THE QUALITY OF MERCY

THE QUALITY OF MERCY

The Christian propagandists make the wild boast that there is nothing in the history of mankind to compare with the merciful and forgiving cry of Jesus (pbuh) on the cross ... "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34

Amazing as it may sound, of the four writers of the Canonical Gospels, only St. Luke was inspired by the Holy ghost (?) to pen these words. The other three - Matthew, Mark and John never heard these words or they felt them to be too insipid or not important enough for recording. St. Luke was not even one of the twelve disciples selected by Jesus (pbuh). According to the revisers of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible, these words are not in the most ancient manuscripts which by implication means that they are an interpolation.

In "The New King James Version," (Copyrighted by the Thomas Nelson Publishers inr 1984), we are told that these words are "not in the original text" of the Greek manuscripts of St. Luke. In other words they have been fabricated by some pious gentleman. Although the quotation is unauthentic, we will still entertain it because it demonstrates great piety of loving one's enemies and of unsurpassed forgiveness as preached by the Master himself.

For forgiveness to be of any worth, the forgiver must be in a position to forgive. If the victim of injustice is still in the clutches of his enemies; in that helpless position and he would cry out, "I FORGIVE YOU!" it would be meaningless. But if the aggrieved party had turned the tables on his enemies and was in a position of taking revenge or exact retribution, and yet say "I forgive you!", only then would it mean something!

Source

To Be Continued....