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Why
Forgive?
After
having shot one of the attackers at the St James Massacre,
for many months thereafter I struggled with the idea of
whether I, according to Biblical principles, had to love
the perpetrators of the crime or whether my hatred for them
was justifiable. After all, the Bible tells us to love our
own personal enemies, but there is no reference to Christians
having to love God's enemies.
The
other concept I had to deal with was that of "forgiveness".
How could I forgive those terrorists who had ruthlessly
murdered the children of God while they were worshipping
Him? After all, they had not asked to be forgiven, had shown
no repentance and appeared not to have forgiven us for what
ever they held against us. Isn't this what Scripture teaches?
That we need to ask for forgiveness, repent and forgive
others, before we are forgiven!
These
unresolved questions in my mind played a major role in my
decision not to give any interviews to the press or television.
I thought that my ideas would conflict with those being
told to the media by most others interviewed. Their standard
reply to questions was:
"We
have forgiven the terrorists and we love them, but we hate
what they have done!"
My
first question was: "How can I forgive somebody if
there is no sign of repentance and when they have not asked
to be forgiven?"
I
also did not know whether people could be separated from
their acts. Are we not responsible for our sins? Would God
let a murderer into heaven one day because He loved the
murderer, but hated his sin, supposing he did not repent
and come to faith in Christ? How does one explain Psalm
5:5? "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you
hate all who do wrong."
After
much reading of the Word and other books and listening to
sermons, I believe that I have come to a deeper understanding
of these issues from a Biblical perspective.
In
his book "War Psalms of the Prince of Peace",
JE Adams deals with one such Psalm, namely Psalm 58, which
appears to condemn the wicked.
The
Psalm is not one to be dismissed by an armchair theologian
because, quite frankly, one would like to use it as a bold
war cry against terrorists. Rather, we can make this Psalm
our prayer.
According
to Adams, the lessons of this Psalm are:
"First,
the accusation of the wicked. Second, the prayer for the
destruction of evil. Third, the rejoicing in God's judgement."
These
prayers were not David's personal vendetta. We know that
David prayed for his personal enemies, and when his prayers
went unanswered, he grieved for them as he would grieve
for his own mother (Psalm 35:12-14).
While
many people have probably tried to use a prayer like Psalm
58 in their personal capacity against those who oppose them,
that is not what this Psalm is about. We must not pray like
this against our personal enemies. We need to show Christ's
love and forgiveness to our own enemies and not seek revenge.
Only
in Jesus Christ can we pray such frightening prayers for
God's justice to be made known on the earth by praying for
the destruction of the enemies of God. From this we learn
that God will bring justice upon the wicked. The righteous
will be avenged (verse 10). In Deuteronomy 32:35 God says,
"It is mine to avenge, I will repay."
God
is setting up His kingdom and He will destroy Satan's kingdom
as well as Satan's subjects. God alone knows when and how
these subjects are going to be destroyed. We need to pray:
"Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it
is in heaven". Christ will do it in His time.
We
should pray as the Psalmist did, we have to pray against
the enemies of God. Those who will not bow their knee to
King Jesus should be prayed against, with us asking God
to disarm and destroy them. God will bring His judgement
upon His enemies and His execution will be fierce. These
prayers are going to be fulfilled. God's mighty hand will
sweep them away so that all honour and glory will be given
to His holy Name.
The
only way in which we can rejoice in God's final judgement
is if we are in Christ. If we are not, then we will be with
those being destroyed.
This Psalm shocks us, but if we reject it, then we are rejecting
God and His holiness. We can find deliverance from the judgement
of God only in Jesus Christ who bore God's wrath in our
place when He died at Calvary. He was afflicted for our
wickedness.
The
Psalmist's words become Christ's very own. He accuses the
wicked and calls down God's Judgement upon them. He rejoices
with those who are in Him. There will be justice on earth
as God delivers the righteous and damns the wicked. This
powerful Psalm speaks to each one of us. Where do you stand?
How
does this apply to the St James Massacre? I believe that
the terrorists are not my personal enemies, they would have
attacked the congregation whether I was there or not. They
are the enemies of God. What will happen if I pray this
prayer against them? Only two things can happen, one is
that God's judgement and wrath would fall upon them and
they be cast into the lake of fire or that by the grace
of God, they come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour
of their lives and then move from being an enemy of God
to becoming one of His sons and to me, a new brother in
Christ.
I
pray and labour so that the latter will be the final outcome,
but whatever the result, I need to pray against the enemies
of God.
Some
have argued that we cannot forgive these terrorists unless
they ask for forgiveness, repent (Luke 13: 3) and forgive
others (Matthew 6: 14-15), but yet we must have an attitude
of forgiveness towards them.
If
we look clearly at the verses dealing with these issues,
one will see that God imposes these conditions upon us.
His forgiveness is not unconditional, rather it is conditional
to us repenting, asking for forgiveness and us forgiving
others. There is not the slightest hint in Scripture that
we too can impose these conditions on others. Our forgiveness
has to be unconditional and further we need to forgive seventy
times seven times, this is no easy task but by the help
of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, we can accomplish
this by the Holy Spirit who indwells us.
One
must also not confuse forgiveness with the lack of justice.
I am compelled by Scripture to forgive those who persecute
me as well as my personal enemies, but the civil government
has the God ordained responsibility to punish the wicked
and protect the innocent. (Romans 13)
I
have totally forgiven the attackers for their wrongdoing
and bear no malice or bitterness towards them, as is expected
of me by God. "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
The
terrorists, however, do not enjoy the forgiveness of God
for their sin, unless they forgive others who have sinned
against them. They need to repent from their wickedness
and may no longer pursue their old ways. This is my prayer.
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