Forgiveness
Jesus, when asked how many times someone should forgive,
said forgive 70 times 7. He was a
frequent user of hyperbole and symbolic answers. In this case it is clear he didn’t mean that 490 times was the
limit to forgiveness. Forgiveness is tough
for us humans, but it is vital to our well-being. Holding on to pain and resentment will eat you alive. And remember in the Lord’s Prayer how it
says “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us.” You can use the word “like”
instead of “as” in the simile there to bring it home better. Forgive us like we forgive others…if we
don’t forgive others well and completely then it appears God has a right not to
forgive us either. I’m not sure I’m
ready for that…
I always looked at this passage as one telling me that I
should forgive everyone every time they did something to me, and though that’s
true, in reality I think He was saying that every time you remember the hurt of
a single act done to you…forgive it again in your mind. We hold on to our memories of hurt and we
need to continually forgive and re-forgive until we don’t remember. Holding on to hurts just hurts us!!! Forgive when you continually are reminded of
the pain they caused you. Forgive when
they do something else to hurt you, too.
God grants us forgiveness for our sins, but nonetheless,
even forgiven, there is a consequence to all sin. Sometimes it’s financial, sometimes legal, but there’s always a
consequence that we don’t get to avoid in spite of being forgiven. We lose friends, wives, and jobs as a
consequence. We might even go to jail
as a consequence, which brings me to another line of thinking. Consequence is a societal “discipline” to
learn by the prison sentence/parole/counseling etc. Theoretically in America we rehabilitate criminal behavior. So how does the death penalty fit in with
the idea of rehabilitation and forgiveness?
It doesn’t seem to…perhaps the real rehabilitation is to keep them in
prison to do nothing all day for the rest of their lives but think about how
their crime affected them and the victims.
The death penalty deters but doesn’t serve as a “rehabilitative
learning” experience in the world of the living after the crime has been
committed and adjudicated. How do I
reconcile that with my long held belief that the death penalty is right and
follows the Biblical “eye for an eye” Old Testament mandate? I’m not sure I know the answer. What do you think?
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