In
the Jewish part of Christian Bibles, the Old
Testament (Jesus’s Bible), we read stories about people who are all flawed
human beings – even the great heroes!
At the top of the most famous list of heroes in the Bible is King David. God even
said that David is a man after His own heart.
That’s
the same guy that saw another man’s wife bathing, invited her to come see him
and then committed adultery with her. As you might have guessed, she became pregnant
and that caused a real problem -- her husband was one of David’s soldiers who
hadn’t been around in a long time -- meaning
he had been there so he could be the baby’s father. What does David do,
after trying a number of other tricks to get him to sleep with his wife – which
he refuses to do -- David ultimately has
him sent into a battle in which his chance of survival is zero. He dies and
David marries his widow.
Humans
do good things and they do bad things is the first lesson in the Bible. Yes,
the Bible says humans are created in the
image of God, but it also says – and most Bible readers aren’t aware it – humans also have an “earthly nature” they share
with humans. It is what people call “human
nature” today. It includes appetites,
desire and longings for things like breathing, eating, having sex, not wanting
to die, etc. – and also our power seeking egos!
The
first story in the Bible also stresses impulse-control
and self-discipline. It also tells us
human power structures must be based on the way shepherds exercise power over
their flocks. They care for, guide and
protect all members of the flock from predatory animals. Humans, however,
are different from animals that are born to prey
or predator. Humans are creatures that alternate between doing good
things like God, doing nothing and become the prey, and being predators that harm
other humans.
That
is why the Bible also spends a lot of time talking sins and what people are
supposed to do after they sin. At first they are told to sacrifice animals, but
that didn’t work very well. Later the Bible teaches people about repentance and
forgiveness. That works a lot better and it is based on the belief that “all people are created in the image of God,
which means all people have the capacity to change.”
The
Hebrew word translated “repentance”
actually means “turn around.” When
people do bad things they are viewed as having strayed from the right path of
living. The goal for them individually and the community is to help them get back
on the right path. The first step in turning around is repairing the damages
they have done to others – to the best of
their ability. When they do this, they are to be forgiven. Of course, a
person that has been harmed also has the option of granting forgiveness without
the offender doing anything else other than “sincerely regretting what he or she did.”
Forgiven
does not mean that the bad thing they experiences is instantly forgotten and
neither does it mean the offender is instantly viewed as trustworthy. Trust is
something that is earned through personal experiences.
The
stories in the Bible are about “the
perfecting of humans” and that is a process that is like a “lifelong team sport” – it requires community participation to be
there for each other when they do good and bad things!
It
seems that recently America has suddenly turned down a path in which “forgiveness” is no longer a
consideration in discussions about human actions. Following a path that leads
to an increasingly “unforgiving America”
is a path that will require increasing the use of physical force to govern the
nation. As governing by physical force
increases, the freedom and liberty of citizens decreases.
For
those of us with biblical heritages, including the growing number that no
longer participates in institutional religions, many have experienced the power of forgiveness. We know how it can transform and change lives
– and repair damaged relationships. What we need today is a “forgiving America” with citizens that will be there for each other even when some need
help to turn around and get back on track. You don’t have to believe in God,
but you do need to believe the capacity of humans to change from what they are
to something else. If you happened to bump into yourself ten, twenty, thirty,
forty, fifty, sixty or seventy years ago – what would each of you think about
the other in an “unforgiving America” and a “forgiving America”?
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