.
Rating:
Summary: Made forgiveness within my reach
Review: I've struggled with some very painful issues in my life, and read several other books on forgiveness, but they left me feeling like I could never do what they suggested, and did nothing to help me to heal from the painful things that others have done to me. With this book I found that many of the things I'd already gone through were a part of forgiveness, and made forgiving someone within my grasp. I learned that it wasn't necessary to forget about the painful experiences in order to forgive, or to condone the action of the perpetrator in order to be able to forgive them. I didn't need to excuse their behavior by putting myself in their shoes to try to understand why their behavior had an excuse. I borrowed this book from a friend, but after reading it, I decided it was too good of a book to not have a copy of my own.
Rating:
Summary: Hanging on to pain can cause problems in YOUR life.
Review: If you have trouble with emotional intimacy you may need to get rid of some excess baggage. Don't let a past offense ruin your future. The offender need not ask for forgiveness in order for you to forgive. Forgiving is a gift you give yourself - PEACE. The offender may never know that you've forgiven but YOU will feel the difference. You may have to try again and again - we are only human, but the journey will give you a taste of heaven here on earth
Rating:
Summary: Learning what love is
Review: My father used the parable at the beginning of this book as a sermon illustration while I was home over Christmas break. Three weeks later, I was struggling with some personal issues and remembered this book. I read it, and my entire outlook on life changed. I realized that what the angel says is right. "You cannot change the past, you can only heal the hurt that comes to you from the past. And you can only heal it with the vision of the magic eyes." In reading this book, I learned what it means to look at someone with eyes of love. It means that you see them as who they are, with no exclusions. They are people who hurt you, but they may also be people who have been hurt themselves, or who are weak in some area. You learn to see this and forgive them the hurt they dealt you. This is what love is.
Rating:
Summary: Realstic Guide to the Challenge of Forgiving Others
Review: One of the most difficult struggles in managing conflict is practicing forgiveness. There are many well-written works on this subject, but few match the realism and sensitivity of the volumes by popular author and seminary professor, Lewis Smedes. The work, Forgive and Forget, is a classic on the subject. The sequel, The Art of Forgiving, builds upon the concepts of the first. Smedes says: "We all know the right thing to do is usually the harder thing to do. I am continuing to struggle with forgiving and moving past conflict. I know that bitterness and anger taint my day to day existence, so why hold on to them? What or whose purpose does it serve? I'm not at the point where I could forgive the murderer of a loved one, but I strongly suggest to everyone reading this that you give up a lot of the hostility you carry around from petty disagreements with friends and colleagues. It really will make a difference in how you'll feel about yourself." Using many dramatic examples drawn from life, this practical book illumines, step by step, a realistic path of healing and the road to peace and freedom. There are indispensable resources on the subject of forgiveness. If you only get one, get The Art of Forgiving, but if you want to double the blessing, get both.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Christian
Review: This book was a little too heavy on the religious aspects of forgiveness for my liking. Also, it seemed a little outdated. A good book for someone who is very into the "Christian" way of life, but if you just can't relate to that sort of thinking, or you like to have control over the situation, keep searching.
Rating:
Summary: Very Christian
Review: This book was a little too heavy on the religious aspects of forgiveness for my liking. Also, it seemed a little outdated. A good book for someone who is very into the "Christian" way of life, but if you just can't relate to that sort of thinking, or you like to have control over the situation, keep searching.
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