Forgiveness Stories

If there is any principle of the gospel that is best taught through stories, it must be forgiveness.  The doctrine of forgiveness is simple: we must forgive all men.  But the application is so difficult at times that it can seem impossible, especially in the midst of grievous wrongdoing and serious sin.  But there are many stories about forgiveness of those who forgave and those who didn’t that can help us to change our own hearts in order to forgive.  The Savior used a story when Peter came asking Him about forgiveness.  He told Peter the parable of the servant who owed ten thousand talents and was forgiven by his lord but could not forgive another an hundred pence.  The lord then said to this servant: “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?” (Matt. 18:32-33)  In this story we see that we are like the servant in the sense that we owe an immeasurable sum to the Lord and yet He forgives us when we repent.  And because the Lord is willing to forgive us, so we too must be willing to let go and forgive others who offend us.  This story helps us to see the absurdity of refusing to forgive.  Many other stories have been told in general conference that likewise inspire us to find more forgiveness in our hearts. 

                President Hinckley recounted a story about a woman who had been nearly killed by a young man who threw a frozen turkey into her windshield from another car while she was driving.  She ended up having serious surgery in her face and had years of therapy to try to return to normal.  Instead of harboring great resentment against the boy, she reached out to him and sought to help him.  When they met in court, the perpetrator “carefully and tentatively made his way to where [the victim] sat in the courtroom and tearfully whispered an apology. ‘I’m so sorry for what I did to you.’ [She] then stood, and the victim and her assailant embraced, weeping. She stroked his head and patted his back as he sobbed, and witnesses, including a Times reporter, heard her say, ‘It’s OK. I just want you to make your life the best it can be.’ According to accounts, hardened prosecutors, and even reporters, were choking back tears” (see here).  What a powerful example of forgiveness. 

                President Faust told a story about forgiveness that was even more dramatic.  He told of how a 32-year-old truck driver went crazy and entered an Amish village killing five girls and wounding five others.  He recorded this: “This shocking violence caused great anguish among the Amish but no anger. There was hurt but no hate. Their forgiveness was immediate. Collectively they began to reach out to the milkman’s suffering family. As the milkman’s family gathered in his home the day after the shootings, an Amish neighbor came over, wrapped his arms around the father of the dead gunman, and said, ‘We will forgive you.’  Amish leaders visited the milkman’s wife and children to extend their sympathy, their forgiveness, their help, and their love” (see here).  What incredible faith those people must have had. 

Bishop McMullin told a story about forgiveness that is also very hard to imagine.  He told of a lady named Corrie ten Boom who in a concentration camp and who lost family to the brutal treatment of the Nazis.  After the war she spoke to people with the message that God forgives.  But then she one day came face to face with one of the Nazi guards who asked for her forgiveness.  Ultimately she was able to give it because she pled for help from the Savior (see here).  At the end of the day that’s what we all need: the Savior’s sacrifice and help to allow us to change our hearts and forgive.  He gives the command to us to forgive, but it is also through Him that we must acquire the strength to forgive.