A Very Tall Man

Forgiveness After Tragedy: Rev. Dr. Paul Blackham

A Very Tall Man

Show Notes

Charlie Kirk's assassination made headlines - but it was his wife's forgiveness of the shooter that really got people talking. Gary sits down with Rev. Dr. Paul Blackham (a "modern-day John the Baptist", locusts optional) to unpack why forgiveness is so much harder than the Sunday School version we teach kids. Paul draws on 30 years of pastoral ministry to argue it's often the small, petty grudges - not the big dramatic wrongs - that people cling to the longest.

They get into the messy mechanics of it all: does forgiveness require confession from the other person? Can you say "I forgive you" and mean it, then find yourself chewing on the hurt again the next day? Paul talks through real cases, including a gut-punch story from South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation hearings, and lands on a sobering point tied to the Lord's Prayer - what happens when we simply refuse to forgive at all.

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