Guilt and forgiveness

How people can become estranged from God and find their way back.

How do people in different Protestant churches around the world look at dealing with guilt and forgiveness? This question was the focus of an ELM online seminar hosted by Kurt Herrera, ELM Officer for Church Development International/Ecumenical Cooperation Peru and Brazil, and Dr Joe Lüdemann, ELM Officer for Global Cultural Diversity/Ecumenical Cooperation South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini.

The international dialogue began with two very different short presentations. Nkosingiphile Nzuza from South Africa shed light on the concepts of sin and forgiveness against the backdrop of her country's past and present: A "Truth and reconciliation commission" that was unable to satisfactorily address the sin of apartheid - especially not for the victims - and a national election campaign in May 2024 accompanied by social tensions suggests the conclusion for her: forgiveness must go hand in hand with justice. But legal justice is not worth much without forgiveness born out of faith.

For Bradn Buerkle, ELM consultant for theological education and training in Churches International, the topic is also complex. For him, repentance consists of several parts: Firstly, the recognition of sin; secondly, for Christians, the belief that sins are forgiven for Christ's sake; and thirdly, good works that must follow repentance.  Confession could play an important role in this as a "precious and comforting opportunity" to bring transgressions before God or to speak to a counsellor.

Further aspects were highlighted during the subsequent discussion in plenary and in small groups. The discussion centred on the need to offer pastoral care and trauma therapy to provide individual help for victims in particular. But also different perspectives on guilt: the theological, which describes the individual's distance from God, and the general, ethical, moral transgression.

One participant from the Netherlands emphasised that the topic of guilt and forgiveness can be at least as great a challenge on a societal level as it is on an individual level. "Today is the national day of remembrance for the dead, when war victims are remembered," she explained. "It is difficult to talk about forgiveness on this day."

What Nkosingiphile Nzuza said at the end was probably true for all participants - from eastern Siberia to southern Africa: "There were a lot of thoughts that I want to think about further."