A stone for Cho?
Christians are in the forgiving business. Seventy times seven, turning the other cheek and all that. And given recent press reports, the predominantly Christian community at Virginia Tech seems ready to jump into the forgiveness fray when it comes to forgiving the guy who massacred 32 people.
One of the memorials for the slain includes 33 small stones. One for each of the victims and one for the man who shot himself after he finished his crazed shooting spree.
That 33rd stone is nice and sweet and wrongheaded.
Forgiveness that comes too quickly isn't forgiveness at all, but denial, a short-cut through the valley of the shadow of death.
Easy forgiveness may just be too easy, cheapening the tragedy and the very concept of mercy.
One of the memorials for the slain includes 33 small stones. One for each of the victims and one for the man who shot himself after he finished his crazed shooting spree.
That 33rd stone is nice and sweet and wrongheaded.
Forgiveness that comes too quickly isn't forgiveness at all, but denial, a short-cut through the valley of the shadow of death.
Easy forgiveness may just be too easy, cheapening the tragedy and the very concept of mercy.
posted by Michael Riley at 11:30 AM
9 Comments:
Are those same forgiving Christians also erecting a "forgiveness" stone at the WTC for Osama Bin Laden and his al Quaeda cowards, or at Dachau concentration camp for Hitler and his murderers, or OKLA City Murrah Bldg memorial site for the 2 crazies there? Where is it ok to forgive and what constitutes the "forgiveness threshold"? When was it inhuman to NOT want to forgive? You can forget and forgive, forget and never forgive, , forgive and never forget or never forget nor forgive, but don't try to make those who choose not to forgive somehow "unchristian" for being so human...I'd imagine many of those leaving tributes at Cho's memorial stone did not have family members involved as victims and I'd dare say that probably a miniscule amount of those family members of the victims massacred, left a happy face , God loves you message on Cho's stone either...
I have a problem with the extra stone too. At least on this earth, it doesn't seem right for the killer's stone to be placed anywhere near the victims of his rampage. God might have the compassion for him that I don't. Whether he should have a stone or not...I don't know.
Forgiveness is a fine concept. But nobody has ever explained how a murder victim turns the other cheek or walks the extra mile. I can see how a parent with two children could turn the other cheek. When the murderer kills her first child, it appears that she should offer the murderer the other child. Perhaps some of those who are so full of themselves about forgiveness can shed some light on this issue instead of merely pointing their pompous fingers at those who have been hurt.
dg wrote:
"but don't try to make those who choose not to forgive somehow "unchristian" for being so human."
I won't say that you are not a Christian, but Jesus probably will.
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"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15)
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"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.
"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
"His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
"But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (Matthew 18:21-35)
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"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
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"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46)
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"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matthew 7:21-23)
wow, papinian is now "donna"..or should we say sybil..
But Donna has some good points, dg.
The "seventy times seven" quote Jesus gave us is a hard thing to live by, but we can strive for it.
And He told us to love our enemy, and pray for them. Again, very difficult things to do, whether you're Christian or not. We can aspire to it though.
Human nature and Christianity can coexist...I think you're confusing pomposity with Christianity, and unfortunately those two things can coexist and mesh, for some Christians.
There is another saying..."to err is human, to forgive, divine." I guess forgiveness of this kind takes divine intervention.
donna, I think you left out a few books of the Bible, but just a few. Do you wanna cite the rest for us?
Or maybe we should have Bible-war spitting contest! You cite a passage and we'll cite one that says exactly the opposite!
Well Donna, you used a lot of words but you didn't answer any of my questions.
I don't know that "turning the other cheek" has to do with 'offer(ing) the murderer the other child' as you put, Don. No, that's very literal, and I always thought turning the other cheek had to do with what an individual does in regard to him or herself, not factoring in anyone else in that scenario (like one's child).
I don't know how the murder victim turns the other cheek or walks the extra mile. Perhaps he or she does the former in the life beyond this one, by the grace of God. It's only a guess, Don.
I am not Donna, and apologize for responding when the question was addressed to her, but I felt compelled to in this instance.
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