Forgiveness

My Dad came across this website sermon that I found very interesting. I had never heard that there is Biblical basis for forgiveness only upon the repentance of the other party. This sermon basically was saying that the word forgiveness actually must include repentance by the other person in order to truly be carried out. It backs this up with Scripture which states the God does not forgive us until we have repented (acknowleged our "wrongness") with the exception when Christ asked for forgivess for those who crucified Him because they didn't know what they were doing. The website also includes Scripture which tells us as Christians how to forgive including the well-known Luke 17:3-4 "seventy times seven" passage. Interestingly, if you read the whole verses, it includes a conditional "if" statement, if the person repents.

I'm not sure what to think about this. I mean I understand that God doesn't forgive (holds against us) our sins until we have repented, but can we as Christians not forgive our brother without sinning ourselves? In other words, can we hold a brother's sin against him without harboring anger, bitterness, etc. at the same time? Maybe there are some of you who have figured out how to do that. If so, please explain it to me because I think of people that I have forgiven without their repentance, and don't know how I would have let go of the pain and anger without forgiving them. To me, forgiving that person who hasn't asked for it is just having some empathy for why they did what the did, letting it go, and acting accordingly. Therefore, not behaving angrily toward the person or bringing up what they did.

Anyway, what thoughts do you guys have?