Of apologies or pain

It's up to the one who is apologized to. When someone hurts you intentionally, it becomes a debt they owe you. When they apologized, they were asking for the debt to be forgiven. If you do not care to forgive, you don't have to. BUT, as we are taught in the Lord's prayer; forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. If you don't forgive them, is it possible YOU won't be forgiven YOUR debts? Forgiveness isn't for the one who's asking for it, it's for the one who was offended. Bitterness and anger are heavy burdens on the soul of the one holding onto them.

This is an unusual and interesting topic jonn. In my humble opinion, pain is pain no matter what... for example, you ran over someone on the road... as it is an accident, you rush him to the hospital, take accountability on the hospital expense... and still, a verbal apology still aint enough. No matter how sincere you can get, there would always be a part of you who would always feel guilty because it never should have happened if you were focused on the road and other stuff like that. In this case, not only should you be sincere to your patient but you should also be fair with yourself. To reply to your query, apologies MAY work but it would NEVER heal the pain. Only God thru time can heal all pains. Good for you if the person you ran over is educated and understanding but what if that person happens to be abusive?! There are some patients who would even pass you their other burdens...