BreakPoint Commentary #000419 - 4/19/2000<BR>Forgiving the Dead Man Walking: Christianity's Unique Witness <BR>by Charles Colson<P>Dead Man Walking's gripping portrayal of a man on death row made it one of the most powerful films to come out of Hollywood in recent memory. But believe it or not, it only told half the story -- and it left out the best part.<P>The power of Dead Man Walking was its portrayal of the inherent dignity and value of even a hardened criminal. But the story behind the story -- the story of the victim -- goes even further, depicting the<BR>uniquely Christian message of forgiveness.<P>Sixteen-year-old Debbie Morris was out on a date with her boyfriend, Mark, one Friday evening. After pizza and a movie, they stopped for milkshakes.<P>But when a stranger put a revolver to Mark's head, their pleasant night out turned into several hours of torture, rape, and attempted murder. It ended with Mark shot, but alive, and Debbie deeply wounded. But Debbie would not find true healing until she was able to comprehend and embrace the forgiveness only God can provide.<P>Although the film Dead Man Walking depicted Debbie's kidnappers as one man, there were actually two: Robert Lee Willie and Joe Vaccaro. They kidnapped and robbed them, leaving Mark for dead. Before releasing<BR>Debbie, they tormented and raped her repeatedly.<P>When the two men were captured, Vaccaro received five life sentences and, as the film showed, Willie was executed for his crimes -- he eventually admitted involvement in several murders, including butchering another girl.<P>But Debbie's anguish did not end when Willie was sentenced to die. Despite those who urged her to "get on with her life," her emotional ordeal continued. As Debbie writes in her book, Forgiving the Dead Man Walking, "Justice doesn't really heal all the<BR>wounds."<P>It was when Debbie found the grace to forgive Robert Willie, the day he was to be executed, that she finally knew release from suffering. In prayer -- for herself and for Willie -- she discovered that only God's grace is sufficient to bind up the wounds of the human heart.<P>Forgiveness, you see, is much more than telling ourselves that an offense just doesn't matter anymore. On the contrary, forgiveness recognizes the debt for what it is.<P>And it doesn't just liberate the debtor from his debt -- it transforms the heart of the one who forgives. In fact, forgiveness is an imitation of God's own act of forgiveness on the Cross. By forsaking what we are legitimately owed, we recognize that we, too, have been forgiven a debt we can never repay.<P>And that's why true forgiveness is both a beacon and a scandal to the secular mind.<BR>Secular society has nothing that resembles the forgiveness that the Gospel makes possible, what Debbie Morris experienced.<P>And it simply cannot make sense of parents who would forgive the killers of their children, like those murdered at Columbine, so much in the news this week. Remember those scenes, so vivid on television? Of the<BR>parents forgiving Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. Of the crosses on the side of the hill. Their forgiving witness is an unmistakable presentation of the<BR>transforming love of the Gospel.<P>We may never be called to forgive an offense as grave as that inflicted on Debbie Morris -- or the families of Littleton, Colorado. But we must be prepared to forgive, not only for our own sakes, but for the sake of our Christian witness.<P>And when we do, we give the world something better than a good movie plot -- we give them a glimpse of The Greatest Story Ever Told.<P>A great resource on the topic of victims and<BR>forgiveness is the new book from Neighbors Who Care, entitled "God and the Victim", edited by Lisa Barnes Lampman -- with a foreword by Chuck Colson. Find it on our website at <A HREF="http://www.breakpoint.org" TARGET=_blank>http://www.breakpoint.org</A> . <P>Though we must never discount the hurt and trespasses made against us in our relationships, so many of us wonder how we can ever forgive. Chuck Colson's point that we give the world a glimpse of the Greatest Story Ever Told really hit me.<P>

Thanks Sue for that powerful testimony! I know the value and the release that forgiveness gives. I held on to resentment for many years. In fact in this long journey toward bringing me where I am today and the work God is doing in me, my husband, through the affair and in our marriage, that was the first step. I had to release or let go of the resentment. I read something in one of Catherine Marshall's book. In it this women wrote them out and then prayed. So, God moved me to do something similar. I sat down in front of the computer 5+ years ago and wrote out everything I could think of that I was resentful for. Thjen I prayed over each item. I then imagined a large red and white checkered picnic klanket. I tiik all those resentments and threw them in the middle. Then I brought the 4 corners together and asked Jesus to carry them away. I then printed off the list and tore it up into little tiny bits of paper. You know I can't remember what most of thse resentments were. The list was long because I was releasing 20+ years of them. It is amazing. Since then I have found it much easier to let go of the hurts and resentments by imagining Jesus carrying them away. It is so freeing. I wallked around for days after the initial relese feeling pounds lighter emotionally. Jesus forgives me and I don't even see how sinful I am or how dark the darkness is in me. I nail Jesus to the cross everytime I sin. He forgives me everytime and repeatedly for some. So how can I not forgive others that do the same as me.It is so freeing to release those that tresspass against us to God. We think we are somehow punishing the transgressor by staying mad, but it is only ourselves we punish. Jesus is more then able to carry all our burdens, something I cannot do and must surrender to HIm. But it is so good to have a place to deposit it all and wlak away and say thank You for taking it. Lord. How amazing.<BR>Thanks again Sue for the insight.<P>Lord, I lift up all my resentments toward others for the pain, disappointment or assaults against me. I give up my right to punish and instead choose to forgive, releasing to You Lord, the authority over others that is rightfully Yours. Lord, show me how to love you and others in a much deeper way because You love me in that way. Help me to forgive others as You have so gracefully forgiven me when I don't deserve to be forgiven as I never do. Use Sue's testimony to touch those that need to understand forgiveness, both to be forgiven and to forgive. Lord, let them forgive themselves because after we come to You and confess and ask for forgiveness, You grant this and then You remember it no more. Thank You Lord for such a plan. In Jesus name, Amen