{"id":6740,"date":"2016-10-04T06:28:50","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T10:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6740"},"modified":"2016-10-04T06:28:50","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T10:28:50","slug":"redemption-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6740","title":{"rendered":"redemption"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1468934047141-60c4fecdcc00\"<\/a><\/p>\n

First, from Dictionary.com:<\/p>\n

redemption<\/strong><\/p>\n

[ri-demp-shuh n]<\/p>\n

noun<\/em>
\n1. an act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake, or the state of being redeemed.
\n2. deliverance; rescue.
\n3. Theology. deliverance from sin; salvation.
\n4. atonement for guilt.<\/p>\n

Then from other, more blog-oriented, subjective sites:<\/p>\n

\u2026 \u201cthe act of delivering from sin or saving from evil.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026 \u201cthe act of buying something back, or paying a price to return something to your possession.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026 \u201cIt means bought back, redeemed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Best I can tell, colloquially speaking, it means a person screws up \u2014 meaning a significant, seemingly character-defining, severely negative mistake \u2014 and then over some course of time, they change. The change is marked not only by the grieving of their own error\/sin\/offense, but they also make amends (as able),<\/em> ask forgiveness, and they commit, as best as possible, to \u201csin no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

My sense is the scenario that allows for redemption is an incredibly ugly thing.\u00a0My sense is that it also has the potential to be incredibly, amazingly powerful.<\/p>\n

Here, though, is the problem\u2026<\/p>\n

While personally when we screw up (because yes, we all do),<\/em> we believe in redemption \u2014 we know we\u2019re capable of better and we want to grow and become wiser \u2014 we withhold that from other people, especially public personalities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like we say \u201cI saw them when they said ______\u2026 I watched them when they did ______\u2026\u201d<\/em> And then we forever put them in that box, so-to-speak. We forever act as if we know who they really are\u2026 and we don\u2019t give them the grace and space to grow and change\u2026 even though we reserve that grace and space for ourselves.<\/p>\n

Chuck Colson is the first person I think of\u2026 a man who was known to be politically ruthless, termed by one Slate Magazine<\/em> writer as \u201cthe evil genius\u201d of the Nixon administration. When he later repented and even founded Prison Fellowship in 1976, “the nation’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families\u201d today, I wonder how many held onto their own, previously held position, the \u201cin-my-box\u201d idea that Colson was still that ruthless man, because \u201cI saw them when\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I think, too, of Pietro Maso, the Italian man \u2014 46 now \u2014 who bludgeoned his parents to death with heavy kitchen pans and then suffocated them, all to receive his inheritance when he was 20. For such a crime, I\u2019m certain many would aver \u201cno way is that guy ever changing!\u201d \u2026 except in prison, he repented. In fact, Pope Francis called him after he was released, acknowledging his changed heart. Maso has now dedicated himself to helping others.<\/p>\n

It makes me wonder\u2026 who else are we putting in a box?<\/p>\n

Who else are we withholding the right to grow and change?<\/p>\n

Who else do we believe is incapable<\/em> of redemption?<\/p>\n

(Scary thought. We can be a little judgmental sometimes\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, from Dictionary.com: redemption [ri-demp-shuh n] noun 1. an act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake, or the state of being redeemed. 2. deliverance; rescue. 3. Theology. deliverance from sin; salvation. 4. atonement for guilt. Then from other, more blog-oriented, subjective sites: \u2026 \u201cthe act of delivering from sin or saving from … <\/p>\n

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