Four what? For Give
Filly woke up and said her morning prayer sitting in the edge of the bed, about to go for her walk. She estimated that it was seven am but instead it was almost nine am. WOW. She must have been really tired. She slept all night. Barely moving. She had driven all day the day before to get back to Houston from Amarillo. It had been a good trip, much to be happy about.
Filly’s husband came in with a hug and a “good morning beautiful” and asked about breakfast. Filly went into the kitchen to make bacon and eggs…only popping one friend egg and only burning both pieces of toast. (which she then scraped). Her husband poured her a glass of juice, telling her about someone on Facebook who was still “hating on Trump”.
After all these years, so many people who called themselves Christians, women in particular, refused to forgive this one man, even though they could forgive Kennedy, and Clinton and other political figures who were accused of womanizing as well. Alanis, “isn’t it ironic, dontcha think?”
Filly thought about another occasion where the accusation of adultery was made, with the woman in the bible, who was “caught in adultery”. All the men of that time had gathered around, both young and old, to stone her. Because that was “the law” supposedly.
The woman had been brought to Jesus by the Pharisees, who were laymen who thought they had the correct interpretation of the Torah. They opposed Jesus and wanted to trap him. But Jesus wrote in the ground. When they persisted, he stood up and said that “anyone who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her”. No one did throw any stones. They all left starting with the old, and going to the young. (apparently the old men were wise enough to know that the older you are the more sins you have).
Filly thought that it was interesting that today, the flip side was happening and that women wanted to stone a man. But when Jesus was alive, the woman who was supposed to get stoned, was forgiven by the men wasn’t she? No one then persisted to “virtue signal” in front of Jesus, about how “righteous” they were, when Jesus knew that they ALL had sinned. So men could forgive women, but women could not forgive men? What was wrong with that picture? People, specifically women, could not learn from their horrible mistakes…from the past?
Filly did not think that was truth. She had learned. She was a woman. People COULD learn and correct their “judgement”. Filly thought that the majority of the people in control (men) back in Jesus time were “influenced” by the Pharisees, the same way women of this day were being influenced by the media. Both groups, in the past and in the present, were acting in a way to oppose and condemn someone that God did not condemn.
She remembered listening to a radio show in 2010 called the Pete Dominick show. In that show, Pete had talked about how people today perceived “cheating” to be the worst “offense” compared to other offenses like murder, arson, robbery etc. People these days, he said, were the least likely to ever “forgive” cheating, compared to other things. Pete Dominick had said back then, that he believed that all evil is equally bad and that cheating is not WORSE than other evils. Filly agreed with him in that statement. Basically he said that adultery is not worse than murder or other offenses.
Filly wondered if women of today were to be faced with that scene in the bible, hands on stones, ready to throw at Trump, would they be able to walk away, admonished by the words of Jesus, a Christian?
Even though legally, cheating was not forgiven in Moses laws, we learn in the bible that The law back in the day, did not reflect the accurate “heart” of the people who did in fact forgive based on their actions with the lady accused. And the laws today, pushed by the pharisees called the media, also do not reflect the accurate “heart” of the people who want to forgive the man accused.
Apparently the Pharisees, (many in the media) have been influencing people wrongly, particularly women, to prefer murderers over adulterous people…categorizing evil, even when adultery had happened. But in contrast, woman did not want to stand trial themselves as murderers, even if they had an abortion, but still insisted in wanted to “Stone” and put away forever someone who they believed had been a “womanizer”. There was a weird irony with this mentality, and a hypocrisy. Filly thought it was better to call them the laws of No’ses instead of Moses, no murder, no adultery, no theft etc. LOL. and people used their interpretation of those “laws” to “turn up their noses at those they thought were worthy of hate.
Those who wanted to stone mostly, also called themselves Christians.LOL People who refused to forgive, could not ethically call themselves Christians. The law punished people who committed a crime, but society and social media was not in fact “the law”. Social media justice was a travesty of justice actually, just like it was in Jesus time. Forgiveness Filly knew, was demanded of Christ.
Jesus recognized the dichotomy. The hatred directed at the woman caught in adultery, back in time, was fueled by the Pharisees…the same way the hatred of Trump, currently, was been fueled by the Media. This ?viral attempt to cause Christians to deny the Christ, is being revealed however. Evil will always find a way to try to destroy “the Christ” in each of us, Filly thought. “Loving to hate”, Filly thought, is a really good way to destroy “the Christ”. The “religious leaders” of the day (social media of Jesus time), were the ones who demanded that the Romans(the law) put Jesus to death. They were terribly mistaken for not forgiving. Jesus was not the enemy. Evil in the form of hatred, was the enemy. Filly knew that ladies could read, could hear, could in fact forgive. There was great freedom in forgiveness. Hatred was a chain that dragged around those who hated, like the heavy chains Jacob Marley carried in The Christmas carol.
Filly had been forgiven of having had an abortion when she was seventeen. She had been required to go to a bishop in her state to receive absolution. Filly however had to go years more, in order to understand why it was wrong, because at the time she had felt like she had no other choice. Owning up to her mistake was how she had experienced freedom. That mistake made her want to be a strong defender of the unborn because she did not want other moms to suffer like she had.
And she had stayed close to God, because in church, even when she had not felt connected, she knew that the church community had the right ideas and provided a great source of guidance and support. Her bible verses were her ways to connect to God, on a daily basis, when she was all by herself. It had really helped her.
The bible verse for today was this…
And in that day,declares the Lord GOD I will make the sun go down at noon,and I will darken the earth in the daytime. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation.I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved.I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son,and its outcome like a bitter day.
Behold, the days are coming,declares the Lord GOD,when I will send a famine on the land — not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east,seeking the word of the LORD,but they will not find it.
Filly believed that this bible verse was talking to all those “Christians” who were unwilling to forgive. Those who “loved to hate”. She knew that “Jesus herd” her own words or prayer, asking God to forgive her own sins, and knew that Jesus Herd that she was willing to forgive those who had hurt or condemned her. Jesus when asked, said that people were commanded to forgive not seven times, but seven times seventy times. If they refused to forgive, they were about to experience famine…of the spirit.
Filly liked her nickname, because a horse had something in common with Forgive. A horse had a forelock. Part of it’s mane. Forgiveness was the mane event. That was what Filly thought.