Father, Forgive Them (2 of 7)
Series: Last Words
Will McGee
Luke 23:32-38
INTRODUCTION: One of our partner churches in Wilmington, North Carolina... In September, their church building was completely destroyed in a Hurricane. They've spent the last 4-5 months repairing and restoring their building... They finally got it back to normal.
And then, last Sunday. They showed up to church, and found graffiti all over their building. Graphic racial slurs in large black letters on every side of their building.
Later that afternoon, the church gathered together to pressure wash and paint over the graffiti. But before, they did, they prayed for the vandal.
On social media, the church posted a picture: ''Whoever you are. We love you, and you are always welcome at The Bridge Church. Here, you'll find a community of love and forgiveness unlike anything you've ever experienced.''
That's beautiful. I'm proud to call their pastors my friends... But it is easy for us to hear that story, and smile... But I think of what C.S. Lewis said, ''Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.''
Forgiveness is a very rare thing these days, isn't it?
One of the things I have noticed in the last few years, we live in a culture right now that is ruthless when it comes to holding people's mistakes over them. We have no vocabulary or motivation to forgive these days. If someone wrongs us, if someone crosses a line, whether real or arbitrary, we want them to pay. We join the mob as we shout, ''Crucify!''
Studies are showing more and more that modern social media platforms now encourage and reward this kind of unforgiving behavior. Research shows, we are becoming a ruthless and unforgiving culture.
One neuroscientist from Stanford University, Robert Sapolsky, says that when we punish someone for some violation against us or against our group, dopamine is actually released in our brain, and we feel pleasure. He says, ''The neurolo ...
Series: Last Words
Will McGee
Luke 23:32-38
INTRODUCTION: One of our partner churches in Wilmington, North Carolina... In September, their church building was completely destroyed in a Hurricane. They've spent the last 4-5 months repairing and restoring their building... They finally got it back to normal.
And then, last Sunday. They showed up to church, and found graffiti all over their building. Graphic racial slurs in large black letters on every side of their building.
Later that afternoon, the church gathered together to pressure wash and paint over the graffiti. But before, they did, they prayed for the vandal.
On social media, the church posted a picture: ''Whoever you are. We love you, and you are always welcome at The Bridge Church. Here, you'll find a community of love and forgiveness unlike anything you've ever experienced.''
That's beautiful. I'm proud to call their pastors my friends... But it is easy for us to hear that story, and smile... But I think of what C.S. Lewis said, ''Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.''
Forgiveness is a very rare thing these days, isn't it?
One of the things I have noticed in the last few years, we live in a culture right now that is ruthless when it comes to holding people's mistakes over them. We have no vocabulary or motivation to forgive these days. If someone wrongs us, if someone crosses a line, whether real or arbitrary, we want them to pay. We join the mob as we shout, ''Crucify!''
Studies are showing more and more that modern social media platforms now encourage and reward this kind of unforgiving behavior. Research shows, we are becoming a ruthless and unforgiving culture.
One neuroscientist from Stanford University, Robert Sapolsky, says that when we punish someone for some violation against us or against our group, dopamine is actually released in our brain, and we feel pleasure. He says, ''The neurolo ...
There are 17209 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
