WE DON’T FORGIVE TORNADOS

Why don’t we feel the need to forgive natural disasters? Certainly they wreak havoc every bit as horrible as what people do. I’m thinking the answer to that question might shed some light on forgiveness.

Is it that a hurricane attacks randomly, so victims don’t feel personally offended? But so do terrorists attack randomly.

Is it that we lose faith in our ability to predict what will happen? What a challenge to our sense comfort and control. Certainly natural disasters shake predictability to the core, just as murder and mayhem do. Yet we don’t feel the need to forgive the earthquake.

Is it that we attribute responsibility to the human offender? But certainly we know that the tornado is responsible for the devastation being suffered.

Maybe it’s a matter of morality. We expect human beings to follow some kind of moral code. Only if we choose to blame God for the natural disaster do we have the same expectation of the earthquake.

            

So, does it boil down to blame? The first step in forgiveness is to blame the offender. To forgive is to accuse.

            

Oh yes, one last piece – shame. Why do we find the little personal offenses, like a friend not speaking to us, so hard to forgive? Shame?

            

Just asking. What ideas will you share?

FORGIVENESS IS AT THE BASE OF THE MRS. JOB STORY

            Forgiveness has been my public emphasis lately, but let’s not forget that behind the Mrs. Job story is a biblical story of forgiveness. In brief, Job was from Edom. Edom is another name for Esau. Esau’s inheritance was stolen from him by Jacob (and his mother). Jacob went off to live with Uncle Laban while Esau, in anger, took a second wife, the daughter of Ishmael (the attributed source of Islam).

            Jacob, some fourteen years later, finally got Rachel’s hand in marriage, after being duped into marrying Leah first. (My heart goes out to Leah.) Returning home from his long sojurn with Laban, and fearing Esau’s justifiable rage, Jacob courageously sent his servants and family on ahead of hem, But Esau surprised him with a welcoming embrace. Now that’s a forgiveness story.

            So, deep in Job’s family background was a spirit of forgiveness. That’s my take on it, anyway