“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” – Colossians 1:19
Dr. Athanase Hagengimana, an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School discussed the contributions of religion to truth and reconciliation in Rwanda. His observations are based on interviews and psychological assessments of more than 300 perpetrators of genocide detained in a Rwanda prison.
Dr. Hagengimana said he found the prisoners to be open and willing to describe the atrocities they committed, because many had been "saved" and were "born again." "If you are born again, you are a new person," Dr. Hagengimana said. "The old person is no longer there. You don't have a relationship with the old guy. Now you are a new person who is clean and you are not ashamed to tell what the old person did."
Many new churches, which came to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, reached out to the prisoners. Not only did the churches preach forgiveness among the victims' survivors, but they preached to the killers in prison about the importance of the "apology." He observed, "In my experience, people who have killed have more problems than people who are grieving. Guilt is more painful than sorrow."
Dr. Hagengimana said, "I have witnessed survivors who, full of religion, have healed from trauma and can reconcile with criminals. And I have seen criminals be born again, free to confess what they did. They went to the family of survivors and apologized and revealed everything, and they are now functioning."
Forgiveness and reconciliation is a rare and beautiful expression of Christ’s love. Today in prayer, confess sin that may be in your life and seek to be reconciled to anyone who you are estranged.
“Why should the world believe in reconciliation when it doesn’t see the church reconciled? And the church is not going to be reconciled even if it gets all the issues solved. It will be reconciled only through Jesus Christ. He is the Reconciler.” – Richard C. Halverson
God’s Word: “that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” – 2 Corinthians 5:19
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