Forgiveness is more than anything else in term of love Jesus Christ has shown on the cross. 我之所以信神,為得是可以有個地方懺悔我的過失,而不是為了免罪。If you need to find a place to repent, but not ask for forgiveness, how Christ can be your savior? Please remember it is not what you do to pay back your sins (wrongs) but your wrongs are forgiven (discounted). That is the love in Christ we Christian cherish with. Love your enemies, show your left chin when someone hits your right...these are used to illustrate the power of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not love? How have you not found it? Have you been in the world long enugh to realize that something wrong you can't deal with on your own and what you believe right but you can NOT bring forth? There is a divine being, who didn't come to just show us how to be a good citizen, which he was and he did, but taught us to admit our own sins by repentance and reconcilation with God.
I have a friend who thought she had not done enough for her mother who was lying in bed sick because of the distance she had from her mother. She cried each time her mother talked to her over the phone about the pain and illness. She felt worse and completely helpless. I learnt the story and sent her mother a message to let her know how much her daugher loves her and her situation and begged her for fogiveness. Amazing thing happened....my friend. When the daughter admitted to the mother how limited help she can be to her mother in time of crisis and asked for her forgiveness---- in that whatever a child does can never pay back the pain and suffering the mother has shown to deliver and raise up the child. Her mother completely stopped complaining over the phone and instead shared their best memory together as mother-daughter. She went through a successful surgery lately and is living happily in God's grace.