The Blame Game

Seems to me like no one wants to take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. Could it be that we are so ugly towards persons who mess up?

Of course I am by no means a Donald Trump fan. But I think we have to let him off the hook even a little bit, especially because of his reputation to fire folk. If he did not fire the speech-writer who used the quotes from Michelle Obama's speech, I think it can prove to be a good lesson for us all that we have to let people off-the-hook when they mess up, because we need to better understand the nature of forgiveness.

We have all done something that offended somebody, even though we may not have realized it at the time, for which we probably need to be forgiven. I am convinced that most relationships need the forgiveness factor in order to be healthy and to be maintained. Forgiveness needs to be a part of every relationship, just as much as love and friendship. Each of our life experiences will cause us to need to have forgiveness and be forgiving in our hearts--people usually don't know what they are doing. How do I know?

First let me ask you not to wholesale, dismiss this claim because it comes from a place you may find offensive. I would have to ask what makes it offensive to you and do you have any idea why? And please find a fresh reason why, do not regurgitate what you have heard someone else say, unless you have thoroughly given great thought to your answer and you can summarily explain why you believe what you say you believe.

I have read, which for many is a story, about a man hanging from what is usually called a cross, where one of the first things he said from that position of pain was "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34, NIV, New Testament Bible). I am further convinced that the last part of that statement was more for the benefit of the hearers and readers because grammatically speaking, that part of the sentence was unnecessary. If any idea or idiom could be transcendent, certainly is the idea that we do not know what we are doing.

I believe so many relationships, organizations, and especially churches could do and be a lot better if we all understood that forgiveness, and  I mean the God-kind of forgiveness where we don't bring it up again and again, is a vital component in our relationships. I believe also, one of the main reasons the Church seems to have lost its appeal to so many is what is often interpreted as unloving, unkind and unforgiving treatments in Churches. I think what I heard a preacher say once is very, very true. "You have to catch a fish before you can clean it."