Why Forgive?

by Johann Christoph Arnold, Steven McDonald (Foreword by)

Overview

In Why Forgive? Arnold lets the untidy experiences of ordinary people speak for themselves—people who have earned the right to talk about forgiving.

Some of these stories deal with violent crime, betrayal, abuse, hate, gang warfare, and genocide. Others address everyday hurts: the wounds caused by backbiting, gossip, conflicts in the home, and tensions in the workplace. The book also tackles what can be the biggest challenge: forgiving ourselves.

These people, who have overcome the cancer of bitterness and hatred, can help you unleash the healing power of forgiveness in your own life.

Why Forgive? these stories and decide for yourself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874869422
Publisher:	Plough Publishing House, The
Publication date:	05/25/2014
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	446,490
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Johann Christoph Arnold was an award-winning author with over two million copies of his twelve books in print in more than twenty languages. A noted speaker and writer on marriage, parenting, and end-of-life issues. Arnold was a senior pastor of the Bruderhof, a movement of Christian communities, until his death in April 2017.
Johann Christoph Arnold’s books include Why Forgive?, Rich in Years, Their Name Is Today, Seeking Peace, Escape Routes, Cries from the Heart, Be Not Afraid, Why Children Matter, and Sex, God and Marriage.

To learn more visit www.richinyears.com

Read an Excerpt

From the foreword by Steve Chalke:

What do you do when your friend gives you a sawed-off shotgun? For Roger, this was an easy question to answer. He used it. And he says that if he had the chance, he'd use it again. Roger's entire life has become consumed by one unquenchable desire: avenging his daughter's death.

Sarah was out on her bike when she was hit by a drunk driver. She died almost instantly. There was no doubt about who was to blame, and the driver (who didn't have a valid license because of a previous drunk driving conviction) was sent to prison for manslaughter. But that wasn't enough for Roger. He borrowed a gun and - when the driver was released from prison - shot him, fully intending to kill him. So now the tables were turned, and Roger found himself charged with attempted murder and faced with the possibility of a long prison sentence. Astonishingly, he was found not guilty. Despite the fact that he had deliberately tried to take a man's life, the jury found his victim -who had never once shown the slightest remorse - so repulsive that they unanimously acquitted Roger. Even so, he wasn't satisfied: if anything, he was more determined than ever to avenge his daughter's death. I asked him if squeezing a trigger and watching a man collapse in agony made him feel any better. No, he said. Only killing him could make me feel better. I asked his wife, Cathy, how she felt. Her answer was even more chilling. I could never be happy if Roger killed him, she told me, because that would mean that I hadn't killed him. I need to pull that trigger myself. I need to see him dead, and know I'm responsible.

Sitting with them in their house, I was overwhelmed by their anger and pain, and by the horror of their ordeal. There was little doubt in my mind that justice had not been served by the light punishment given their daughter's killer: his self-centered callousness shocked me to the core. Yet I also couldn't help feeling that their continued bitterness over her death was compounding their misery. Having been through one hell, it seemed to me that their inability to forgive and let go was putting them through another. Day after day they were letting new hatred and resentment consume them. Was this really what their daughter would have wanted for them - this living hell that was destroying their lives, but which had no impact on that of her killer?

Table of Contents

1. The Cancer of Bitterness 2. Believe in Miracles 3. Ending the Cycle of Hatred 4. Bless your Persecutors 5. Forgiveness and Justice 6. The Deeds of Mercy 7. When Reconciling Is Impossible 8. Forgiving in Everyday Life 9. Forgiveness and Marriage 10. Forgiving a Parent 11. Blaming God 12. Forgiving Ourselves 13. Accepting Responsibility 14. Not a Step, but a Journey 15. Making Ripples

Editorial Reviews

A most impressive book…so powerful that tears often impede reading.

ALA Booklist (Starred Review)

Thought-provoking and soul-challenging…Arnold writes with an eye-opening simplicity that zings the heart.

From the Publisher

Why Forgive? shows humanity at its gut-churning worst and ennobling best through the experience of people who have endured unthinkable losses and struggled to make peace with their perpetrators.

Denver Post

Thought-provoking and soul-challenging…Arnold writes with an eye-opening simplicity that zings the heart.

Houston Chronicle

A most impressive book...so powerful that tears often impede reading.

ALA Booklist

In Why Forgive?, Pastor Johann Christoph Arnold ventures beyond biblical cliches to delve into the hearts and minds of victims of unforgivable acts. Whether relating incidents from another century, or yesterday's news, Arnold swiftly transforms the reader from objective observer to intimate confidant. In his quest to discover which acts are beyond the capacity of the human spirit to forgive, he draws from the experiences of celebrities, heroes, legends, and just plain ordinary folks.

It comes as no surprise that charismatic leaders like Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. were capable of forgiving tremendous injustices, but what about everyday folks like the father of an Oklahoma City bombing victim, or the mother of a child who was kidnapped from a family camping trip and subsequently murdered? Readers ache with pain, seethe with rage, and yearn for retribution only to watch in stunned disbelief as victims extend the hand of forgiveness to the enemy. As poignant and unique as each story is, their common bond is the revelation that the only way to move beyond the pain is to let go of the anger.
—Independent Publisher

Linda J. Thorlakson

Little more than a series of anecdotes, this quick read might not be noteworthy were it not for its profound and always timely subject matter. Arnold, a pastor and author whose admirers range from the evangelical Right to the secular Left, tells story after story of people who have forgiven despite unfathomable personal tragedy and a vengeful cultural climate. Readers may recognize many of these tales from Oprah, Guideposts and other purveyors of inspiration, but they are no less remarkable the second or even third time around. Despite the fact that he weaves so little analysis in between these anecdotes, Arnold manages to drive home several points that unequivocally answer his titular question, the most powerful of which is that no one, whether victim or perpetrator, can heal until forgiveness is granted. Not one to engage in long theological explorations, Arnold instead allows many of his subjects to speak for themselves in extended quotations, allowing insight into their desperate, brokenhearted rage. Some of these subjects, such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, ultimately choose not to forgive, while others describe a force beyond their conscious control that makes forgiveness inevitable. Arnold also writes about everyday forgiveness in marriage, families, communities and the workplace. In all cases, he reminds us that to forgive is neither to excuse nor to anesthetize ourselves from the pain that attends life and love, but rather to enter again into life's fray. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

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