{"id":21,"date":"2012-09-03T04:29:18","date_gmt":"2012-09-03T04:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/keepingthefaith\/?p=21"},"modified":"2012-08-30T18:48:24","modified_gmt":"2012-08-30T18:48:24","slug":"i-know-it-when-i-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/keepingthefaith\/2012\/09\/i-know-it-when-i-see-it.html","title":{"rendered":"“I Know It When I See It”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Some concepts are almost impossible to define; words like hope, love, happiness, or faith. And while these are terms we are all familiar with \u2013 we use these words every day \u2013 we sometimes struggle to say what they really mean. They are simply too intangible and abstract to communicate properly.\u00a0It is easy to find ourselves in the shoes of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart. Fifty years ago Justice Stewart famously said of pornography: \u201cI could never succeed in defining it, but I know it when I see it.\u201d Such a characterization applies to much more than obscenity.<\/p>\n

Take another word as an example: Forgiveness. It is far more than an idea, more than a theoretical concept or a definition inside a dictionary. It is nothing less than a miracle best understood by seeing and experiencing it, not simply talking about it.\u00a0I first \u201csaw\u201d forgiveness in a woman named Corrie Ten Boom. No, I never met her, but as a child I heard about her at least once a month in my Sunday School class. She and her family were Dutch Christians who hid Jews in their home during the Second World War. Corrie\u2019s memoir, The Hiding Place<\/em>, records those events.\u00a0Eventually the Nazis discovered the Ten Boom\u2019s secret and the family was arrested. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck. By the end of the war, only Corrie had survived. Corrie came out of that awful experience saying, \u201cThere is no pit so deep that God\u2019s love is not deeper still\u201d and \u201cGod will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies.”\u00a0 Those words were put to the test a few years later.<\/p>\n

After the war Corrie Ten Boom began traveling around Europe speaking to faith groups about her experience. She was in a Munich church sharing her message of forgiveness when she recognized a man in the crowd. He was a balding heavy-set German in a gray overcoat, clutching a brown felt hat in his hands. Corrie knew immediately that this man had been a guard at the Ravensbruck concentration camp.\u00a0The man walked up to Corrie and admitted his past sins and his past vocation. He said, \u201cI have become a Christian and know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well.\u201d He extended an open hand and asked Ten Boom: \u201cWill you forgive me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is where words fail, for in that moment, Corrie could not forgive. In her memoir she wrote, \u201cBetsie had died in that place; could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking? While only seconds, it seemed like hours passed as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do\u2026the coldness clutching my heart. \u2018Jesus, help me!\u2019 I prayed silently.\u00a0So woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place\u2026This healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. \u2018I forgive you, my brother!\u2019 I cried. For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love as intensely as I did then.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Corrie Tem Boom did that day cannot be found, explained, or otherwise described in a dictionary. It can only be witnessed, marveled at, and experienced. When one suffers an incalculable loss and is able to respond with compassion and grace (there\u2019s another indescribable word) rather than revenge or resentment, it is a miracle performed by God himself.\u00a0Thus, such forgiveness is not achieved by trying harder, studying more, or understanding the whole notion a little better. It\u2019s achieved by God \u2013 sometimes in spite of us \u2013 when we simply extend our empty hands and let God\u2019s mercy flow through to others. No, I can\u2019t explain it. I don\u2019t have words for such an experience. I can\u2019t always understand it; but I certainly know it when I see it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some concepts are almost impossible to define; words like hope, love, happiness, or faith. And while these are terms we are all familiar with \u2013 we use these words every day \u2013 we sometimes struggle to say what they really mean. They are simply too intangible and abstract to communicate properly.\u00a0It is easy to find…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forgiveness","category-love","tag-ronnie-mcbrayer"],"yoast_head":"\n"I Know It When I See It" - Keeping The Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/keepingthefaith\/2012\/09\/i-know-it-when-i-see-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""I Know It When I See It" - Keeping The Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some concepts are almost impossible to define; words like hope, love, happiness, or faith. 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