For Christians, forgiveness is exhibiting Christlike love even when it seems impossible for the amount pain that the other has caused in the forgiver. However, empirical studies on the relationships between other-focused love and forgiveness are scarce. In this study, we explored the relationships between other-focused love, empathy, and forgiveness among Christian college students. Using the data from 263 students from a large private Christian university in Central Virginia, bivariate correlations between two types of forgiveness, compassionate love, and empathy were computed, and the contribution of demographic variables, compassionate love, and empathy to the prediction of transgression-general and transgression-specific forgiveness was examined using three-block multiple regression analyses. Compassionate love had significant positive associations with both transgression-general and transgression-specific forgiveness, and compassionate love predicted both types of forgiveness after controlling for age, gender, and empathy.

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