A father has a moral duty to love his children. Justice alone isn't high enough of a standard. Not for a Christian, anyway.
It's good for him to forgive his son, who will need a whole lot of help in a decade or two when he realizes his principles only led him to misery. Dad's job ain't done yet.
You can withhold forgiveness without harbouring resentment. It's not common but metaphysically it's sound. The Christian God doesn't instantly grant absolution for everything, but it doesn't mean he hates you in the intervening time. Feels weird to type this as a non-Christian.
As a Christian, I would also forgive my son of this, or pretty much anything else. We've all fucked up. I've been forgiven so I should forgive.
However, forgiving someone doesn't mean that I'm going to allow that person to harm myself and my family. You still have to take who they are as a person into your decision making process.
Do whatever you can to help him out of the brainwashing. Armchair quarterback moment, but this needed to be handled way earlier in life.
Unless he's banging his mom, I don't think there is.
Forgiveness is pretty pathetic though.
A father has a moral duty to love his children. Justice alone isn't high enough of a standard. Not for a Christian, anyway.
It's good for him to forgive his son, who will need a whole lot of help in a decade or two when he realizes his principles only led him to misery. Dad's job ain't done yet.
Forgiveness is as much about the forgiver as it is about the forgiven.
Resentment does nasty things to people.
You can withhold forgiveness without harbouring resentment. It's not common but metaphysically it's sound. The Christian God doesn't instantly grant absolution for everything, but it doesn't mean he hates you in the intervening time. Feels weird to type this as a non-Christian.
As a Christian, I would also forgive my son of this, or pretty much anything else. We've all fucked up. I've been forgiven so I should forgive.
However, forgiving someone doesn't mean that I'm going to allow that person to harm myself and my family. You still have to take who they are as a person into your decision making process.
Do whatever you can to help him out of the brainwashing. Armchair quarterback moment, but this needed to be handled way earlier in life.