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Some Additional Thoughts on Forgiveness, Love and the Ground Zero Mosque

September 6, 2010 By Randy Olds 2 Comments

There are few things that I dislike more than strife and contention. I suppose that it probably comes from growing up in a family where arguing, bigotry and angry words were the norm. Intolerance towards just about anybody you can name were demonstrated to me by many members of my family as well as the Armstrongite church that I grew up in. The grandiosity and narcissism that ran throughout my family was like a deadly virus that ran its tentacles throughout every part of our daily lives. And the religious separatism and narcissism of Armstrongism simply reinforced the idea that we were right and everybody else in the world was wrong.

Although I have grown past much of what I was raised in, I still have lingering effects from growing up in a home where arguing, hate, strife and intolerance was rife.

My distaste for arguing has grown to a point to where I will often simply ignore offenses to myself or even my family rather than engage in a fight. More than anything I simply want peace and will often go to any lengths to obtain said peace, even if what I really should be doing is standing up and fighting for what I know is right. I pride myself on being a “Peacemaker”, but I sometimes question whether or not my resistance to strife crosses over into cowardice. And quite often, even when I do feel wronged, I simply bottle up those feelings and may indeed deal with them inappropriately in other ways.

And because I have found a way to simply turn off my emotions to many personal affronts and “turn the other cheek”, I find myself having much difficulty in finding empathy for those who instead process those affronts with pain and anger. I often think of those people who are expressing pain or anger at situations where they have been wronged as being “judgmental”.  In my mind there is often a set time period for mourning a loss or being angry over an affront and if I deem that a person is carrying a grudge or hurt for too long I begin to wonder what is wrong with that person.

I wrote a post last year about forgiveness. In my post I wrote about the story found in Luke 7:36-47. The story focuses on the sinful woman who anointed Jesus feet with her tears and hair and of who Jesus said that she loved much because she had been forgiven much. In that post I wrote about how I had difficulties relating to those who have problems with forgiveness and judgmentalism and associated myself with the woman who had been forgiven much. I associated myself with her because of the life that I had led and the multitude of sins that Christ had forgiven me for.

Perhaps a portion of the reason that I don’t have a huge problem with forgiveness is related to the forgiveness that I have received, but perhaps even more of it is because of my oversensitivity to strife and conflict.

During a discussion with John Guthrie over the last couple of days about my post on the controversy about the Ground Zero Mosque, he mentioned how being critical of those who are opposed to the Mosque could be perceived as a violation of 1 Cor 13:5 . It took me a little while to understand where he was going with that and I had to do a bit of study of his comments as well as the mentioned verse as well as a couple other related verses.On the verse, John wrote:

“…love thinks no evil;” (NKJV) The word “think”, or accounted is from the Greek word logidzomai which metephorically refers to an act of considering, reckoning, reasoning, deeming, evaluating, valueing. “Logidzomai finalizes thought, judges matters, draws logical conclusions, decides outcomes, and puts every action into a debit or credit position.” (from “The Spirit Filled Life Bible.”) To attribute all opposition to the Mosque to hatred of Muslims and a desire for revenge is a violation of I Cor 13: 5 and that is the verse to which I was referring. It is a sin to hate Muslims, even for those who lost loved ones on 911.”

After a bit of study on the verse, I was able to see where he was coming from, but it was actually a cross reference to Ephesians 4:2-3 that helped me to gain a better understanding;  “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (HCSB). On this passage Matthew Henry writes:“By meekness, that excellent disposition of soul, which makes men unwilling to provoke, and not easily to be provoked or offended. We find much in ourselves for which we can hardly forgive ourselves; therefore we must not be surprised if we find in others that which we think it hard to forgive.”

Because of a multitude of factors, I may never be able to completely understand why many people hold onto certain hurts as long as they do. Although I am able to brush off many things and not hold a grudge for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean that I am “better” than others who may indeed take many years to process those wrongs. There are times where being a “peacemaker” is a good thing, but there are others where perhaps I should be angry and am not. These characteristics of my personality could be more due to genetic predispositions or upbringing than actually a gift of the Spirit.

I do wish for a world where there is no conflict or strife; a world where forgiveness and tolerance was automatic. However, that is not the world in which I live. And in being critical of those who do have difficulties with forgiveness and judgmentalism perhaps I am being guilty of judging them.  I am sure that they can find many areas of my life that they simply could not understand my own struggles with other sins.

A quote from Kempis from a post a couple of months ago comes to mind; “Watch your own step; be slow to criticize the doings of other people. When we criticize others, we get nothing for our pains; how often we make mistakes! How carelessly it can lead us into sin! Be your own critic; pull yourself to pieces; then you will have something to shew for your trouble”

I still don’t understand all of the hoopla about the Ground Zero Mosque. I suggested to John that perhaps we should allow those who where directly affected by 9-11 vote on it, and although I have no direct ties to anyone who lost their life that day, I imagine that even if I did that I wouldn’t vote against it. But that is me, and just because I feel that way doesn’t mean that I am right. And even if I am right, I need to be more patient and loving of others who don’t think the same way as I do about things.

I do think that in a perfect world that all of the conflict about the mosque would not exist; however, in a perfect world 9-11 would have never happened to begin with.

Filed Under: About Me, Forgiveness, humility Tagged With:

Heaping Fiery Coals on Your Enemies Heads

August 29, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment

Among the many startling instructions that Jesus gave during His ministry here on earth, there were few that probably raised more eyebrows than His admonition to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44).

In fact, reading throughout the Old Testament in general and the Psalms in particular we are continually finding examples of prayers for the utter destruction of many of the enemies of God’s people. One of my personal favorites is King Davids words in Psalms 3:7; “Rise up, Lord! Save me, my God! You strike all my enemies on the cheek; You break the the teeth of the wicked.”

Yea, that’s it; eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, or better yet how about a whole mouth of teeth busted out. And while we’re at it, how about heaping some burning coals on top of their heads to boot. Doesn’t the Bible say something about that as well? As a matter of fact, it does…twice!

The idiom of “heaping fiery coals on [your enemies] head” is found in Romans 12:20 where the Apostle Paul is quoting Proverbs 25:21-22;

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in doing so you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.”

I have heard people translate this verse as to mean that you are to “kill them with kindness”, but further study on this passage taken in context and then put together with Jesus’ words enjoining loving your enemy in Matthew 5:38ff don’t seem to indicate that. No, it appears to me that we are to seek to genuinely love our enemies and actually seek to demonstrate that in our words and actions towards them. Whereas “killing ‘em with kindness” normally indicates treating someone who you may not care for very much with a false sweetness in an attempt to even madden them more, this passage in Romans seems to indicate that we are to seek to show the same love for our enemies that God has shown to us.

In reading through numerous commentaries looking for the meaning of this “fiery coals on his head” passage, I have come across several possible translations. While the original meaning of this expression is in fact unclear, it would appear to be associated with one or more customary practices from ancient times.

The most widely held assumption regarding this phrase is that it originates from a form of penance carried out in ancient Egypt. The penitent would carry coals in a clay pot upon their head in an act of contrition. Another possible explanation could be the custom where a person to carry coals from their still-burning fire in a clay pot on their head  to their neighbor in order for them to relight a fire that had burned out…an act of brotherly love. I also ran across a few other commentaries that suggested that a pot of hot coals on ones head would redden their face as in a simulation of shame.

Whatever the original meaning of the phrase, the idea of being nice to your enemy with the hope of something bad happening to them as the result is obviously NOT the intent of the scripture when taken in context. Feeding our enemy and giving them a drink of cool water before heaping a more than likely fatal load of burning coals on their head would kind of like offering a last supper to a death row inmate prior to his execution. In fact a few verses prior to the passage that we were looking at in Romans, Paul writes that our love must be without hypocrisy (Romans 12:9) and another verse in Proverbs tells us not to gloat when our enemy falls or to rejoice when he stumbles (Proverbs 24:17).

It seems to me that when the Bible tells us to love our enemies, it is not indicating a hypocritical, “I’m going to kill them with kindness” love, but instead a genuine love, an agape love.

So why are we to love our enemies?

I think that at least part of the answer might be found back in Romans, albeit a little further back than where we were looking before. In Romans 2:4, Paul writes about God’s kindness, patience and restraint toward us and how His kindness towards us is what brings us to repentance. It is the same type of kindness, patience and restraint that we are told to direct toward our enemies.

As Christ’s representatives here on earth and in line with Christ’s instructions for us to be “salt” and “light” (Matthew 5:13-16), it is through our actions that people are supposed to be attracted to the Kingdom of God. And when we are able to show the same kindness, patience and restraint to our enemies that God has shown to us, that is when our enemies may begin to realize that there is something different about these Kingdom of God people. Thus our genuine loving actions directed towards those who persecute us is intended as a means not so much to bring them to repentance towards us (although that could sometimes be a nice side effect) but rather bring them to repentance towards God.

This is another one of those areas in my Christian life where “I’m not there yet.” Although I have moved passed taking out personal vengeance  on those who may have wronged me and have even gotten to the point where I can pray for my enemies, I can’t say that I demonstrate true love and genuine kindness towards them the way that Jesus and Paul seem to be instructing in these passages. If anything, I am probably guilty of demonstrating the “kill them with kindness” hypocritical fake smiles and niceties than I am of living up to what I know that God asks is asking from me.  And I also must admit that I still take pleasure when I see someone “getting what they have coming to them.” But coming to the realization that this is not what God wants gives me reason to seek even harder to move past this.

In 2 Peter 3:9 we read that God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance and of course Jesus tells us in John 3:16 that God loved the world so much that He sent his only Son to die for all. And going back to our passage in Matthew 5, we read in verse 45 that “He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain both on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Through these verses as well as many others, it becomes clear that God loves all of his creation and expects those of us who are His adopted children to do the same.

It seems to me that the command to love your enemies may be one of the more difficult commands that our Lord gave us, but He did not give us the liberty to pick and choose which of His commands that we were going to obey. The one comfort that I can find in this difficult command is Jesus’ words at the end of passage about loving our enemies. In verse 48 of Matthew 5, Jesus finishes with “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” God knows that none of us is going to be able to carry out the instructions to love our neighbor perfectly while we are still constrained by our fleshly bodies, but all the same it is what we should strive for, as difficult as it may seem. One footnote to Paul’s words in Romans 12. In verse 21 he adds;

“Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good”

Filed Under: Christian Living, Forgiveness, The Bible Tagged With:

Luke 7:36-47 and Forgiveness

January 14, 2010 By Randy Olds Leave a Comment

Luke 7:36-47

36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” (NIV)

There have been many things that I have struggled with since coming to faith in Jesus Christ, but forgiveness hasn’t been one of them. I have often questioned why so many Christians that I know seem to struggle with this particular battle of finding grace and forgiveness for others when it comes so easily to me. I have heard sermon after sermon about the topic of forgiveness, and I sometimes find myself tuning out, wishing for a message on something that I am struggling with in my walk of faith.

I think that this little story in Luke explains why forgiveness comes so easily to me, a person who found faith relatively late in life (age 41) after spending most of my life steeped in a life of sin. With the exception of murder, I didn’t only break every single one of the Ten Commandments, but I shattered them to bits. And if you take Christ’s word’s found in Matthew 5:21-22 seriously, as I do, I was guilty of murder in my heart many times as well.

It’s amazing to me that God loves me just as much as the man or woman who was saved in their early teens, never really lived a life of sin anywhere near like I once did, and that Christ’s sacrifice has covered every single one of my multitude of sins. Although sin is sin, and all have fallen short of the glory of Christ’s righteousness, I personally feel like the debt that was paid for me is much greater than the debt of many other’s that I know.

I suppose that I can understand why many Christians who came to faith early in life may sometimes struggle with judgementalism and unforgiveness much more than I do. Although they are grateful for the debt that Christ paid for them, perhaps they sometimes take that grace for granted because their debt was so seemingly much smaller than many others that they have watched live lives of sin with seeming impunity. People like me.

Another man who I doubt had much of a problem with forgiveness was John Newton, the author of the well known hymn “Amazing Grace”. He had lived a life of sin and debauchery before he had his conversion at sea. For those not familiar with his story, you can read a portion of it here. Like me and the sinful woman in Luke’s Gospel, he knew that he had a multitude of sins to be covered, and the resulting change in his life was truly amazing.

There are times that I wish I had come to know Christ earlier in my life and I contemplate what my life might have been like had I been saved by Christ at say seventeen or eighteen years of age. However, for the most part, I have become increasingly at ease with my former life and realize that in many ways, I am able to understand things differently because of the life I led prior to my receiving the amazing gift of God’s forgiveness through Christ. There are perhaps ways in which God may be able to use me to help others that someone who had led a life different from mine couldn’t. And also perhaps I might not be able to love Christ as much as I do now had I not had such a large debt cancelled.

Filed Under: Forgiveness, Jesus Christ