John Edwards’ sins: can you forgive?

Which of these news stories is unbelievable: A cannibal zombie high on bath salts killed a man in Miami, Mayor Bloomberg wants to ban large sugary drinks, and a politician admitted to his ‘sins’?  If you said politician admitting to ‘sins’, you are correct!

On Thursday, former Senator John Edwards was acquitted on one federal charge and a mistrial was declared. Edwards has been through a tabloid scandal of cheating on his wife while she had cancer, fathered a child with his mistress, and proved to be an all around creep of a guy.  Upon the mistrial, the former vice-presidential candidate declared:

I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong, and there is no one else responsible for my sins. None of the people who came to court and testified are responsible. Nobody working for the government is responsible. I am responsible, and if I want to find the person who should be held accountable for my sins, honestly, I don’t have to go any further than the mirror.

The trial proved everything we know about Edwards.  He did some horrible things and unfortunately, based on legal scholars, he did not break any federal election laws. However, he did break some major moral laws. He committed an affair and lied to the world about his affair. He tried to cover it all up with money and the truth came out.

In his speech to the public after his mistrial he said, “I don’t think God is through with me…” That sounded disingenuous. If you watch his speech he starts to confess and seem contrite, and as his parents look on with an exhausted look on their faces, Edwards turns his confession into a public relations campaign to prove he is a good guy. Yuck.

Based on his “confession” can you forgive Edwards?

Jesus Christ forgave all sorts of sinners.  People who were adulterers, cheaters, liars, abusers, etc… Sometimes people didn’t even ask for forgiveness but only admitted their sin to Jesus and the Savior forgave. Simon Peter once asked Jesus how many times he should forgive when a brother sins against him. Jesus replied, “Seventy times seven.”  Basically, more times than you think. Christians are called to forgive.  Why?  Because people screw up.  We all need a second chance.  We cannot enable people by giving them more and more chances to repeat their behavior, but we have to give them a chance to improve.

Does John Edwards deserve forgiveness? No, not by public standards. Should we forgive Edwards? Yes, because God loves and forgives us of our own sin. The basic definition of sin is that which separates us from God. Based on the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, God sees no difference in sin. He just sees separation.  We see ugliness.  God loves us, all of us, so much that Jesus was the one atonement for our sins that we could never repay ourselves.

If we are to love as God loves, then we are called to forgive despicable people like John Edwards. I don’t like it forgiving John Edwards, but I have to live by it and I’m called to love him.