Complain and Cause a Riot
A Hindu girl in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, goes home and tells her family a Muslim boy verbally harassed her. So the girl’s brother and cousin go and shoot the boy to death. Then the boy’s family and others go and beat the brother and cousin to death. Then the anger spreads and the number of dead has reached 31 and counting.
13,000 security officers have been deployed, and more than 100 have been arrested for inciting violence. Schools and shops are closed. Homes evacuated. Streets shuttered and empty.
All because of deep-seated hatred, because people won’t forgive. They’re human and sinful, but they also have religious beliefs in which forgiveness and reconciliation are not taught or practiced much. They don’t have any example of it in the foundations of their faiths. In fact forgiveness is considered a sign of weakness.
But that’s one of the biggest things Jesus was all about–and did with his life. And if you’re Indian and like Gandhi, then think of him. He changed the whole country, except that he’s now dead and Jesus is alive.
If anyone ever tells you that following Jesus is irrelevant–Ha. They have no idea who or what they’re talking about. They have no idea that even on this one point of forgiveness lives can be changed, family histories can be changed, communities and even nations can be changed.
But you have to have a foundation to forgive before you can even be willing. Christians call it the Cross.
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Photo credit: LA Times
Peter, thanks for the good thoughts on forgiveness. Our world desperately needs it, but it seems so out of our nature, unless we know the living Jesus. Thanks for the reminder.
Forgiveness is one of my favorite topics. I have struggled a lot with forgiving people who have betrayed me but nonetheless, I ask God to help me forgive whenever I struggle with it. The only sad thing is many a times, we Christians think of forgiveness as an option. Off late even Christian leaders, church pastors and churches have taken unforgiveness as a right and normal action to betrayal or hurt. All it does is take away God’s love from us… and we know what happens when we don’t have God’s love in us! Forgiveness is not an option, its a command. We need to forgive even when we don’t feel like it. Thanks for the post and sadly the post is about an incident in my country.