I’m glad Steve brought up my post which, simply put, said that NH Chris Sununu’s new utterances on the Wuflu (e.g., no masks, no lockdowns, no vaccine passports)…
Sidenote: So Chris, gonna do something about Tupelo’s sudden vaccine passport policy AND RFUSING TO REFUND patrons’ monies they had paid BEFORE they implemented the “passport”??? Put some actions behind that task, eh, as a good will gesture. Or pull any monies back from the Feds that NH gave to this particular “entertainment venue”:
Can I get a refund since I disagree with this policy?
I’m sure that this is going to be asked or demanded of us. The simple answer is “No”.
That’s fine but I’ve grown cynical of politicians when they apologized AFTER having violated norms and said “what a good boy am I” while walking away from the disasters left behind which is why I said his remorse was spelled “U S S E N A T E”. Steve went in a different direction:
I’ve spoken at the odd event now and again about the question of forgiveness. Redemption and salvation should be attainable if someone is truly repentant—even Governor Sununu.
Penance, redemption, and salvation are the foundation of the Christian faith, just not in a vacuum. I won’t repeat that explanation again here, you can read it for yourselves, but I will repeat this.
“Be a leader and say no. Then make it a priority to do what we (at GraniteGrok) did every day, for months after the so-called December 2020 spike. Present the data to the people.”
He’s right in that Christians are commanded to forgive others, not 7 X 7 but 70 X 7: Luke 17:3-4
Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”
Matthew 18:21-22 add emphasis – MUCH more emphasis:
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
There is lots of commentary that abounds about this but yes, if true repentance is shown (for who among us with without sin? Certainly not me, truth be told). Like it or not, that is what we are commanded to do and to BE if we are to be faithful. With that said, let me put my Deacon’s hat aside for a sec.
Sure, I can (er, commanded to) accept his apology. Have to, must, “Shall”.
Steve tries to make the case that IF Sununu were to truly be repentant, we should send him down to DC if that’s what he runs on. Well, most of what we’ve railed about was his unconstitutional handling of the pandemic, especially his “Public Health Trumps All!” (which says the Constitution isn’t up to the task and that we adults are mere children and should have no agency surrounding the difficult situations of our lives). Hopefully, there is no more pandemic in which he can prove his repentance is serious and that he’d act much more like Noem and not Sununu.
All that said, it doesn’t mean that accepting an apology means that I have to vote for him – so I vary from Steve on this. Accepting a heartfelt apology (for the sake of argument here) doesn’t mean to enable and tempt that former bad behavior again.
We are to admonish one another – we have certainly done that at GraniteGrok. But temptation is not something we’ve talked about. After all, there is an admonition in Romans (14:13-23) that commands us to NOT tempt others:
13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.[a] 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.[b]
And I would maintain that assuming the Powers inherent in DC would be temptation of the first degree. How often have we railed about people, especially those that we have sent as our elected Representatives, have been tempted beyond what they could stand against and given into the Swamp that is in Washington?
Look, I’m certainly not talking about clean or unclean food here. But if someone has declared their full and meaningful repentance, why would we put them at risk?
I’m not saying Steve is wrong – mine is just another take on the matter. It is you, readers, to make the actual decisions. Again, accepting an apology does not mean that person automatically gets my vote. I’ve made it clear that I will not vote for folks for which I don’t know what their votes are before hand. I don’t want to have to worry how they will behave / vote.
And in this case, he doesn’t have a lot of track on which to prove to the rest of us he truly is repentant.
You could start by addressing the Tupelo case – after all, they made it clear they have no problem in effectively stealing other peoples’ money by changing the terms of service after they have that money in their hands.
