Michael Vick Finds Jesus
My second item. There has been a great deal of publicity directed towards the case of Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback who confessed to being involved in dog fighting. In his televised apology he said that he had found Jesus. A number of other public figures have spoken of finding Jesus (Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton to name two more recent ones). Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed asks: “How do we (as Christians) respond to these type of statements?” My prayer is that Jesus has met him and encountered him at the deepest level - so that he could never go back to anything less satisfying. However, a flurry of comments suggested how some might respond to this statement – including mine - which I included below.
One person said we … “would forgive his debts,” to which I responded:
What debts? All his debts? To whom does he owe those debts? Not to me unless I consciously “took” offense.
I really am wondering about this issue. Maybe it is a result of the media’s hanging out everyone’s dirty laundry and once we see it we feel we have an obligation to respond or judge. I’m wondering what my (or any sincere Christian’s) responsibility is in extending forgiveness to what is really a private (or at least personal) wrong.
The same question stands before us in evaluating his faith commitment. How can I possibly evaluate it? How can I make any judgement on it at all? Do I know him? Does he know me? Can I see his daily life? Is he accountable to me?
On a slightly different tack, the concept of forgiveness has come up a number of times. Yesterday, a neighbour (with whom I have been discussing some issues of forgiveness) asked me if I forgave Michael Vick. My response was “What is there for me to forgive?” I don’t know him. He has never hurt me. He hasn’t harmed my world (any more than a thousand others who have committed crimes). He may have harmed some dogs (or allowed them to harm each other). He may have done something that I find morally wrong. He has confessed to doing something illegal.
But I don’t understand how I could forgive him, or refuse to forgive or have any need to forgive him. Doesn’t a long distance (ie not personal or relational) forgiveness or unforgiveness put me in the position of God and Judge - just as the Pharisees accused Jesus of doing?
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Mark 2:6-7
Do we have any responsibility or right to forgive the sins of someone we have never met or who has never wronged us?
I think it’s difficult enough to forgive my spouse and my neighbour – the people we do know and whom we must forgive.
