Posted on 04/30/2006 10:19:15 AM PDT by jmc1969
Michael Berg has come to terms with his son's murderer. But to most Americans that man is still enemy No.1, writes Martin Daly in New York.
In the darkness, when the pain becomes too great, Michael Berg pulls out a chair for the man who decapitated his son and talks to him about compassion and forgiveness.
Michael Berg has cried publicly many times for his dead son but he has forgiven Zarqawi, considered by the Americans to be the premier threat to peace in Iraq, but who remains free despite a $US25 million ($33 million) bounty on his head, and the huge numbers of personnel and technological resources being used to track him down.
In offering forgiveness to a man who this week told the world he planned to continue killing, Berg has had to go down dark, complex paths and has had to come to terms with an horrendous loss that has become public property.
(Excerpt) Read more at smh.com.au ...
the article states that he has forgiven Bush also. I would not vote for the man to be dog catcher, but forgiveness is a good thing. Forgiveness does not mean that he does not want justice, only that he is trying to move on.
I disagree wholeheartedly with Mr. Berg's politics, but I do respect his forgiveness of those he believes are responsible for his son's death. It is the only way to move on after suffering such a tragedy.
sw
Mr. Berg is clearly from the lost tribe of Israel...
The STUPID tribe, that turned into a sand storm and ended up in America....
I've been trying to convince Israel to allow us to send our oversupply of the Stupid Tribe - in trade for some real Jews..
Need I point out our oversupply of the Stupid versions?:
Sen. Boxer
Sen. Feinstein
Sen. Levin
Sen. Wyman
Sen. Coleman
Sen. Schumer
Sen. Feingold
Sen. Kohl
Sen. Lautenberg
Sen. Specter
Sen. Lieberman (On Probation - a possible keeper)
Semper Fi
Christ was in a position to ask for forgiveness for whoever he wanted. He was the one about to suffer the wrong.
But why would he ask His Father to forgive?
According to your definition of "forgiveness justice" Christ's forgiveness is all that was correct - there was no need for His Father to, additionally, forgive Christ's murderers.
Forgiveness is a pearl. Zarqawi is a swine. The rest is biblical.
Zarquawi is looking for the next head to chop off. He is doing it all in the name of his OWN religion. Jesus does not exist for him, so there's no chance God will ever forgive him. NONE.
sw
How do we know who is and is not saved by Jesus's act on the cross?
There's an old proverb: "Forgiving the unrepentant is like writing on water."
Luke 23:40But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." 42Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[a]"
Precisely.
As a Christian we are called upon to be prepared to forgive those who have wronged us and who truly seek forgiveness in a spirit of repentance.
To be prepared we would have to already come to terms with the issue and have forgiveness in our hearts.
You cannot forgive a person who does not seek forgiveness or who does not recognize that he has in fact done anything wrong.
For forgiveness to be complete and to bring an acceptable reconciliation between the parties involved and an end to the matter it takes one who has a repentant heart,seeking forgiveness,for a wrong he recognizes and confesses he has done and the person wronged giving that forgiveness in a spirit of love.
Christ has paid the ultimate price for our wrongs [sins] we have done Him and has a heart full of forgiveness waiting for all who ask for it , acknowledge their wrongs, repent [turn from doing wrong], and who accept His Forgiveness [ a very necessary step].
To those that do not seek, or ask for forgiveness,who will not admit their wrongs and turn from them will find themselves facing not a loving Savior but a Righteous Judge who will sentence them to an everlasting torment.
BTW He also has something to say about those that parade their righteous acts in public for the accolades of men.
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Yup. The only generation whose nostalgia has a body count.
Judas in particular was not. Matthew 26:24
The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
As for all others:
Matthew 12:32
"Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
Notice that the act of speaking against the Holy Spirit requires that one know and reject the holdings and values of the Holy Spirit, not simply that they are ignorant of them. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." applies to the slow and ignorant, not to those that knowingly reject the Holy Spirit. God taught you to pray, "give us this day our daily bread" and "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that tresspass against us". Bread here is not viddles, it's the Holy Spirit. John 6:32-35
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
I'm unaware of anything Berg, Jr. has done wrong. He simply went to Iraq to make some money.
Yet without repentance there can be no forgiveness
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