A letter written to a man on death row by the Father of the man whom the man on death row had killed: You
are probably surprised that I, of all people,
am writing a letter to you,
but I ask you to read it in its entirety and
consider its request seriously.
As the Father of the man whom you
took part in murdering, I have something very
important to say to you. I forgive you.
With all my heart, I forgive you. I
realize it may be hard for you to
believe, At your
trial, when you confessed to your part in the
events that cost my Son his life and
asked for my forgiveness, I immediately
granted you that forgiving love from my
heart. I can only hope you believe me and
will accept my forgiveness. But this is
not all I have to say to you. I want to
make you an offer -- I want you to become
my adopted child. You see, my Son who died
was my only child, and I now want to share my
life with you and leave my riches to you.
This may not make sense to you or anyone
else, but I believe you are worth the
offer. I have arranged matters so that if
you will receive my offer of forgiveness, not
only will you be pardoned for your crime, but
you also will be set free from your
imprisonment, and your sentence of death
will be dismissed.
At that point, you will become my adopted
child and heir to all my riches. I realize
this is a risky offer for me to make to you--
you might be tempted to reject my
offer completely -- but I make it to you
without reservation. Also, I realize it
may seem foolish to make such an offer to one
who cost my Son his life, but I now have a
great love and an unchangeable forgiveness in
my heart for you.
Finally, you may be concerned that once
you accept my offer you may do something to
cause you to be denied your rights as an heir
to my wealth. Nothing could be further
from the truth. If I can forgive you for
your part in my Son's death, I can
forgive you for anything. I know you never
will be perfect, but you do not have to
be perfect to receive my offer.
Besides, I believe that once you have
accepted my offer and begin to experience the
riches that will come to you from me,
that your primary (though not always)
response will be gratitude and loyalty.
Some would call me foolish for my
offer to you, but I wish for you to call
me your Father. Sincerely,
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