This paper examines the role of theological narratives of forgiveness in post-conflict peacebuilding, with particular attention to the limitations of the “forgive and forget” approach. The objective is to explore how forgiveness can contribute to reconciliation while preserving victim agency, memory, accountability, justice, and meaningful dialogue. The paper adopts a qualitative, literature-based approach, drawing on theological, peacebuilding, reconciliation, transitional justice, and peace communication scholarship, including studies of South Africa, Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other post-conflict contexts. The findings indicate that forgiveness can support the reduction of revenge, restoration of relationships, and peaceful coexistence, but it should not be equated with forgetting, reconciliation, or the abandonment of justice. Imposing forgiveness may silence grievances, weaken victim agency, and encourage premature closure, particularly when powerful actors define reconciliation on behalf of affected communities. The paper concludes that forgiveness is most meaningful when understood as a voluntary and negotiated possibility within broader processes of acknowledgement, memory, accountability, justice, and dialogue. It recommends that religious leaders, governments, peacebuilding organisations, media, and community actors communicate forgiveness as an invitation rather than an obligation, create spaces for testimony and constructive memory, support dialogue and accountability, and evaluate reconciliation through trust, agency, participation, and transformed relationships rather than declarations of harmony alone.