How to forgive | Authors-choice: Hope & Revival

Christian couple bakes free cakes for Gays: Aaron and Melissa Klein

19 08 2015

The Oregon bakers who were ordered by the state to pay $135,000 for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding have designed and baked custom cakes to send to a handful of the most powerful LGBTQ advocacy groups along the West Coast, The Daily Signal has exclusively learned.

The effort is an attempt by Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, to show the LGBTQ community “we really do love you.”

“They might just throw it in the garbage,” Melissa told The Daily Signal. “They can do that, it’s OK. My hope is that they will see the feeling behind it, and just maybe understand.”

The Kleins, who have since been forced to close their storefront since the legal battle following their decision in 2013 to not bake a cake for a lesbian wedding, said they were inspired to bake these cakes after learning about the upcoming fiction film, “Audacity,” which tackles the issue of homosexuality from a Christian perspective.

Because of their Christian faith, the Kleins don’t support same-sex marriage. But they say that doesn’t mean they can’t still love those who choose to live that lifestyle.

“I’m not asking anybody out there to change their beliefs and believe the way I do,” Melissa said. “I’m just saying they want to live their life freely and I also do, too.”

The Kleins are sending cakes this week to 10 different organizations where they can ship from their home in Sandy, Ore., including the California LGBT Arts Alliance, Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center, Californians Against Hate, CFAC Headquarters, Equality California, Out and Equal, The South Bay LGBT Community Organization, The LGBTQ Center Long Beach, Los Angeles LGBT Center McDonald/Wright Building and LGBT of Southern Nevada.> Read full story in Dailysignal

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Tags: How to forgive, how to love those who hurt you, How to love your neighbhour
Categories : Faith, Gay, God

The Girl Who Forgave Her Rapist: The Story of Maria Goretti

6 07 2013

Maria Goretti was a 12 year old peasant girl, with chestnut hair and delicate features. She worked as a servant, mending clothes and cared for her little sister because her parents were poor.

One day a 20 year old boy came to her house and asked her to have sex with him. She refused, and he grabbed her, pulled her into the bedroom, and closed the door. She fought him with all her strength, telling him that it would be a sin.

Enraged, he stabbed her 14 times in her heart, lungs, and intestines, and then fled. When her family discovered Maria lying on the floor in a pool of blood, they rushed her to hospital but it was too late.

She died soon afterwards, but just before she died, asked if she forgave her murderer, she replied, “Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him…and I want him to be with me in Paradise.” She died on July 6.1902.

A few years later, she got her wish when the unrepentant boy who killed her, now in prison, had a dream.

In that dream, Maria appeared to him in a garden dressed in white, and was gathering lilies. She smiled, and came near him, and encouraged him to accept an armful of the lilies.

As he accepted them, each lily transformed into a still white flame. Maria then disappeared. The boy converted and became a Christian. When he was released from prison after serving 27 years, his first act was to travel to Maria’s mother to beg her forgiveness and lived a holy life for the rest of his life. In 1950, Maria was canonized in a ceremony attended by a quarter million people, including her mother. She is remembered every 6th of July all over the world. Let us forgive and pray for our enemies.