The story of Joseph; sold into slavery and still manages to forgive.

[Deja Q]

In short, if Joseph can forgive a person (his own brethern) who sold him into slavery, we can just as easily forgive corporate america or rot in hell, right?

What if religion was invented by a ruling elite to keep the peasants and slaves from uprising against them; using the Joseph parable amongst others to keep people in check and docile?

Sorry to think outside the box; I'll get American Idol back up shortly...

[TahitiNut]

1. See? Slavery isn't so bad.

:sarcasm: :eyes:

[Yupster]

2. My favorite biblical story

To me the message is that no matter how bad things get, get through it, because you have no way to know what wonders and opportunities will be presented to you in a different place, future time.

The woman who played the narrator was just wonderful on the tape with Donny Osmond. Freidman? I think her name was.

[heidler1]

3. Many Christians refuse to go along with turning the other cheek, which is

sort of similar. I'm 80 and many people that I've talked to over the years think the whole Christian thing was cooked up to make suckers out of the gullible. Being a Liberal I'm inclined to believe that promoting forgiveness is a pretty good social notion.

[MissWaverly]

4. true forgiveness requires true regret

If I remember correctly that when Jesus forgave people, he said go and sin no more, which to me means stop abusing people, it's not about
putting lipstick on a pig (i.e. excusing criminal and abusive behavior).

[wli]

5. never forgive, never forget this

This country was not founded on the Christian religion (c.f. statement to Tripoli in 1796). We are not obligated to obey Christian principles in meting justice to the corporations.

It took 60 years to take down I.G. Farben (dissolved only in 2003). We should not follow this precedent of tardiness in dealing with our own corporate war criminals.

[Kire]

6. watch yourselves

Luke 17:3-4 (NIV)

3 So watch yourselves.
"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. On the other hand, holding grudges indefinitely eats away at your soul and

makes you mean and narrow-minded.

You don't "forgive" corporate America--you work to change it.

One reason Joseph could forgive his brothers was that he ended up as a royal Egyptian official while they were still herding sheep in the desert.