To Forgive Or Not to Forgive

The news unfortunately has been filled with heinous murders over the past few weeks. So far more than fifty people have been slaughtered, for seemingly no reason, by men who evidently have recently lost their jobs, who have feared losing their gun rights in the new administration, who have been severely depressed because of treatment by others, or who are simply paranoid. In addition, several young girls have disappeared from their homes or neighborhoods and are assumed to be dead. The latest is eight-year-old Sandra Cantu in California whose body was just found in a black suitcase floating in water. I have often wondered what our responsibility as Christians is to forgive these perpetrators.

Yes, God in His Word speaks frequently of the idea of forgiveness. He gives us many illustrations of the importance of forgiving others. One of my colleagues at the university where I taught for twenty-two years had a lot of trouble with forgiving. She was attacked while a graduate student in New Orleans by several young men who said and did vile things while she was trapped in a phone booth. As a result of the experience, she has suffered for years from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She does not believe she could ever forgive these men for their actions.

Does God make any distinction between those we should forgive and those who must be forgiven by God only? Perhaps there is a glimpse of an answer in the New Testament passage, Matthew 18, verses 21-35. This group of verses speaks of the disciple Peter who comes to Jesus and asks, "Lord how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus' response is remarkable when he says, " . . . up to seventy times seven." In other words we are to forgive endlessly. Jesus goes on to give a parable of the servant who failed to forgive
his fellow servants their debts. Christ then concludes by saying we simply must forgive our brother his trespasses

I believe the key word in the passage is perhaps the use of the word brother. I believe we are commanded to forgive those with whom we have a relationship before the trespass takes place. I do not believe, however, we have an obligation to forgive a stranger who does us harm. I believe forgiveness, or condemnation, must be in the hands of God for the murderers of young children and the general population.