Plato says that accepting punishment is a sign of our work to restore the norm or standard that we knowingly violated. Indeed we can not know certain things obscure to us, but we may also choose not to examine our conscience precisely in order to do what we choose. We forgive something only if we regard it as distinctly bad, not if we ignore its negative effect. Thus forgiveness requires that we, sinner and forgiver, live in the same moral universe. Forgiveness is an act of love, not of blindness.
Love sees evil and names it.
It does not ignore it or call it something else or claim that it is not important. We can only love those who identify evil correctly. This is why we can love the sinner and hate the sin, because the sinner can also, if he wishes, name the sin. If we attempt to 'forgive' someone even as he stands by his wickedness and does not seek forgiveness, we are literally declaring him not of sound mind, not responsible for his actions. . . . We can forgive and pardon only something that has been done to ourselves.