How would I feel?

I think we can all agree that they must be convicted and serve time for their crimes....but what happens after that?

What if, 20 years from now, the person has served their time, has gone through rehab, and hasn't lapsed at all? What then? Do we still consider them a threat? Are we right to be disgusted with them?

What if, they openly admit that what they did was wrong, and are very sorry for their mistakes...is looking them in the eye and telling them how awful they are and that they should never be forgiven the right thing to do? The fair thing?

And how, as Christians, can we honestly look at someone and condemn his sin as worse than ours and still turn to God and tell Him that we love Him? Is it fair? Is it right?

We are a self righteous society. We see the sins of others that we believe are "far worse" than any we could ever commit, and we use those sins against people. We use them to make them feel ashamed and unworthy of living a life...and why? Because we're so great?

For the record, I am not an advocate for sex offenders. I don't think they should go free, and I don't think we should go easy on them in terms of the law. However, as a Christian, I am not about to believe that they deserve the worst because of what they've done.

If a person is sorry, has gone through rehab, and has paid in jail time...what is the point of holding something over their head forever?

I don't think I will ever be able to tell you how I would actually feel given this situation. I work with kids all the time, and I have no idea how I would feel if something happened to one of them. It would kill me inside, and forgiveness wouldn't come as easy as I'd like to admit.

However, as a person who loves God with all of my heart, I would hope to react differently...