As the Worm Turns...

Forgiveness is being requested

Emily Oster of the Atlantic is recommending that we Declare a Pandemic Amnesty. She suggests that “[w]e need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID”. By asking that we “forgive one another” implies that we somehow harmed one another. However, if I recall, the harm has been consistently one-sided.

I find it interesting that she uses the word “amnesty” in her request since the historical meaning of the word is essentially a “political pardon” for offenses against a government. Meriam Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines amnesty as [a]n act of oblivion; a general pardon of the offenses of subjects against the government, or the proclamation of such pardon. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I don’t recall the government as having been the offended party in the least by the mandates and social ostracizing of the past few years.

It seems to me that the worm is turning. Those who have spent the last few years doing all that they could to forcibly coerce other people to mask up, stay home, stay away, and submit to an experimental medical treatment sans any actual safety or efficacy testing are starting to realize that harms they have inflicted are real, and that the benefit they were expecting to gain was never actually realized. Even Ms. Oster has called for vaxx mandates to be enforced by schools and employers.

They’ve gone from fearing COVID to fearing those who have amazingly survived their destructive policies and actions. They fear us because they know what they’ve done to us. They know that the harms that they have inflicted on us are real and were unnecessary.

In the article, there is no apology given. No acts of repentance. No requests for penance. Only asking that “we forgive each other” as if we all have engaged in behaviors that require forgiveness.

No, as a Christian, forgiveness will be freely given when repentance has been sincerely made.

Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. - Luke 17:3

And even with repentance and forgiveness, justice must be meted out. That is how we learn.

Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and please the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1:17)

There are many fatherless and many widows in the world today because of the COVID policies and practices of the last few years. The emotions are raw and the wounds are real. The injuries inflicted require justice. The blood of the victims cry out from the earth. When justice has been served and repentance has been displayed, forgiveness can then be discussed, and will likely be freely given.