I see on here a split of opinion with Christians on Austin Metcalf's dad, here and elsewhere.
I think both are incorrect in their own way.
One side says you don't forgive the unrepentant. Wrong, extremely wrong. Were the ones stoning Stephen to death repentant when he cried out for God to forgive them? No. The Bible puts no qualifications on who to forgive, only that you do.
The other side says he's being a Christian by forgiving the killer, and didn't do anything wrong and what I'd say is it's not wrong to forgive the killer, but I'd say that going on national TV and trying to make sure everyone complies with the cultures values on race has little or nothing to do with forgiveness, and so this side misses the mark.
You see, here's the biggest problem with what Austin Metcalf's dad did.
The black ghetto community needs to repent. They are like, in a way, a seperate nation like Ninevah who is told by all parties, including the church that they're not destined to hell.
Calling to repentance is an act of mercy in the Bible. Jonah didn't want to tell the Ninevites to repent because he didn't want them to experience God's mercy. When John the baptist comes on the scene preaching a message of repentance, it's repeated over and over that God's mercy has come. You want to love black people? Call the violence glorifying culture to repentance and warn them that huge swaths of their culture is akin to something like the Ninevites.
Essentially the dad is saying without realizing it "make sure you don't have any conversations that could be difficult for the inner city to hear, lest they realize their sins and turn and be saved".
Many black people will be going to hell unfortunately because even the church tickles their ear and never calls out their behavior even though the church is more than happy to call out their mostly white congregants behavior (which the church should).
Anyone who objectively looks at the black community can see that they fit the definition of a fool found in proverbs and yet no one wants to touch that subject, including Christians.
So, the dad should forgive the killer, even if it takes time to do, and it's odd that he would be so lacking in paternal instinct that he'd unemotionally virtue signal, which seems less like Biblical forgiveness and more like this modern day utter capitulation and celebration of black culture, and the next thing the father could do, which would be the loving thing and also an extremely dangerous and scary thing, which would be to absolutely address the racial issue. Look, it's not about race. Jesus said go preach to all the nations. By all accounts, the black culture is a foreign nation. They share no values, and their values that are taught from birth are completely leading people to hell. They qualify as a nation that needs repentance.
And as we see in the Bible, in order for people to accept Jesus, they first need to be told what they're violating, where they're astray, and what the consequences of sin are.
I don't see the church doing this with the black community. The exact opposite.
So the "don't forgive the unrepentant" Christians are wrong, as are the Christians who are failing to realize that the black, inner city, thug culture needs to face some extremely harsh facts for their eternal good.
I presume you mean Saint Stephen the first martyr.
I would point out that individuals who are representatives of God are different than regular people. It's why priests can offer confession for example. Regular people cannot.
I however am no saint nor priest, nor is Jeff Metcalf.
Yes. Something He has the authority to do. He asked the Lord to forgive those men, "for they know not what they do."
You can certainly ask the Lord to forgive someone. I never said otherwise.
I feel like forgiving people for their utter ignorance is okay. It's effectively an admission that they don't have moral agency in the matter. As in, if God stood in front of you and said, "hey bro, that's fucked up", they'd change their minds very quickly about whether or not it was right or wrong.
That's a whole different thing if someone knows it's wrong. Or worse, if they are anti-moral and think it is right to do evil; I'm not so sure that forgiveness is a good first option.
Considering that God is the creator of good, everyone should.
Regardless of denominational doctrine, Stephen was a deacon, not a priest. He assisted in church administration like modern deacons.
I'm only saying this to make sure people know that God has *at times forgiven the unrepentant. Very important point of theology when considering the billions of people who died without ever hearing about Christ.
I'm well aware. Catholics frequently use saints as a means of intercession with God, they being closer to Him than most. A saint is someone with more power and spiritual authority than a normal person. Stephen in that instance performed a miracle, as several of those men who stoned him were converted. Notably Paul the Apostle.
OK, then at this point we aren't talking about Biblical theology anymore, but the Catholic teaching of this story.
Factually Paul was converted by Jesus himself on the road to Damascus, not Stephen's words, but I'm sure you're aware of that already and Catholic tradition adds more context to the account.
I did not mean instantly no.
If God wanted us to make a distinction between the early saints and ourselves, He would have said "But those guys are of a different standard than you should be" Otherwise He's creating confusion. And we know it is written 'God is not the author of confusion, but of peace'
One instance of forgiveness was Paul was talking to his friends when he said
whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant.." 2 Corinthians chapter 2:10-
Second Corinthians carries a frequently apologetic tone in and of itself. Paul is talking to them about his intent to not have a painful visit to their church. He's reassuring them and telling them that any affront he may have caused in the past is one that he will "forgive" in turn.
Again, we see a translation problem into English. As you noted, God is not the author of confusion. Man is, and our flawed and limited understanding. Same as that whole "thou shalt not kill" thing, which isn't at all what the Fifth Commandment says. It says thou shalt not commit murder.