Dr Everett Worthington's TED talk on Forgiveness was quite intriguing and
very interesting. The Levels-of-explanation view is steeped in empiricism
and does not have God as its foundation. (Johnson, 2010). In short Dr
Worthington emphasized the following points about Forgiveness: 1. When
one is wronged we calculate the injustice gap, as Justice works with
forgiveness, 2. There are two ways to handle injustice Biblical or Not. 3.
Forgiveness is best for handling unforgiveness, 4. 2 types of forgiveness-
decisional and emotional 5. Both types of forgiveness are different from
reconciliation (requires trust from both parties and for them to be
trustworthy) 6. the Bible exhorts us to forgive, but does not show us how
and lastly 7. We can use REACH to obtain more thorough forgiveness.
The way Dr Worthington used the levels of integration approach in his talk
on forgiveness was simply to use empiricism and research to explain what
in truth is a Biblical theoretical phenomenon. Scripture reminds us that
forgiveness has first been shown to us by Almighty God. "Forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another , if any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye" (Colossians 3:13). Dr
Worthington did not credit God as having the Foundation of forgiveness.
