>Where in that text did Jesus call the woman a sinner? Where did He say ANYTHING publicly about her?
Go forth and sin no more? People didn’t wallow in sin back then the why modern people seem to. Hey we’re all sinners and that’s A-OK! Jesus talked about being righteousness not excusing sin.
>After all the people had dropped their stones and left (the older, wiser ones first - the ones who had had a lifetime to realize their own sin), Jesus told the woman He also would not condemn her and told her to go and sin no more.
To condemn her meant killing her for the penalty for adultery is death. Jesus gave her a reprieve because he’s God. To claim that you are as holy as Jesus and can give every adulteress a reprieve is setting yourself up as holy as Jesus. Are you God? I think not.
>If public shaming was the way to redeem broken sinners, then Jesus would have acted a lot differently than He actually did. I’m inclined to believe the Scripture that says it is the Lord’s KINDNESS that leads us to repentance.
Are you as holy as Jesus and can you forgive sins? Only God can. For us mere mortals we must keep the law and writings of the apostles.
Here’s what we must keep:
1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
>Sounds to me as if this mom had already had six years of all the “holy” people reminding her daughter that all the problems in her life were her fault. Yet none of that fixed anything, did it? The child still didn’t have a father in her life, and that’s all that matters, right?
Again you claim to be more holy than Jesus. She’s a sinner and yet you forgive her sins, something that you do not have the power to do. Punishment for bad behavior exists so that the righteous may not fall into sin like this woman.
Have you heard of the Office of the Keys? We are given the authority to announce the forgiveness of God.
Jesus did not publicly shame this woman. He privately told her to go and sin no more.
You said you would throw the first stone. Either you believe you are without sin or you are willing to disobey Jesus’ command that whoever is without sin could throw the first stone.
Obviously we need to teach and preach the commands of God. Sexual immorality - like gossip and lovelessness - is sin, and we need to say that. When we have a relationship with a person we can show them that God’s way is best for them and for everybody else. Knowing that we speak in love for their good gives them a reason to listen.
People DID wallow in sin back then. That’s why Jesus had to speak so harshly to the Pharisees and scribes. It was just a different KIND of sin. Loveless self-righteousness.
BTW, Rahab the prostitute was an earthly ancestor of Jesus Christ.
Christ died for her sins. We know she has a child without a father. We don't even know that she wasn't married when the child was conceived, but even assuming she wasn't, that was years ago. We know nothing about the current state of her soul.
Here's more writing of the apostles that we're commanded to keep:
Who are you to judge the servant of another? and So try to be like God, because you are his own dear children. Love others as Christ has loved us. He gave his life for us, a sweet smelling offering and a sacrifice to God.
I absolutely have a right, and obligation, to offer her Christ's love and forgiveness. In the absence of evidence that she even needs it in this case, I certainly do not have a right to cast aspersions on her. For all I know, Christ has forgiven her long ago, and sent her on her way, sinning no more. She may be greater in the kingdom than anyone here casting stones at her.