One of the things I’ve noticed during the years that I’ve had the misfortune to know Bob Malm and his circle of sycophants and flying monkeys is that none adhere to a Christian notion of forgiveness. The article that follows via hyperlink offers a good discussion.
In Bob’s case, the words are carefully chosen to sound sincere. In addition, there’s lots of superficial remorse and theatrics. But once you peel those layers back, you come to see that the real Bob Malm — vile, vicious and vindictive, the one who bellows, “ Why should I give a f***?!” — is swimming along right beneath the surface, ready to regroup and resume with the power games and micro-aggressions as soon as the coast is clear. The same Bob Malm who will look vestry members in the eye and tell them apropos church staff, “Don’t worry about it. They’ll be retiring this year,” even knowing that that is not true.
That contrasts sharply with real notions of forgiveness, in which the person is genuinely remorseful and tries to repair the damage she or he has caused.
In short, Bob true to form tries to turn Christian notions of forgiveness on their head in order to suit his own purposes. But there is nothing sincere behind any of the nice-sounding platitudes.