Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who have harmed you, or that you perceive to have harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.
God’s Forgiveness
The vast majority of the original words used in the scriptures that are translated into English as ‘forgive’ or ‘forgiven’ by God, mean to cover. But then from our definition above, is God trying to cover our harmful actions against Him? No, He is covering our concepts of what we believe against ourselves and Him with the truth of who we really are.
Mankind
When the scriptures speak of forgiveness between people, the original texts mean to send away. This does not mean to literally send away those we deem to have wronged us (e.g. criminals), but rather to send away from our thoughts the perceived wrong. This can be done either by direct action with the one to be forgiven, or simply as an act of the will in your mind.
