First off, I am enjoying reading Hawkins' book "101 Things Young Folks Should Know." I recommend it to everyone. Transmitting the wisdom of life to the next generation is critically important. There is a lot of bad thinking among WASPs and one such thing is the silly idea one hears all the time that says, "They need to learn it for themselves." This is idiotic. There is no reason by every generation should make the same mistakes as older generations have made. I have long had on my "To-DO" list to write a book of life advice. I hope that I have time left to add my own volume to such self-help books.
I am annotating Mr. Hawkins' book and hope someday to be able to share my annotations with him.
Now, having said that and urged everyone to buy the book and read it, I am going to say something that I fear will make many people upset.
We frequently see the relatives of victims' making public statements that they forgive and even embrace as brothers the crimiinals.
"My wife and I want to say that as Christians we simply LOVE those guys who raped and murdered our daughter. They are our brothers in Christ. We forgive them and we love them."
Granted, my factitious quote makes this phenomenon ever more starkly bizarre than most (but not all) of the statements we hear but it helps make my point.
There is something that makes the hairs on one's arms rise in reading or hearing a parent carrying on in front of a television camera about how much he forgives and loves his dautghter's rapists and murderers.
There is some ancient unwritten law (the ancient Greeks would have understood this and probably had a word for it) that makes such behavior repulsive.
It smacks of disloyalty to the victim. It's repellent and disgusting...at least to me it is.
Modern Christianity has a conception of forgiveness that IMO is more than just forgiveness. Such gooey, disgusting behavior really becomes a form of ENNABLING AND CONDONING.
My ideas on the subject of forgiveness are largely shaped by what my harsh, demanding and difficult but very wise father, a clergyman of the Presbyteiran (Church of Scotland) brand of Chritianity told me as a child.
First, forgiveness (of the right form) is the most SELFISH thing in Christianity.
Who is benefitted by forgiveness?
The person who benefits is almost never the forgiven but the forgiver.
We should not fool ourselves into thinking that the person forgiven is either benefitted by or ought to be benefitted by the forgiveness.
Second, what must one do to get God's forgiveness?
I once told a relative that I was uncomfortable with the words of the Lord's Prayer, "...forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors..."
I told her that I didn't want to be held to that standard. I wanted an easier one.
My cousin's answer was surprising and counterintuitive.
She did not chide me.
Intead, she pointed out to me what we must do to be forgiven.
Contrary to modern gooeyness, our sins aren't just willy-nilly forgiven.
There's a procedure required to obtain divine forgiveness:
1. You must recognize and come to grips with the fact that you have done wrong.
2. You must confess your sin to yourself and possibly to others. (Roman Catholics do this more than we do but there's still a point to the idea.)
3. You must apologize to the person you have wronged.
4. You must - to the extent possible - make restitution to the person you have wronged.
5. You must do penance.
Getting forgiveness is a whole lot harder than modern liberal Christians think.
Like Mr. Hawkins, I see no signs among liberals of any repentence on almost anything.
I'm not interested in indulging them or enabling their wickedness.
I am disgusted to the point of nausea by relatives/parents rushing to make gushy statemens about their forgiveness and love for the criminals.
I believe that criminals should be accorded a justice commensurate with the enormity of their crimes.
There is an Italian proverb that in my younger days I could have quoted in Italian but in old age I have to give in an English approximation.
"Kindness to the criminal is cruelty to the victim."
Great post and I feel the same way. She was being a great Christian but it felt too soon. I might eventually be able to forgive such a thing, but not so soon. I would have to finish grieving significantly more.
And you’re exactly right, every Democrat is giving a wink and a nod to the most violent and unhinged among them to do exactly this. Every time they continue to call Charlie and the rest of us a bigot, even after he’s dead, and fascists, and claim That “democracy is in danger“ even though it’s a republic… They are stating a desire and even a need for violence against their political opposition. That is terrorism. I think every Democrat that stated it should be under investigation, and every Democrat that stated after Charlie’s assassination should be arrested and put on trial. Even still, not a single Democrat has come out and said that they need to recognize Republicans as the opposition, but not the enemy. And for them to stop calling us fascists when we are nowhere near it. Every time they say it I find myself wishing they could go back in time and be placed in Nazi Germany to get a taste of what that really means.
I hesitate to post this because it sounds like a revenge fantasy, but it would be a reality fantasy (I know, an inherent contradiction.) What I've fantasized about happening would be if someone "time travelled" a whole crew of actual Nazi brownshirts from the 1930's and have them appear intact and fired up in places like Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland OR, Dearborn, or Memphis, so that our woke left wing ignoramuses could see what actual Nazis/fascists were like. Plus, the resulting chaos might prove highly entertaining when these Antifa or pink haired weirdos FAFO with the genuine article, instead of with our modern riot gear-clad police...
Join me in THE GREAT FIRING. Ensuring these people that excuse, justify, promote, foment, participate in, etc., any political violence get fired and are blacklisted for hiring and government benefits is the way to solve the problem.
Yes forgiveness is the key as represented by Christ … yes, it keeps the person granting forgiveness from being consumed by hate and anger. As Mrs Kirk said the answer to hate is not more hate, it is love.
And I think a person has to choose forgiveness every single day, it is a lifelong process. I think her intent is to forgive, maybe she is the type of person who through her faith can do this without considerable struggle. For me, it would be exceedingly difficult.
I'm in your position, too, John. I know to forgive is divine, and I'm to love my enemy, but I always get stuck on that part when the enemy is still actively aggressing. I feel like if I'm in a hot firefight, it would not be a good time to love my enemies while they are still taking shots at me. In a broader sense, as the Left is actively engaged in destroying our culture, we can't stop fighting back, and hate is a strong motivator, as we've seen recently. We sure don't want to see S. America style death squads getting revenge.
First off, I am enjoying reading Hawkins' book "101 Things Young Folks Should Know." I recommend it to everyone. Transmitting the wisdom of life to the next generation is critically important. There is a lot of bad thinking among WASPs and one such thing is the silly idea one hears all the time that says, "They need to learn it for themselves." This is idiotic. There is no reason by every generation should make the same mistakes as older generations have made. I have long had on my "To-DO" list to write a book of life advice. I hope that I have time left to add my own volume to such self-help books.
I am annotating Mr. Hawkins' book and hope someday to be able to share my annotations with him.
Now, having said that and urged everyone to buy the book and read it, I am going to say something that I fear will make many people upset.
We frequently see the relatives of victims' making public statements that they forgive and even embrace as brothers the crimiinals.
"My wife and I want to say that as Christians we simply LOVE those guys who raped and murdered our daughter. They are our brothers in Christ. We forgive them and we love them."
Granted, my factitious quote makes this phenomenon ever more starkly bizarre than most (but not all) of the statements we hear but it helps make my point.
There is something that makes the hairs on one's arms rise in reading or hearing a parent carrying on in front of a television camera about how much he forgives and loves his dautghter's rapists and murderers.
There is some ancient unwritten law (the ancient Greeks would have understood this and probably had a word for it) that makes such behavior repulsive.
It smacks of disloyalty to the victim. It's repellent and disgusting...at least to me it is.
Modern Christianity has a conception of forgiveness that IMO is more than just forgiveness. Such gooey, disgusting behavior really becomes a form of ENNABLING AND CONDONING.
My ideas on the subject of forgiveness are largely shaped by what my harsh, demanding and difficult but very wise father, a clergyman of the Presbyteiran (Church of Scotland) brand of Chritianity told me as a child.
First, forgiveness (of the right form) is the most SELFISH thing in Christianity.
Who is benefitted by forgiveness?
The person who benefits is almost never the forgiven but the forgiver.
We should not fool ourselves into thinking that the person forgiven is either benefitted by or ought to be benefitted by the forgiveness.
Second, what must one do to get God's forgiveness?
I once told a relative that I was uncomfortable with the words of the Lord's Prayer, "...forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors..."
I told her that I didn't want to be held to that standard. I wanted an easier one.
My cousin's answer was surprising and counterintuitive.
She did not chide me.
Intead, she pointed out to me what we must do to be forgiven.
Contrary to modern gooeyness, our sins aren't just willy-nilly forgiven.
There's a procedure required to obtain divine forgiveness:
1. You must recognize and come to grips with the fact that you have done wrong.
2. You must confess your sin to yourself and possibly to others. (Roman Catholics do this more than we do but there's still a point to the idea.)
3. You must apologize to the person you have wronged.
4. You must - to the extent possible - make restitution to the person you have wronged.
5. You must do penance.
Getting forgiveness is a whole lot harder than modern liberal Christians think.
Like Mr. Hawkins, I see no signs among liberals of any repentence on almost anything.
I'm not interested in indulging them or enabling their wickedness.
I am disgusted to the point of nausea by relatives/parents rushing to make gushy statemens about their forgiveness and love for the criminals.
I believe that criminals should be accorded a justice commensurate with the enormity of their crimes.
There is an Italian proverb that in my younger days I could have quoted in Italian but in old age I have to give in an English approximation.
"Kindness to the criminal is cruelty to the victim."
Here endeth the lesson.
My apologies to anyone who is offended.
Amen. 🏆🏆🏆
Great post and I feel the same way. She was being a great Christian but it felt too soon. I might eventually be able to forgive such a thing, but not so soon. I would have to finish grieving significantly more.
And you’re exactly right, every Democrat is giving a wink and a nod to the most violent and unhinged among them to do exactly this. Every time they continue to call Charlie and the rest of us a bigot, even after he’s dead, and fascists, and claim That “democracy is in danger“ even though it’s a republic… They are stating a desire and even a need for violence against their political opposition. That is terrorism. I think every Democrat that stated it should be under investigation, and every Democrat that stated after Charlie’s assassination should be arrested and put on trial. Even still, not a single Democrat has come out and said that they need to recognize Republicans as the opposition, but not the enemy. And for them to stop calling us fascists when we are nowhere near it. Every time they say it I find myself wishing they could go back in time and be placed in Nazi Germany to get a taste of what that really means.
I hesitate to post this because it sounds like a revenge fantasy, but it would be a reality fantasy (I know, an inherent contradiction.) What I've fantasized about happening would be if someone "time travelled" a whole crew of actual Nazi brownshirts from the 1930's and have them appear intact and fired up in places like Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland OR, Dearborn, or Memphis, so that our woke left wing ignoramuses could see what actual Nazis/fascists were like. Plus, the resulting chaos might prove highly entertaining when these Antifa or pink haired weirdos FAFO with the genuine article, instead of with our modern riot gear-clad police...
It wasn't 4.4 million *likes* that Destiny got. It was 4.4 million *views*. His likes were around 17,000, which is still 17,000 too many.
Corrected.
Thanks, John. :)
Great post.
Join me in THE GREAT FIRING. Ensuring these people that excuse, justify, promote, foment, participate in, etc., any political violence get fired and are blacklisted for hiring and government benefits is the way to solve the problem.
Amen amen amen, John!
Excellent breakdown!
Excellent breakdown!
Yes forgiveness is the key as represented by Christ … yes, it keeps the person granting forgiveness from being consumed by hate and anger. As Mrs Kirk said the answer to hate is not more hate, it is love.
And I think a person has to choose forgiveness every single day, it is a lifelong process. I think her intent is to forgive, maybe she is the type of person who through her faith can do this without considerable struggle. For me, it would be exceedingly difficult.
I'm in your position, too, John. I know to forgive is divine, and I'm to love my enemy, but I always get stuck on that part when the enemy is still actively aggressing. I feel like if I'm in a hot firefight, it would not be a good time to love my enemies while they are still taking shots at me. In a broader sense, as the Left is actively engaged in destroying our culture, we can't stop fighting back, and hate is a strong motivator, as we've seen recently. We sure don't want to see S. America style death squads getting revenge.