Forgiveness by Barbara Nelson
Forgiveness
Some years ago I found myself grappling with certain ideas expressed by the renowned new thought spiritual leader Emmet Fox. In one of his books “The Sermon on the Mount” Fox dealt at length with the need to forgive.
“The forgiveness of sins is the central problem of life,” he wrote in one part of the book. In another section he wrote “You must forgive everyone who has ever hurt you if you want to be forgiven yourself.”
I must admit that it took me quite some time to reach that level of consciousness where I could “forgive everyone” who had ever hurt me. There were several things that had happened in my life that I felt were unjust, unfair and in some cases unforgiveable.
But, aided by time and deeper understanding I managed to get to the place where I could and did forgive “everyone who had ever hurt” me.
My own experience with forgiveness came to my mind as I read a recent article on the BBC website about the late 27 year old John Allen Chau.
John was a US citizen who is described by some people as a “Christian missionary who loved God.” He was also said to be aligned with the International Christian Concern.
He described himself as “an explorer at heart, an adventurer.”
The “explorer” wanted to visit the Sentinelese tribe, a group of about 50 to 150 people who live on some small islands located in the Indian Ocean between the east coast of India and Myanmar. The people are “believed to be the last pre-Neolithic tribe in the world” and are completely isolated.
There was a problem, however. The people who live there do not want outsiders to visit them. “Outsiders are banned from even approaching the island to protect the people there and their way of life,” the article says.
The report on the BBC said John Chau did visit the islands and he was killed by arrows fired by people who live there.
The day after I read the first report of John Chau’s murder on the islands there was another news item that showed a message from his family. They said, in part, “We forgive those reportedly responsible for his death.”
The message added that “He (John) ventured out on his own.”
I was in awe of the response from John’s family.
It was then I remembered my own struggles with unforgiveness. I recalled the time it took for me to let go of the pain and finally free myself from the bondage of unforgiveness.
The example of the response of the Chau family to this tragedy is, indeed a lesson we all can and should learn and try to emulate.