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The Bible Says
Bruce Larson tells the true story of a Catholic priest living in the Philippines, a much-beloved man of God who once carried a secret burden of long-past sin buried deep in his heart. He had committed that sin once, many years before, during his time in seminary. No one else knew of this sin. He had repented of it and he had suffered years of remorse for it, but he still had no peace, no inner joy, no sense of God’s forgiveness. There was a woman in this priest’s parish who deeply loved God, and who claimed to have visions in which she spoke with Christ, and He with her. The priest, however, was skeptical of her claims, so to test her visions he said to her, “You say you actually speak directly with Christ in your visions. Let me ask you a favor. The next time you have one of these visions, I want you to ask Him what sin your priest committed while he was in seminary.” The woman agreed and went home. When she returned to the church a few days later, the priest said, “Well, did Christ visit you in your dreams?” “Yes, He did,” she replied. “And did you ask Him what sin I committed in seminary?” “Yes, I asked Him.” “Well, what did He say?” “He said, ‘I don’t remember.’” That is what God wants you to know about the forgiveness He freely offers you. What God forgives, He forgets. “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25
Julie was an attractive, sensitive, outgoing young woman about 19 years of age. Though she had been reared in a Christian home, she had made some wrong choices in her life, and now she faced the consequences of those choices. Julie found herself pregnant by a man who had abandoned her rather than take responsibility for the child they had made. As a result, Julie had a load of guilt and self-reproach that wouldn’t go away. Seeking counsel and a sense of forgiveness and relief from her feelings of guilt, Julie tried to talk to her mother. But Julie’s mother broke into tears whenever Julie tried to bring up the subject of her pregnancy. It was clear she couldn’t talk to her mother about this. She talked to a few of her friends. They assured her that “Everybody’s doing it. You just got caught, that’s all.” Feeling more isolated, more alone, more unforgiven than ever, Julie consulted a psychiatrist. “Your problem is nothing new or unusual,” he told her. “You were raised in a very religious home, and these unattainable high moral standards were imposed on you from your childhood. You became sexually involved with a man, which is only natural for a woman of your age. When you became pregnant, your lifelong religious conditioning began to beat you down, make you feel guilty, make you feel as though you had ’sinned.’ I can help you. We’ll work together on these guilt feelings, and soon we’ll begin to free you from all these moral commitments, these religious standards and judgmental restrictions that are holding back your emotional growth.” Julie took her psychiatrist’s advice. She continued to meet with him and talk to him, and over the weeks she gradually began to feel better. Finally Julie gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and she named him Stephen. She loved and cherished that little boy more than anything else in the world. She enjoyed buying him clothes and dressing him up in different outfits. She read all the books she could find on child care. She wanted her little Stephen to get the best start in life he could possible have. One day a neighbor woman stopped by Julie’s apartment for a visit . . . There, kneeling on the floor, was Julie, looking rumpled and disheveled, her hair falling over her tear-streaked face—and her hands tightly gripping little Stephen’s neck in a choke hold. “Julie, let go!” the neighbor commanded firmly, reaching down and prying Julie’s fingers from the baby’s throat. The baby slumped out of Julie’s grip and lay in Julie’s lap, very still and very quiet. A heartbeat passed. Then little Stephen gasped for breath—and began to cry. The neighbor woman had prevented the little boy’s death by only a few seconds. Why did Julie try to take the life of the beautiful little child she loved so much? Even Julie herself didn’t know. She was referred to a Christian counselor, who began to discover the reason for her actions . . . The attempt she had made against her baby’s life was really an attempt to punish herself, by destroying her most precious and cherished possession. In her hidden guilt and self-reproach, there was a secret part of herself that believed she could never deserve such a beautiful gift from God as this baby. Julie came to be healed in her spirit. She was finally able to forgive herself. Today she is married to a loving, understanding Christian man who has adopted Stephen, and together they are raising this little boy for the Lord. Both stories were condensed from: ---A Forgiving God In an Unforgiving World by Ron Lee Davis |