Forgiving and Forgiveness

The following passage is taken from GMSJ Sunday Worship bulletin dated 12 May 2002.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was YOU.

On February 9, 1960, Adolph Coors III was kidnapped and held for ransom. His body was found seven months later on a remote hillside. He had been shot to death. Adolph Coors IV who was fifteen years old at the time, lost not only his father but his best friend. For years, young Coors hated Joseph Corbett, the man who was sentenced to life for the slaying.

Then in 1975 Ad Coors became a Christian. He knew this hatred for Corbett blighted his growth in faith and also alienated him from other people. Still, resentment seethed within him. He prayed asking God to help him stop hating Corbett.

Coors eventually felt led to visit Corbett in the maximum security unit of Colorado's Canon City penitentiary. Corbett refused to see him, but Coors left a Bible with this inscription: "I'm here to see you today and I'm sorry that we could not meet. As a Christian I am summoned by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ to forgive. I do forgive you, and I ask you to forgive me for the hatred I've held in my heart for you." Coors later confessed, "I have a love for that man that only Jesus Christ could have put in my heart." Coors' heart, imprisoned by hatred, was at last set free.

For a longer version of the story above, click here.