" Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment." ...James 2:12,13
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Today I'll send you to other places:
Brian Williams and Our Forgiveness Problem ... where this rang true:
"As believers, we must resist the temptation to join in this culture of unforgiveness. Instead, we should resonate with our Lord who once said, “Let him who has no sin be the first to cast a stone.” Who among us hasn’t spun the truth to make ourselves sound a little more impressive?"
And here:
The Act of Rigorous Forgiving ...where this quote resonated with me because my mind has pictured self-righteous crowds in coliseums with rocks in their hands waiting for their turns to hurl them ... and I've felt sickened by the whole thing:
"The barbaric part is the way we respond to scandal these days. When somebody violates a public trust, we try to purge and ostracize him. A sort of coliseum culture takes over, leaving no place for mercy."
I hope you'll read both articles. They express how I feel better than I could write it here.
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"So be merciful (sympathetic, tender, responsive, and compassionate) even as your Father is [all these].Judge not [neither pronouncing judgment nor subjecting to censure], and you will not be judged; do not condemn and pronounce guilty, and you will not be condemned and pronounced guilty; acquit and forgive and release (give up resentment, let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released."
... Luke 6:36,37 Amplified version
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I found something this morning which made me laugh...
That is a lovely Scripture from James. Rigorous forgiving is a solid principle and I like the article by David Brooks which ends with "Would you rather become the sort of person who excludes, or one who offers tough but healing love?"
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, worse than Brian Williams' lies pumping up himself is the daily bias of his newscast and other mainstream news and its selective reporting. Few are talking about that.
Ugh. I am sooo sensitive to this issue. Our family has several stories that have been told so many times that we can no longer tell who was there and who wasn't. Details blur. One in particular I KNOW that my husband wasn't there, but he heard the story so many times that now he thinks he was. This happens more and more the older we get. Our true memories mix with other peoples memories, and I just cannot call them lies. Is it bearing false witness against some one? If so, I will stand against it. Is it a memory problem? My mom had that in spades as she headed into Alzheimer's, yet we never called her a liar.
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