"…we don't hate you. We love you. We would love for there to be an admission of guilt and reconciliation, but we also ask the broader community to stand with us."
But that's the problem. Whoever did this doesn't care what you love or who you forgive.
I think they need to stop reading Luke 6:29 ("If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.") and start reading Matthew 10:34 ("Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.")
The Bible is a fine thing for guidance but if you had a dime for every Christian who held out enduring some form of lethal abuse till the bitter end thinking Jesus would miracle it away you'd literally be a millionaire.
Christians don't believe that Jesus will miracle away the suffering. They know that he won't. They believe that when they die, they will be rewarded for their sufferance and patience.
They do it because it is easy, it allows you to live through inaction and avoid all confrontation. As many church goers never actually engage with the material, this appeals to their sheep like mindset. Something I find especially prevalent in Catholics, at least in the US. They go to mass, vaguely read the book (either once or the same few passages they are biased towards) and then talk a high game, but never when the chips are down.
Enabling someone to continue into sin is just as sinful as the deed they commit, and so many followers of Jesus are guilty of enabling beyond forgiveness.
"…we don't hate you. We love you. We would love for there to be an admission of guilt and reconciliation, but we also ask the broader community to stand with us."
But that's the problem. Whoever did this doesn't care what you love or who you forgive.
I think they need to stop reading Luke 6:29 ("If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.") and start reading Matthew 10:34 ("Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.")
The Bible is a fine thing for guidance but if you had a dime for every Christian who held out enduring some form of lethal abuse till the bitter end thinking Jesus would miracle it away you'd literally be a millionaire.
Christians don't believe that Jesus will miracle away the suffering. They know that he won't. They believe that when they die, they will be rewarded for their sufferance and patience.
They do it because it is easy, it allows you to live through inaction and avoid all confrontation. As many church goers never actually engage with the material, this appeals to their sheep like mindset. Something I find especially prevalent in Catholics, at least in the US. They go to mass, vaguely read the book (either once or the same few passages they are biased towards) and then talk a high game, but never when the chips are down.
Enabling someone to continue into sin is just as sinful as the deed they commit, and so many followers of Jesus are guilty of enabling beyond forgiveness.