Forgiveness...

**Please note this article may contain triggers.**

I have recently been reading a book called To the Moon and Back by Karen Kingsbury. It's a work of fiction, where the background of the two main characters is the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995. An event that I remember well as I was just a freshman in high school. I have never been to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, nor have I been to the memorial after the bombing. I did once hold a piece of rubble from the site at a highland games when we took time to remember all the lives lost in Oklahoma City.

This post, however, isn't about the bombing or visiting the memorial; it's about something that happened to me on June 10-11, 2001. These dates probably don't mean a lot to most people. It was a regular spring day, the news carried footage of the bombing, because on June 11, 2001, Timothy McVeigh, the home-grown terrorist was going to die. He was finally going to get what he deserved. Everyone around me was happy, because why should he live when 168 people, children included, died. 

I remember at one point Mr. McVeigh's picture flashed up on the screen; the image of him walking

McVeigh getting ready to walk out of the Noble County Courthouse

out the Noble County Courthouse. I remember my neighbor Kelly walked to the door of my apartment and saying "Good, one less criminal we have to keep up." But something in the look on McVeigh's face showed that he was remorseful. Maybe not to the point we should think that he would have been, but something within me said "This is someone's son, someone's brother, possibly their uncle and maybe even someone's father (even though we do not know if he had children). 

After Kelly left, I called my parents, and I remember asking my mom "Is it okay if I cry when they execute Timothy McVeigh? Is it okay that I feel bad for him?" My mom must have been confused, but she never let it show, she said "Well, yes, it is okay to feel bad for him, and it's okay to cry." I guess I realized what a silly girl I sounded like, so I explained to my mom, "Ya know mom, I get that he's a terrorist, I get that he hurt a lot of people, but what if he truly is sorry? What if he asked God's forgiveness? And no one mourns his death because we are so caught up in the evil that he did before he knew Jesus?" 

Most people would say that there is no forgiveness for what Timothy McVeigh did. However, according to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 

You see there isn't one sin that you can name that Jesus Christ can not forgive.  So why do we find it hard to believe that Timothy McVeigh would be forgiven. Matter of fact, I learned tonight, that McVeigh sought forgiveness. "Tim asked to have the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, or Dying, if facing imminent death, at around 4 or 5 in the morning," Ashmore said. The chief biblical text concerning the rite is James 5:14–15: "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (RSV). Father Ashmore, went on to state he[McVeigh] knew what he was asking to do--to stand before God, seek his pardon and forgiveness and to fill him with God's grace and lead him to life eternal and feel God's love."

1 John 1:9-10

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 

1 John 2:2 

2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

You see as we enter the Holy Week before Easter Sunday, it is time for us to reflect on our own lives, and how we could have been such as McVeigh, but by God's grace we have not fallen into that place. It is also a time for us to reflect on un-forgiveness in our own lives and look for the times that we could have or should have and possibly can still forgive others. 


Please note that this article is not saying what Timothy McVeigh did was okay; it definitely was not okay. However, forgiveness is a huge topic and this was just a short introduction to how I looked at the death of Timothy McVeigh. Yes, what he did was evil, but I don't think that made him an evil person, especially in light of him calling for a priest--even if it was a moment of desperation.