Misunderstanding Forgiveness

Firstly, a very happy new year to you. As mentioned previously, we moved house in December, and we’ve only very recently managed to get the internet working in in our new place, hence the lack of posts. I hope you had a very pleasant Christmas and New Year.

I also achieved my adjusted target, as per my last post, of writing at least something each and every day during November. I didn’t win NaNo, but I achieved my lesser, personal target.

Right, now that’s out of the way, time for today’s post.

I’ve just got back from the supermarket (and want to write this while it’s fresh in my mind). On the way out, I glanced at the newspaper headlines, and my eye was caught by that of the Daily Star in particular. If you don’t live in the UK, you might be unfamiliar with this publication, but it is amongst the more egregious of our several populist tabloid ‘newspapers’.

The headline that caught my attention was this: EVIL BLACK CAB RAPIST’S SICK CLAIM- WORBOYS: GOD HAS FORGIVEN ME.

The whole article can be found on their website, if you want to read it.

It may not surprise you to discover that this headline frustrated and infuriated me, as it attacks the very heart of my faith. If you are not aware, John Worboys is a convicted serial rapist who assaulted a vast number of women whilst working as a London taxi driver. His crimes have been proven, and admitted. That much is certain. Papers like the Star revel in emotive and emotionally manipulative language, but even the most cautious of commentators would have to admit that his crimes were indeed evil.

What I take issue with is the assertion that his claim that God has forgiven him is ‘sick’. It is, after all, the very essence of Christian belief. To quote the hymn, ‘the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives’.

Does Worboys truly believe? Has he truly repented, confessed his crimes before God and thrown himself on God’s mercy and salvation? Is he indeed a changed man who fully repents of his crimes and is now determined to live a better life? Or is it, as the article claims, merely a cynical ploy to accelerate his release from prison? I have no idea, and no way of finding out.

Worboys will, I assume remain on a sex offenders register, and I imagine the terms of his parole will be strict. I will acknowledge that steps need to be taken to ensure that he doesn’t pose a continued threat to others. Sadly we cannot simply take him at his word and hope for the best. That would be utterly negligent. However, beyond that, I would prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt. Past crimes don’t remove the (sadly increasingly eroded) principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’.

And why is his claim ‘sick’? Because of the nature of his crimes? They were heinous and disgusting, probably deserving of significantly more than the eight years of prison time that he has served. But his claim to God’s forgiveness is the very core of my faith. The idea that even a man like Worboys can, if he truly repents, be forgiven, be remade, be reborn, washed clean, is the absolute fundament and foundation of my faith. It doesn’t matter how many talents he owes, the debt can be forgiven. And that goes for each and every one of us, no matter how great or small our transgressions might be.

From the article; “He thinks he is born again since embracing religion and that he has been forgiven. He says he is a changed man – but how can this be proved?” 

Very simply. Watch him. Watch the life he leads, the actions he takes, the things he says. If he has indeed been remade, it will be obvious. Is he different to the way he was before? Then he has changed. Might he backslide? Perhaps. From the article I understand that there is an effort to have him charged with further crimes that came to light since his imprisonment. If these crimes are proven, then it will only be justice if he serves a further sentence for them.

But don’t label his forgiveness sick. It isn’t. It represents hope. In fact, it represents the only hope any of us have. You may not find it pleasant to be compared to a convicted serial rapist, but we are all in the same boat. We have all fallen short of God, we all owe debts we have no power to repay, and we have all been offered an unlimited forgiveness and eternal redemption. That is the core of Christianity, it is the purpose of the crucifixion, it is the Promise of God. That the Daily Star completely fails to understand this is no great surprise, but it also says far more about them than it does about Worboys, if he is indeed being honest.

I have no way of knowing, but I will assume that he is until he shows otherwise. And if he isn't? If he's lying, and cynically using that hope of God's promise to deceive his way out of serving part of his sentence? Then even now, God's forgiveness is not beyond him. It is never too late, and there is no-one so evil or so far gone that they are beyond God's reach, if only they wish to be helped.

“Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.”

Of Sow’s Ears and Silk Purses Part 2: Through Heartbreak to Hope

This week has seen two high-profile, tragic incidents in the news.  First the hostage crisis and 16 hour siege in Sydney in which 2 people were killed, and then the attack on the school in Pakistan, in which 132 children and 9 teachers were killed, and 125 others were wounded.  Both of these were, at least ostensibly, religiously motivated actions, although I suspect that political motivations were just as significant, and it seems as though in the latter event, revenge played a greater part than either.

Both were carried out by Muslims, the first by a lone individual, the second by a group acting as part of the Pakistani branch of the Taliban.  There has been very little positive news regarding Muslims making headlines recently, and as a result it’s increasingly easy to immediately think of Muslims when one hears the word ‘terrorist’ or ‘extremist’.  As a result, the Muslim community, both here in the UK, and across the world hardly needs more bad publicity, and the vast moderate majority must be despairing, as well as shocked and outraged by what, certainly in the second case at least, can only be called atrocities.

But on top of this must be a great sense of apprehension, even fear.  After all, when Lee Rigby was murdered by Muslim fanatics in the UK, there was a surge of anti-Muslim feeling, with mosques vandalised and Muslims verbally abused in the streets.  It will be sad, but ultimately unsurprising if these recent events don’t cause similar reactions in various places.

It is incredibly heartening then to see that people have already taken steps to ensure that this doesn’t happen, or at least try and limit it as much as possible.  In Australia, #i’llridewithu trended on Twitter.  The idea was for people to offer to accompany visibly identifiable Muslims on public transport to help protect them from any abuse that might be triggered by the events in Sydney.  To what extent this has worked, or was even necessary I don’t know, but it shows a very encouraging response, a level of understanding rather than scapegoating or generalising.  It would have been good if such a thing had occurred here in the aftermath of the Lee Rigby murder.  I hope that next time, and I fear that there will be many next times, something similar will be seen.

In India, the traditional rival and foe of Pakistan, and between whom there is a large amount of very bad feeling which has festered for decades, #IndiawithPakistan began trending on Twitter, as people in India responded to the attack on the school with an outpouring of sympathy and compassion.  It is far too much to hope that this tragedy might lead to a greater reconciliation between the two countries, but it does at least emphasise the fact that people are not their governments, and that historical enemies can be united, albeit briefly, by grief.

These acts were acts of evil, but as is often the case, some good has come of them.  If it can be sustained and repeated, if forgiveness and understanding can replace bitterness and vengefulness, then much will have been achieved.  They may seem like small, insignificant things in the face of massacres and killings, but it is the many tiny, individually insignificant acts of kindness, forgiveness and love that counterbalance the monolithic evils of the world.  Better that they’d never happened at all, but if evil must occur, and I believe that in our world it must always be possible, then we must strive to ensure that at least as much good comes out of it too.

Last Sunday, before either of these events occurred, the church I attend printed the following prayer in its notices as the Prayer of the Week:

Through Heartbreak to Hope

The assignment is clear:

Bind up the broken, proclaim life restored.

Always be joyful!

Sing a song of hope;

Offer it to the world regardless of ears to hear it.

Lord, keep me fixed on the coming light,

Just visible through the haze of my tears.

Lord, clothe me in hope,

The garment of splendour for a heavy heart.

Amen.