Living in Increase (Part 11) - Increase in JoySýnishorn

Forgiveness Required

Growing up in Maryland, I was close enough to be familiar with the Amish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I remember driving behind the horse-drawn buggies with bright-eyed children smiling and waving from the back. The men would work with teams of horses plowing the fields. Women busied themselves with gardening and hanging up laundry. I never saw it firsthand but heard about their barn-raisings, religious gatherings, and celebrations. I loved to eat the pies, cinnamon buns, and especially the Whoopie pies they sold in the local markets. The secrecy and isolation of this community made people curious and sometimes a little suspicious. However, one thing is sure: these are loving and peaceful people.

On October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts IV walked into a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He ordered all of the adults and the boys to leave. He then tied up the ten little girls who remained. Before turning the weapon on himself, Mr. Roberts shot the girls, killing five and injuring the others. This senseless act of violence on such a private and peaceful community was difficult for the public to absorb.

Charles’s parents were devastated over their son’s actions. Terri Roberts and her husband braced themselves. Once the community knew that they were the parents of a mass murderer, they assumed they would be ostracized and rejected by everyone. After all, they had raised a child that was capable of unspeakably evil acts.

Amish parents waited near the scene for word about whether their daughters had survived. Meanwhile, an Amish man named Henry went to the Roberts’s home. He didn’t go there to throw insults or seek revenge. Instead, he went there to comfort the Roberts family. The Amish did not see them as an enemy but as parents who were also grieving the loss of their child. Henry put his hand on Mr. Roberts’s shoulder and called him a friend. On the day of Charles’s funeral, Amish men and women came to the cemetery and formed a wall to block out media cameras. The parents of the Amish girls who were killed offered condolences for their loss. The Amish not only forgave but embraced this couple and welcomed them into their community.

Steven Nolt, a professor of Amish studies at Elizabethtown College, has tried to explain this phenomenon, which is part of the Amish culture. Most people work through a grieving process and emotional struggles to come to a place of forgiveness. He explains that forgiveness is a decision for the Amish. The healing process occurs after forgiveness is offered. Forgiveness is a daily surrender of feelings and emotions.

It is through God’s only Son that forgiveness is possible for us. Jesus was sacrificed on the cross. It was a violent and gruesome death. Because of man’s sinful nature, His sacrifice was required. The anguish God the Father endured had to be unimaginable. Even though we were the cause of His pain, Jesus’s father offers us unconditional forgiveness. We simply have to accept that forgiveness. Only then can we enter into a beautiful relationship with Him.

Julie Austin

Action Step: Seek God’s forgiveness. It is as easy as A-B-C. Admit you have sinned. Believe that you are forgiven. Commit your life to Him.