Forgive Mugabe?
by
Ted Slater
on Apr 10, 2008 at 9:53 AM
Are we to forgive those who have never apologized and repented? Are we to forgive those who continue to sin against us, turning our cheek as they continue to brutalize those around them?
Those are difficult questions. Questions that such men like Bonhoeffer wrestled with. His conclusion: Evil should not be dismissed with kind words, but dealt with with strong action.
Robert Mugabe has been President of Rhodesia Zimbabwe for a couple of decades now. And during his tenure the country has gone from the "Breadbasket of Africa" to a nation that cannot feed even its own people. Its economy is in ruins; inflation is at 100,000 percent and climbing.
One of the reasons for this collapse is that Mugabe and his thugs have been taking over white-owned farms, sometimes killing the farmers. Because of the "war veterans'" ineptitude, of course, the farms failed. The result? Large-scale starvation.
Zimbabwe had elections recently. Mugabe lost. And yet he and his buddies refuse to give up power. Most recently, for example, they invaded the farm of Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers' Union, ordering the owner never to return home.
So what should be done with a tyrant like Mugabe? Should we forgive him in the midst of his ongoing rape of Zimbabwe, as Zimbabwean Tafadzwa Gotora said in a comment on The Line earlier this month? Should we advocate the status quo, keeping Mugabe and his thugs in power because the black racists in Zimbabwe would go to war if the white farmers are given their land back, as Zimbabwean Ngonidzashe Murove commented on The Line?
Or should we stand alongside the desperate Zimbabweans who don't have the luxury of Internet access and demand that Mugabe leave office now?
I don't know. All I know is that as an outsider looking in, it doesn't seem appropriate to forgive a President who continues to ignore the will of the country's citizens in an insane effort to bring about the total destruction of his country. It doesn't seem appropriate to turn the other cheek and embrace the status quo while productive, hardworking farmers are having their land taken from them. Even if their skin is white.
Where is a Bonhoeffer when you need one?
1. Samuel Jones had the following to say on Apr 10 at 10:31 AM:
I think you have to distinguish between standing against an injustice, and personally harboring judgment in your heart and mind for the perpetrator . . . or perpetuate-or. I think Martin Luther King Jr. displayed an admirable forgiving heart in his dream of unity and brotherly love, but at the same time he and his followers stood adamantly against the white oppression. Are you motivated by hatred for the oppressor, or love of the oppressed, and of God and justice? Unholy motivation will I think tend to lead you toward degradation means to accomplishing what might be an otherwise noble goal.
From what I've heard, Mugabe is not as much evil as he is delusional. Either way something's got to change.
Also worth considering: God never allowed Bonhoeffer to successfully assassinate Hitler, though he came very close several times. Very confusing, but true. . .
2. Mike Theemling had the following to say on Apr 10 at 10:38 AM:
The Bible makes no qualifications about forgiveness; whether or not we are forgiven in return or the person repents is independent of the command God gave to us.
However, that doesn't mean that we just idlely sit by and let evildoers continuely abuse us and or others. There is forgiveness and then there is facing the consequences of your actions. It means we can forgive Mugabe but he can still stand trial and face punishment for his atrocities.
3. Ken had the following to say on Apr 10 at 10:39 AM:
First, what does it mean to forgive? Does the act of forgiveness forego the act of punishing?
I think the act of forgiveness requires some sort of contrition on the other parties part. Clearly Mugabe has no qualms about flaunting that requirement.
If there is no contrition, I don't see how we can ask others to forgive while the act of terror still exists.
Having come back from Kosovo on missions back in November, never did I see this more apparent than the utter hate and contempt Kosovars have for Serbians even 8 years after the Serb Army left.
To just say forgive and forget ignores the fact that an injustice has taken place and how will it be rectified.
4. Christina (in green) had the following to say on Apr 10 at 11:11 AM:
Forgive sin.
You don't need to tolerate it, though.
There's a difference. Fine line, but a difference.
5. mindlab had the following to say on Apr 10 at 11:14 AM:
Yes, we should forgive; by that I mean that we should not harbor hatred in our hearts.
Yes, we (NOT the US gov't, but persons involved in the situation) should respond with strong action, by rightly judging him to be a murderer, and, if the opportunity is available, by stopping him. He seems like the perfect candidate for justifiable homicide (assassination).
BTW, I don't think that his standing in the polls matters in the least. A murderer with majority support is still a murderer, and should be stopped (killed if that's the easiest way) regardless of his popularity.
6. Amir Larijani had the following to say on Apr 10 at 11:30 AM:
That is not our issue; the spiritual end of this is between Mugabe and God. The public end of this is between Mugabe and his own people. Those are the two to whom he must answer.
It's not our place to either forgive or punish him, as his transgressions were against God and his own people.
Fact is, Mugabe has fomented a culture that has handed Zimbabweans mass bloodshed and economic calamity. Their inflation rate of 100,000% is the highest in the world. It now takes 50 million Zimbabwean dollars to equal one U.S. dollar.
(And that's pretty bad, considering that our dollar is in its worse shape in a very long time.)
For those things, his people would be right to hold him accountable.
7. IMO had the following to say on Apr 10 at 11:32 AM:
Christina (in green), God hates sin.
8. Christina (in green) had the following to say on Apr 10 at 11:46 AM:
IMO,
Are you agreeing with me or disagreeing?
Because what you said doesn't contradict my statement...
God forgave my sin, but he NEVER tolerated it.
9. Amir Larijani had the following to say on Apr 10 at 12:26 PM:
It's God's call to decide about Mugabe's forgiveness.
Mugabe needs to speak with God on that matter.
We can arrange the meeting. ;)
10. IMO had the following to say on Apr 10 at 12:45 PM:
I agree! I think I just misread what you wrote...
11. Sarah had the following to say on Apr 10 at 12:57 PM:
Hey Ted,
As I read the last paragraph of this post (especially the first sentence) I felt like I am in that country you're looking in from the outside. Only I'm American. Our current administration may not be killing us yet, but I am a liberal who looks at the right to bear arms in it's original purpose now. To protect us from our government.
One of many Sarah's
12. rivergreg had the following to say on Apr 10 at 1:05 PM:
Yes we are to forgive. Waiting for someone else to repent first before forgiving them is a dangerous theology that will destroy relationships. The book Total Forgiveness is a good treatment of this subject. Many times when someone offends or hurts, they will never realize their mistake even when confronted. We must forgive.
But turning the cheek doesn't mean turning a blind eye. And forgiveness doesn't mean an absence of discipline or corrective action. But it does mean letting go of that personal in-the-heart offense that grows into full-fledged bitterness.
We must forgive.
13. David had the following to say on Apr 10 at 1:25 PM:
We are not perfect. We are not God. We are told however that as we mature and grow in our faith we will begin to display the characteristics of God.
"Are we to forgive those who have never apologized and repented? Are we to forgive those who continue to sin against us, turning our cheek as they continue to brutalize those around them?"
On our own, we do not have a chance. It is only through Jesus Christ that we can accomplish such things.
Having said all of that. My humanness & failings makes me demand justice NOW. I get angry and think that this man must be stopped at all costs. I feel like Jonah, demanding punishment and showing no mercy. I want fire & brimstone to rain down and destroy these people.
I cannot justify these thoughts because I do not believe it is what the Bible teaches. But it does not change the fact that they are there.
14. B. Minich had the following to say on Apr 10 at 1:48 PM:
I heard something from Martin Luther King Jr. the other day, which I don't think is far off.
He was preaching about loving those opposed to him and the civil rights cause so much that they would not allow them to keep on doing the wrong they are doing. This struck me as a good insight. If someone is in sin, the loving thing to do is to attempt correct them, not passively accept what they are doing. The response should be balanced between accepting sin (one end of the spectrum) and committing sin to combat sin (the other end). King did not advocate violence, but he also did not advocate inaction.
15. Lauren had the following to say on Apr 10 at 1:50 PM:
Something to consider about Bonhoeffer...
He did take action to stop Hitler. But he only took that action after a prolonged period of prayer. He prayed for Hitler, for the Nazi army, for Germany and for himself. It was only when he felt the Lord's prompting that he took action.
16. Evie H had the following to say on Apr 10 at 2:03 PM:
I won't pretend that I have a clear idea what should or shouldn't happen in my country, so rather than answer the question Ted poses in the title, I hope you won't mind if I offer instead how I cope with the current situation.
At this particularly difficult time in my nation's history I am greatly encouraged by the story of Daniel. Do read it again, if you're rusty on the facts - it's an amazing story of faith and faithfulness (Daniel and his friends' faith, but more importantly, God's faithfulness to his chosen people Israel), and I believe it speaks powerfully into the situation in Zimbabwe right now. I am most encouraged by the reminder in Daniel that God has humbled proud rulers before, and that God alone gives authority to, and takes authority from, men as he pleases. God will have the ultimate say in my country, not Robert Mugabe, not Morgan Tsvangirai, not even the international community. I like to remember that Nebuchadnezzer and Darius were forced to acknowledge that "The Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men." (Daniel 4:25). As J.I. Packer nicely puts it in "Knowing God", this was the central truth which Daniel knew, and which the Babylonian kings ultimately were forced to acknowledge also. Of God, Packer writes,
"He knows, and foreknows all things, and his foreknowledge is foreordination; he, therefore, will have the last word both in world history and in the destiny of every man; his kingdom and righteousness will triumph in the end, for neither men nor angels shall be able to thwart him."
As a Zimbabwean, I am deeply concerned by what has been going on in my country over the past decade or so (this kind of corruption and oppression is not at all new, perhaps it is the first time in a long time, the outside world has been watching this closely). I join many other Zimbabweans + friends, both in Zimbabwe and abroad who are praying fervently for God's will to be done. We want to see God's kingdom come in Zimbabwe, and for his righteousness to be sought be every Zimbabwean. We pray for the good governance of our nation, for leaders with integrity, and most of all, for leaders who truly seek and fear the God to whom we will all give account one day. We pray for the leaders of the SADC and the AU nations to stand up and use their God-given authority to protect the people of Zimbabwe, and to demand justice for us. We pray, fervently, for Robert Mugabe and his cronies to repent and believe, and receive the forgiveness that was won just as much for those of them who would accept it, as it was for us who already have. We pray for God to strengthen and enable us to be able to forgive them for the crimes they have committed against us and our country, just as God forgave us for our crimes and sins. And we humbly submit to God's will, because we know that even amidst all of this suffering, we know he is working good for those who are called according to his purposes.
God has been working powerfully through your prayers! Please don't stop praying for us and our country - I can assure you that your prayers are being heard and answered! Let's entrust our nation into the hands of the only one who has the ultimate say in our destiny, the Most High God, and let us keep praying that his will be done in Zimbabwe.
17. Nikki had the following to say on Apr 10 at 2:21 PM:
"Are we to forgive those who have never apologized and repented? Are we to forgive those who continue to sin against us, turning our cheek as they continue to brutalize those around them?"
If you believe the Bible, then the answer (um, "yes") is painfully obvious - so obvious that I am surprised you seem to waver on this. Forgiveness has no qualifiers or conditions of the forgivee's repentance or goodness. We are commanded to forgive our enemies.
This is a little confusing because this issue is actually 'vibrating' on two different levels: what I, as a believer, should do; and what countries should do. We, individuals, can personally forgive Mugabe and Hitler and whoever else for their crimes against God and humanity. Yet that does not disqualify them from political/corporate consequences. You are trying to combine two completely different spheres here which don't have to overlap. Countries should not go around forgiving terrorists for doing what they do. We should, but we are not a country and the United States is not a Christian. People and countries have different responsibilities.
And, as pointed out by at least one other on this thread, forgiveness also does not have to equal pacifism or glum acceptance of whatever a perpetrator might do next. While we personally can't go around assassinating people, we can still support political entities that take responsible, necessary steps to protect innocent human life. This doesn't mean we're not being forgiving, it's just recognizing that we have different levels of authority and responsibility than governments do.
18. Leah had the following to say on Apr 11 at 1:24 AM:
Christina is right. Forgive sin, don't tolerate it. Forgiving Mugabe is not the same as allowing him to stay in power. You can forgive him and throw him out of power and into jail.
However, some of the people who have commented (Nikki, Mike Theemling, Christina, rivergreg, etc) don't seem to understand the question of forgiving someone who does not want nor ask for forgiveness. It's not really as easy as saying "we must forgive everyone, fullstop". Because is it really actually possible to forgive someone who does not want it? We can not be angry at them, forget about it, etc, but is that forgiveness? They are difficult questions, and the answer may still be yes. But it is not as definite and unequivocal as many on this thread have implied.
19. Dirk had the following to say on Apr 11 at 7:09 PM:
I'll throw a detonator into this discussion. Mugabe is a demoniac necromancer and ancestor worshipper. It's on record. He has been groomed by Jesuits since early boyhood, and routinely consults with necromancers - in particular, one mhondoro (spirit medium/witchdoctor) Sekuru Mushore, one of the highest ranking mhondoro in Zimbabwe. This is nothing new for Mugabe (or his thugs and henchmen, either) - the spirit mediums of Zimbabwe were rigorously instrumental in directing the affairs of war against the Rhodesian forces during the 1966-79 bush war in that country. Mugabe often invokes the name and spirit of the infamous mhondoro Ambuya Nehanda, who directed the Mashona rebellion against Cecil Rhodes's pioneer settlers in 1896; he has done since very early in his autocracy. It is not a facet of Mugabe or his governance that is ever highlighted by the media (after all, until recently he has been every Liberal's darling - the great guerrilla and emancipator, immaculately bespectacled and besuited), despite the fact that he does little to hide it.
This is Mugabe's sixth election - and he has rigged every one, including the first in 1980 that delivered him onto the throne he now considers his alone. Mugabe has been a terrorist for nearly 45 years. He was a terrorist from the beginning, and he has continued meting out summary brutality against anyone who stands against him. The interesting thing about this conniving, treacherous megalomaniac is that it is unlikely that he has ever personally pulled a trigger on anyone, always using others to do his killing for him. He was never a frontline fighter, just a bookish runt who double-dealt his way into power in the backrooms outside the borders of Rhodesia while the real leaders were getting bloodied in the fray. One commentator recently assessed that he has the blood of over 2 million Zimbabweans on his hands.
I am a 59 year old expatriate Zimbabwean pastor. I served as a professional soldier in the Rhodesian special forces during the bush war, and experienced first-hand the horrors of the terrorists' liberation tactics against their own people as well as the Rhodesian civilians and armed forces of all races. There is nothing admirable about that struggle for 'freedom', nothing noble. Nothing. For a few radical African Nationalists it was self-serving from the beginning, and, as you can see it unfolding now, it will be self-serving to the bitter, bloody end.
This is not the place for a debate on the rights and wrongs of the Rhodesian government, and certainly as every day passes, facts from yore are being erased and modified by revisionist historians, so that only old-timers who were there will ever really know the truth from the fiction being passed off as fact. Suffice to say that things are never what they appear - or appeared - to be and the truth is being well-hidden as archives are deleted, and library shelves cleared.
Should Mugabe be forgiven? When I see the ruination that has been devised and wrought by this criminal parasite; when I consider the extent of the damage that has happened in every quarter of that beautiful land to keep himself and a select handful of his cronies living the most extraordinary luxurious lives; when I think of all the lives that have been disrupted and destroyed to cover his secrets; all I can do is pray that God brings justice, freedom, peace and healing to the people of Zimbabwe. Will I intercede through prayer for Mugabe? No. Can I forgive Mugabe? No - I don't have that authority. He is an unrepentant, systematically deliberate, wilful sinner. He has been committing violent crimes against humanity for decades. He has done nothing to me, personally.
This is a genuinely evil man who vengefully destroys food-production resources, and holds the key to the national pantry, giving food for votes and favours, and starving dissenters to death. Eighty percent of the population are unemployed, 80 percent are starving and totally dependent on food aid. Two and half million farm and city workers and their families were made homeless because of the farm invasions and Operation Clean Out The Filth. Five thousand people die every week from AIDS- and poverty-related disease. More people have died in Zimbabwe than in Darfur, Somalia and Iraq combined. Five million Zimbabweans have fled into exile. Mugabe will go down in history as one of the great tyrants, who connived, coerced and slaughtered his way onto a throne and then set about stealing everything of value, including the fabric of the society. "We have degrees in violence" is his catch-cry.
Forgiveness is God's prerogative - His alone. There is only one way that can happen - that is the way that every Christian receives forgiveness - through Mugabe's repentance and reparation. Is that likely? God knows. "Who has known the mind of God, or who has been His counsellor?" Mugabe has never shown any remorse for his actions, and certainly never repented of them. He shrugged off the massacre of more than 20 000 Ndebele civilians at the hands of his North Korean-trained 5 Brigade in the early 1980s as a "moment of madness". Shrugged off the punitive rapes inflicted on men, women, boys and girls by his youth militia, the 'green bombers', many of whom are HIV+ in a country where 25% of the population are infected, thus sealing the fates of their victims with a 'slow puncture' - a cynical euphemism for death by AIDS without treatment. Even now, as I write, Mugabe's vengeful campaign of terror continues against those who chose to vote for change in Zimbabwe two weeks ago. This week 60 farms have been invaded and the owners thrown off with what they could pack in an hour; farms are being burned to the ground; one farmer is missing; hundreds of opposition activists as well as Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officers have been arrested and many more have been beaten at gunpoint. The election results have still not been released - instead they have been declared "a state secret". It seems a new election is in the offing - this time the message carried by his thugs is clear: "you will vote properly, or we will kill you".
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! (Isaiah 10:1-2).
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!... Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. (Isaiah 5:18, 20-21, 23-25)
20. Nepalibai had the following to say on Apr 12 at 1:36 AM:
First, I'd really like to thank Ted and Boundless for talking about Zimbabwe. I've been praying for Zimbabwe, off and on, for years, and it's so encouraging to see that others are, too. I'd like to thank Dirk for bringing up the demonic aspect to this discussion. I grew up in Nepal, and later in South East Asia, and in both areas there are a lot of spiritual undercurrents to the political and ethnic conflicts that are happening. It includes the activities of Bomohs in Malaysia and beheadings in Indonesia and Thailand, and tantricism with necromancy in Nepal. I'm not denying or implying that there aren't spiritual forces at work in the United States and Europe and elsewhere, but I think there are especially powerful spiritual battles going on in certain parts of the world today. For example,take Burma-Myanmar, a country in many ways similar to Zimbabwe- both are beautiful countries with rich histories and abundant natural resources. Both came into independence complete with better than average infrastructure and food production. And both have been ruined by single party dictatorships led by strong-men with intense interests in the occult. In Burma/Myanmar the leadership just moved the capital city- at a cost of hundreds of millions- on the advice of prominent soothsayers. The leaders also have employed the army to rape and kill Christian and Muslim minorities, and to burn there churches. Other dicators around the world- Hitler and Stalin, for example- have had profound ties to the occult. I really think that this spiritual dynamic explains, at least in part, why so many millions of dollars in aid have been wasted; and why so many well meaning and hard working people have either become corrupted or given themselves over to discouragement or hopelessness. I've seen it happen. Most Americans have a hard time accepting that there are evil people, much less an evil spiritual realm; but the spiritual and unseen are what my Nepali Christian friends focus on first. And they never tire of saying that God is stronger than the spirits.
"Finally be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand firm," Ephesians 6:10-13 (English Standard Version)
God is even strong enough to save mister Mugabe from the power that has enslaved him- and to rescue the country he has done so much to harm.
21. Teshia had the following to say on Apr 13 at 1:22 PM:
I think people should forgive Mugabe, because if you do not forgive him, you are just planting seeds of hate in your heart which may take a long time to be uprooted. Being an African and coming from a country where we had a dictator for more than 30 years (and having visited Zimbabwe as well), I have a totally different perspective. I always look at these challenges as what the world should think of when they consider what power can do to an individual. In another light, I think this is a part of growing pains that democracy brings. But then as a Christian what can I do when I am in the midst of it all? Pray, forgive the people involved and let God take care of it. Casting your burdens upon Jesus have never been so sweet. This too shall pass.
22. George had the following to say on Apr 16 at 6:45 PM:
I think most of commented on this already, but here's my 2 cents.
We continue to forgive Mugbe, but it does not mean that he does not 'pay' for his actions.
cheers