8.17.2005 | "seemingly out of nowhere"

Interesting story, titled "A Moment of Grace" in today's New York Times, about the forgiveness shown by a victim of a senseless crime. The details are in the story, and its essence is that a woman who had been severely injured forgave her attacker, who begged for her forgiveness.

The woman forgave him, and her compassion had the effect of softening the prosecutor's heart, thereby resulting in a much-reduced sentence. Now we come to the secular media's lack of grace. From the Times story:

That is true. But Ms. Ruvolo's resolute compassion, coming seemingly out of nowhere, disarmed Mr. Spota [the prosecutor] and led to a far more satisfying result.

Many have assumed that Ms. Ruvolo's motivation is religious. But while we can estimate the size of her heart, we can't peer into it. Her impulse may have been entirely secular.

It is certainly possible that her impulse may have been secular. I personally doubt it; it is far more likely that the Holy Spirit was hard at work here, in both perpetrator and victim. It says more about the Times' writer, and the Times itself, when they attempt to leave us with the impression that this was "secular."

Possible. Not likely.

| technorati tag | Christianity|