)
Today's meditation
)
Curious weapons
Acts 4:1-12: While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were…proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.
The author Wilco de Vries posits that “Too often, the Christian virtue [of forgiveness] is wielded as a weapon to control and silence.” The author suggests that we need to “de-weaponize” forgiveness.
All attributes seen as virtues can be weaponized and used in self-interest to manipulate others. Jesus’ followers were arrested because religious authorities were “annoyed” at their teaching about resurrection. People in power need all the weapons they can obtain in order to use external events for their own benefit. If the people of Jesus’ time were no longer afraid of death—given his teaching about resurrection—then they could not easily be controlled by their oppressors.
It’s sad to think that anything in this life—good or bad—can be wielded to paralyze others in fear. I also see that many issues of great substance and importance are decided on the basis of the immediate self-interest of only a few people. What and whom can we trust? How can we know that the good still lives, and that we can move with confidence toward truth and righteousness?
If forgiveness can be “weaponized,” how do we know that anything is truly good and pure?
Psalm 136; Daniel 12:1-4,13; John 16:1-15
Copyright 2025 by Carol Mead. For noncommercial use and sharing only. For more information on this ministry, and on a free subscription to these meditations, please contact the author by email (thenewmead@yahoo.com).
The author Wilco de Vries posits that “Too often, the Christian virtue [of forgiveness] is wielded as a weapon to control and silence.” The author suggests that we need to “de-weaponize” forgiveness.
All attributes seen as virtues can be weaponized and used in self-interest to manipulate others. Jesus’ followers were arrested because religious authorities were “annoyed” at their teaching about resurrection. People in power need all the weapons they can obtain in order to use external events for their own benefit. If the people of Jesus’ time were no longer afraid of death—given his teaching about resurrection—then they could not easily be controlled by their oppressors.
It’s sad to think that anything in this life—good or bad—can be wielded to paralyze others in fear. I also see that many issues of great substance and importance are decided on the basis of the immediate self-interest of only a few people. What and whom can we trust? How can we know that the good still lives, and that we can move with confidence toward truth and righteousness?
If forgiveness can be “weaponized,” how do we know that anything is truly good and pure?
Psalm 136; Daniel 12:1-4,13; John 16:1-15
Copyright 2025 by Carol Mead. For noncommercial use and sharing only. For more information on this ministry, and on a free subscription to these meditations, please contact the author by email (thenewmead@yahoo.com).