Love and Forgiveness

August 26, 2009, 7:21 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 7:53 – 8:11

This chapter is a difficult one to break into smaller sections.  The opening verses (1 – 11) are obvious additions from someone who was not the original author.  But it is such a powerful story that many (if not all) Christian would like to be “True”.  It certainly portrays Jesus as a loving “Savior”. 

The gist of this passage is that some leaders of the Jewish community attempt to trap Jesus with a special case.  The case deals with a woman who has been caught (red-handed) in the act of adultery (doesn’t that take two?).  When these leaders confront Jesus, he seems to ignore them, by writing in the something (unspecified) in the ground.  He responds to their continued questioning in this fashion:

John 8:7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Death by stoning was the official punishment for adultery of a betrothed virgin.  The response to this “offer” was that slowly, as each person realized that they too had some form of sin, the accusers left.  When Jesus again looked up only the woman was standing in front of him.

The passage ends with Jesus not condemning the woman but leaving her with this command:

John 8:11 “No one, sir,” she said.  “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

This is a very lovely story of the power of forgiveness.  I only wish that more Christians would follow Jesus’ teachings here.  Instead, we have, throughout Christian history, had laws that continued to punish “sinners” immediately.  Only recently did the US Supreme Court over throw a specific “sexual act” law that was put in place by Christians!

To put it plainly, if Jesus did not condemn in his life, why do Christians?  It is true that Jesus ends with the “leave your life of sin” statement.  But that is not the meaning of this passage.  The meaning of this passage is about forgiveness.  It shows that humans must be forgiving because none of us are perfect.  We each have our faults and as a result we cannot hold others accountable for their specific faults. 

Unfortunately, some human faults are damaging to society.  Which exactly are the damaging ones?  Well that depends on the society and the specific activity.  In a purely religious society, as some Islamic nations, human actions are much more damaging to the “fabric” of that society.  But in secular societies, such as the US, laws that prevent activities are more damaging than protecting.  The best example of this was Prohibition.  In fact, laws like the Prohibition Act made things worse!  When the legal system is overwhelmed with minor violations (imposed by specific groups) the entire legal system begins to fall apart.  As our population increases, either our legal system must increase (increasing the costs of policing society) or minor acts that do not harm citizens must be accepted as part of society.  This may seem to be a situation of compromise that will lead to chaos and anarchy, but that is purely fictional.  If our police and our judicial system focus on what is truly harmful to society, then only the crimes that are harmful to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness will be punished.  As Jesus allowed the act of adultery, in this passage, to be sorted out later, so should society allow minor disagreeable acts to settle “out-of-court”.

One of the biggest examples of this is the 1960’s.  This period of US history was the most decadent period of hedonism in our countries history.  Yet the people who have aged from that period are now either the most amiable people I know (such as a friend in Philadelphia) or the staunchest supporters of the Moral Majority.

If only this passage were truly a teaching of Jesus (and it might well be).  If only Christians would follow Jesus’ lead in this area!  But instead we have people like Dr Jerry Falwell (Falwell Ministries and Liberty University) or the Westboro Baptist Church (godhatesfags.com).  Both are such wonderful examples of the loving nature of YHWH and Jesus!  Many other examples exist of this type of Christianity, I am just using two of the most outspoken groups that create more damage to society than prevent damage.  Yet both groups claim to be protecting society – their version of society!

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