A few videos and one amazing story on peace, love, forgiveness and Jesus.
Tony Campolo and Greg Boyd:
HT Jonathan Brink
Bill Maher (PG-13 for language):
Tripp Fuller:
Listen to an extended version of this story on our podcast.
And finally, listen to this story from NPR’s Story Corps on a mother forgiving her son’s killer.
“After you left the room, I began to say, ‘I just hugged the man that murdered my son. And I instantly knew that all that anger and the animosity, all the stuff I had in my heart for 12 years for you — I knew it was over, that I had totally forgiven you.”
I shared the Bill Maher video on Twitter and I got some criticism for it. The person commenting used the Israelites’ celebration over the death of Goliath to justify the celebration of American Christians over the death of Osama bin Laden.
I’ve also seen the celebration of Moses over the death of the Egyptian army as justification for celebrating bin Laden’s death.
But I still can’t get my head (or heart) around that.
I can’t equate “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” with “Yeah! The bad guys are dead!”
It seems to me we should always be praying and hoping for the redemption of all people – including our enemies.
But I’m interested in your feedback. Seeing these three stories together – how do you justify a Christian’s support of war or celebration of military victory?
As an aside, I just finished Tony Campolo’s latest book Stories That Feed Your Soul. Loved it!
It’s a collection of stories from Tony’s experiences, as well as his friends and associates all geared around 8 points from Romans 8. It’s an easy quick read and shows the real power of story.
