I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal by William A. Galston entitled Three Ideas About Forgiveness. This passage stood out:
At the mass memorial service for Charlie Kirk, his widow, Erika, said that she forgave her husband’s killer. “I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and it was what Charlie would do,” she said. “The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love.”
President Trump didn’t buy it. “He did not hate his opponents,” Mr. Trump said of Kirk at the memorial. “He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent. And I don’t want the best for them. . . . I can’t stand my opponent.”
Here, on vivid display, were two opposed understandings: the Christian ethos of forgiveness and the pagan ethos of vengeance. In Colossians 3:13, Paul urges his readers: “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
This is a demanding spiritual standard. Mr. Trump’s view is the opposite. If someone injures you, forget about forgiveness. Don’t restrain your wrath or pull your punches. Hit back harder, and, if possible, destroy your enemy. Whatever may be the case elsewhere (if there is an elsewhere), retribution is justice here on earth.
Galston, who is Jewish, advocates a third alternative: “The Jewish view stands between these poles,” he says. “While forgiveness is a divine attribute, human beings must earn it.”
If you are a Christian who supports Trump, as many of us are, what do you do with Trump’s repudiation of forgiveness?
What do you think of Galston’s “happy medium,” as the sub-head to the article calls it, that we have to “earn forgiveness”?
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