Terry Waite Shakes Hands with Hizbollah 25 Years After Kidnap

The Telegraph ^ | 08 Dec 2012 | Robert Mendick

[nickcarraway]

Terry Waite has met the leadership of Hizbollah, the militant group accused of kidnapping and holding him for five years, in an extraordinary gesture of “reconciliation”.

The former hostage spoke for two hours to one of its most senior figures at their stronghold in Beirut, his first encounter with the organisation held responsible for masterminding his kidnapping 25 years ago.

Accompanied by The Sunday Telegraph, he travelled to Lebanon to highlight the plight of Christians who have fled the Syrian civil war.

Mr Waite offered the reconciliation to Hizbollah to help with the Christians’ plight at a secretly arranged, late night rendezvous and told Aamar Moussawi, the senior figure he met: “The past is the past.”

Mr Waite, 73, admitted people would think him “crazy” for pressing for the meeting and that he would now be opened up to accusations of “consorting with terrorists”. But he said it was now time to consign his suffering to the past and to forgive Hizbollah, the Iranian-backed “Party of God”, whose military wing is outlawed in the UK. Hizbollah, in return, described Mr Waite as a “great man”.

[Quick Shot]

I have a personal connection to the hostage situation at the same time as his. The hand he is shaking is of the same hand that beat the hostages, that were paid for there keeping them a live, and are dumber then sticks, doing just what they were paid to do. They were servants of a higher calling. an evil calling...

[TangoLimaSierra]

[wardaddy]

man...these Anglicans in the UKwould a chased the rail cars yelling wait for me

please

what fools

[wardaddy]

Turn in my Christian card?

you’re an idiot

[Bayard]

That was a figure of speech.

Learn your faith and apply it.

That is the best advice I can give to you, but if you want to engage in insults I’m not going to go there.

[Bayard]

Scripture also speaks of loving thine enemy. Mt 5:44
Forgiving those who persecute you. Mt 6:14

Guess what this guy actually did. Whose following an example of Christ?

I’m betting on the Anglican at this point.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Let’s not forget WILLIAM FRANCIS BUCKLEY, kidnapped by Hezbollah and later hanged.

Nice group.

As for Waite, he was negotiating to get the release of people kidnapped by Huzbullah and was promised safe conduct. They lied and took him hostage.

It appears he still thinks he is bulletproof.

[donna]

forgive Hizbollah

So, is he going to forgive the individuals who did it or just the organization to which they belonged?

[donna]

Rebuke and Repent! There is the key.

Luke 17:3
Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

[Bayard]

If you forgive only those who repent you have not forgiven.

You are correct in one sense: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good (Romans (12:9).”

Indeed rebuke and correct error, where appropriate. Doing that is actually an act of love. Especially, do so to those from Hezbollah. But you are wrong to say that it has to be conditional for a Christian to forgive. We should be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1)

If I recall he forgave even his tormentors on the cross.

Romans 12:14

Mk 11:25

Matt 18:21-22 —Notice Jesus never gives a condition here.

[donna]

Different Individuals

The repentant offender and the offended — Luke 17:3-4

God and the offended believer — Mark 11:25

Two humans are necessary to obey Luke 17:3-4—one who repents, and the other who grants forgiveness. Only one human (the offended believer) is necessary to obey Mark 11:25. Obviously, the two passages are teaching two different kinds of forgiveness.

[BIV]

Waite is reported as having told Hezbollah “that the Arab Spring had been hijacked by Islamic jihadists who were now causing chaos in Syria as well as in Egypt and Libya.”

I don’t care for either side in these never ending disputes (except Israel), and I don’t want the US involved militarily if it can be avoided. However, IMO Waite is correct on that point.

[fso301]

Guess what this guy actually did. Whose following an example of Christ? I’m betting on the Anglican at this point.

After thinking about it some more, you could be right.

[cpdiii]

No, sir, the past is prelude. We can expect more criminal behavior from them if we refuse to treat them like the barbaric animals they are.

You can not negotiate with the dragon, placate the Cobra or deflect the knife in the back.

One must know his enemies and be willing to kill him and all that stand with him. If you can not do this, lay down you sword and surrender for he has already defeated you.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Sometimes when you turn the other cheek, your opponent hits you with a baseball bat. Sounds like Waite will never learn and more innocent people will die because he “forgave” his captors.

I have more respect for an enemy who says that they are going to kill me than for a man who gives them cover to do it.

Meanwhile, I’ll try to kill the bastards. The only “other cheek” I’m going to turn is the ones on my ass when I moon their bodies.

Waite deserves to be ignored, period.

[wardaddy]

You’re passive aggressive
You insult folks yourself then retreat and call foul when folks respond firmly

And you are not a woman i don’t think.....surprising

[piasa]

If you recall, He was crucified with two men on crosses at his side. But only one of them was told he would be in Heaven with Him. And He did not save either of them from crucifiction as was entirely within his power to do.

[trebb]

C’mon with the remarks - he went through a lot and isn’t capitalizing via current household name-recognition. He had to find some lunatic way to get his name back in the news...(no /s needed)

[SunkenCiv]

Seems like being a Church of England envoy is the perfect job for that guy.

Thanks nickcarraway.