Chapter 10:
The Path to Healing and Peace

  1. Ponder this statement made by Anthony Thompson: “When God speaks, nothing is transformed into something. And that’s what the Word of God can do for our lives.” Record your thoughts.
  2. What did Dr. Robert Smith Jr. mean when he wrote, “There are some moments that are frozen in time”? What are some events in your own life that “are frozen in time”? Why are these events significant to you?
  3. Why did Robert Smith choose to forgive his son’s murderer?
  4. In Smith’s personal letter written to the killer, what is the main message Robert Smith shares with him? What does he want the young man to know?
  5. Reflect on Smith’s statement: “[God] is loving you through me. I want you to see that God is able to recycle, reclaim, and restore your broken life. God redeems pain. I cannot let you go because God will not let me go.” What does this say to you?
  6. Describe the murderer’s possible reaction when he read Dr. Smith’s words: “I only want you to know Tony’s God and to serve Tony’s Christ. My greatest hope is that one day you and Tony will bow side by side at the feet of our Lord in glory and worship the One who has redeemed you both by His blood!”
  7. Do you believe that a “one-sided forgiveness” is invalid or valid? Must the offender accept it to make it complete and genuine? Please share your thoughts.
  8. Think about Desmond Tutu’s statements and respond to each:
  9. Record your thoughts about this statement: “No amount of my unforgiveness will make Dylann Roof suffer or feel pain. My actions, my feelings, and my words have no control over him, none whatsoever. Whether he does or does not suffer the guilt of his crime is not in my hands.”
  10. Contemplate this statement and respond to it: “If I had decided not to forgive Dylann, I would be the one suffering, lingering in sorrow, living in despair each moment for the rest of my life. I would have no inner peace or productive future ministry. I would one day become a bitter old man, still living in hatred, yearning for revenge, and locking myself into a self-built prison. And I would live there in misery forever. My forgiveness, as I expressed it to the young racist, brings me God’s peace, not necessarily Dylann. He must fall to his knees, repent, and deal with His heavenly Father himself.”
  11. Share your opinion about this statement by Anthony Thompson: “Some people tell me that my forgiving Dylann, striving to move beyond the tragedy, and trying to resume an active ministry, negates my love for Myra. They say that if I really love her, I cannot forgive her killer and move onward with my life.”
  12. Do you believe that “even those of us redeemed by Christ and adopted into God’s family have within our hearts the capacity to hate, sin, betray, and even murder”? Why or why not?
  13. Ponder this statement by Oswald Sanders and share your opinions: “A study of Bible characters reveals that most of those who made history were men who failed at some point, and some of them drastically, but who refused to continue lying in the dust. Their very failure and repentance secured to them a more ample conception of the grace of God. They learned to know Him as the God of the second chance to His children who had failed Him—and the third chance, too.”
  14. What does the Apostle Paul mean when he writes, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. . . . I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:15–18)? Do you ever feel this way? If so, please describe.
  15. What is your interpretation of this verse in Isaiah 43:25: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions . . . and remembers your sins no more”?
  16. What does it mean that God has purposely, deliberately chosen to remove our transgressions from us “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12), and to hurl “all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19)?
  17. What is the function of our God-given memory?
  18. Share your opinion of this statement by Anthony Thompson: “We dare not forget what we suffer. For it is in our pain that we learn the great lessons we will never learn in frivolity and prosperity.”
  19. Ponder Desmond Tutu’s words: “Forgiving is not forgetting. It’s actually remembering—remembering and not using your right to hit back. It’s a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you don’t want to repeat what happened.”
  20. Why is it important that we, as human beings, observe together the anniversaries of tragedies and painful happenings that bring sorrow to the world’s people? What anniversaries and remembrances do you regularly observe in your life?

For Deeper Understanding

  1. Read The Oasis of God: From Mourning to Morning, written by the Reverend Dr. Robert Smith Jr. about his son’s murder and how he has trusted God, moving from mourning to morning. Dr. Smith is professor of Christian Preaching at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama.
  2. In your Bible, look up the references below, studying how the crowds Jesus forgives respond to His crucifixion. Please record your insights:
    • Luke 23:34
    • Luke 23:35
    • Luke 23:36
    • Matthew 27:39
    • Matthew 27:41
  3. Read the entire story of the lost son, found in Luke 15:11–32, and record your thoughts. Ponder these questions:
    • The loving father forgives his prodigal son, who squandered his inheritance and crawled back home. What makes this story Jesus told so amazing?
    • Describe the reaction of the father upon the son’s return. Does it surprise you? Why or why not?
    • How does the older son respond to his brother’s unexpected return? What message did the father give to the elder brother, and why? Describe how you, as the loving father, might respond to the son.
  4. Read the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:1–7 and the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15:8–10. Why did Luke group these two parables with the parable of the lost son? How are these stories similar? What do they each mean?
  5. View the plans and designs for the Emanuel Nine Memorial at https://www.npr.org/2018/07/16/629424811/architect-unveils-design-for-mother-emanuel-ame-church-memorial. Reflect on the design and its symbolism.

Your Notes