(December 11, 2015 at 10:50 am)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Hello heathens.
So I watched this 20/20 documentary the other night about a little girl who was abducted, raped, and murdered. The little girl's mother, through her faith, made the decision to forgive her daughter's murderer. She starts talking about it at 12:30 on the video below.
"I made the commitment to work towards an attitude of forgiveness. I tried to think positive thoughts for him - let the weather be good for whatever he's doing today, if he's traveling may he not have any car trouble."
She prayed for him and was also against the death penalty for him. Once he was found and imprisoned, he killed himself in his cell, and she reached out to his mom and they laid flowers together on his grave.
Loving and forgiving our enemies is a fundamental Christian teaching, coming from Jesus Himself. So the question to you guys is, do you agree with this teaching? Do you guys think loving/forgiving our enemies, even the people who have done the worst things imaginable to us, is something we should strive to do? Or do you think a person has no moral duty whatsoever to try to forgive people who have done such heinous things?
Why or why not?
Here's the documentary if anyone is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB1g4TxdhoE
Sometimes I can forgive those who hurt me, sometimes I can't. I prefer to do so, but it depends on the circumstances and our attitudes. I don't feel a moral obligation to do so, though; it's enlightened self-interest on my part, because I've found I live happier when I'm unencumbered by old anger.
