In the Darwinian story, humans evolved by winning the ‘survival of the fittest’ contest between lower life forms. If that story is true, why are accounts of forgiveness so compelling?

During the COVID pandemic, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya signed a declaration with other public health scientists, raising concerns of the physical and mental health impacts of the COVID lockdowns. Francis Collins was the Director of the National Institutes of Health at the time. In a since-leaked email, he called Bhattacharya a “fringe epidemiologist” who needed a “quick and devastating published takedown” of his declaration. That’s exactly what happened. A coalition of the powerful worked to discredit Dr. Bhattacharya. His criticisms of Dr. Fauci’s proclamations about natural immunity, mask efficacy, school closures, and contact tracing were called “ludicrous” and “dangerous.” In addition to the public humiliation, Bhattacharya received death threats.

Five years later, Dr. Bhattacharya has not only been proven right about the devastating consequences of the COVID lockdowns, he was appointed the new Director of the NIH. However, when asked, rather than take a moment to gloat and condemn those who attempted to ruin his career, he did one of the most radical things he could do. He offered forgiveness. In an interview with Bari Weiss, Bhattacharya said of Francis Collins,

I’ve been praying for him ever since I found out that he’d written that email. I told him that I’d been praying for him, and I still will pray for him. I think that reconciliation is really possible. Even if people disagree with each other fundamentally, even hate each other—and I’d never hated him and never will.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis described forgiveness as “the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” And it may be one of those counter-cultural things that anyone can do in this moment.

Jeff Metcalf is the father of a Texas teen who was stabbed and killed at a track meet last month. Interviewed just hours after learning of his son’s fate, he said to the cameras, “You know what, I already forgive this person.” When the clip went viral, the responses were divided. Many expressed awe at the father’s ability to offer mercy to the young man who killed his son. Others expressed outrage at his “weakness.”

Last month in Indiana, a young teen lost control of her vehicle and slammed into an Amish horse-drawn carriage. The three Amish children inside were killed instantly. Almost immediately, the mother of the victims reached out to the teen driver, offering her the Bible that belonged to her daughter as a token of comfort. The mother of the teenaged driver said she never could have imagined such compassion and forgiveness.

A few years ago, another mom made news for offering forgiveness to the man who threw her five-year-old son over a third-floor balcony at the Mall of America. Kari Hoffman begged the crowd to pray while she ran down the escalators to him. After months of watching her son struggle for his life in a hospital, she commented she’d forgiven the attacker and that forgiveness is “a decision that you have to make so that God can do what he needs to do in your life.” Thankfully, her son survived.

Forgiveness may be incomprehensible to many, but it is real. That’s because forgiveness has been established in the fabric of reality by the Creator of reality. Over two thousand years ago, the Creator took on flesh, lived as a sinless man, and was then punished unfairly on the cross after being beaten, whipped, and publicly humiliated. Not only did Jesus pay for the sins of the world, but as He did so, He prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

When people in this particularly vengeful cultural moment see true forgiveness, they will inevitably wonder, “Why?” We should always be ready to give an answer for this hope we have: “Because God forgave. Because He first loved us.”

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