when forgiveness is not love

[HEADJANITOR's note:  I pulled this blog after it was online for only one day -- thinking, that it might be too strong meat for some to receive. But after receiving feedback about how helpful this article was, I decided to enlarge and re-post it. I certainly believe it is relevant and needful, as we labor to "rebuild" the walls of Truth, in the spirit of Nehemiah....]

The two snakes in the above photo are similar in appearance.  But one is harmless, whereas the other is deadly poisonous.  The illustration is meant to suggest that it can be very harmful not to carefully distinguish between two things that look alike.  Consider the principles of Love and Forgiveness.  Forgiveness is commonly perceived as (an act of) Love.  But that can in fact be a deadly mistake....

forgiveness

A young man recently sat for about an hour amongst a group of people who had gathered in a church for Bible study--before he then pulled out a gun and murdered nine of those peaceful souls.

The very next day family members of the slain came forward, one by one, and publicly "forgave" the murderer. Funny thing is, the gunman didn't ask anyone to forgive him.  He did allow, though, that they all seemed like "really nice people".