Dear Sir:

Let me begin by thanking you for your courage and compassion in giving advice to Tiger Woods as to where forgiveness can be found.  We all need to be forgiven, and it is without question that the only place where we can find such pardon is at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.

As was predictable, your comments brought severe criticism and derision—a phenomenon which, according to your remarks on The O’ Reilly Factor, bewilders you.  As you have noted, the words “Jesus Christ” are among the most controversial that can be uttered.

Please allow me to offer to you an explanation as to why your advice has caused such angst.  There are, it seems to me, at least two reasons why people get so upset by the mention of the name of Christ, or the suggestion of the need for pardon.

The first is that people don’t want to be reminded of their sin.  Pardon implies wrongdoing having been committed.  And for folks who think that they’re practically perfect—and definitely not totally depraved, as the Bible portrays mankind—any such mention is offensive.

Also offensive is the notion that only in Christianity can forgiveness be obtained.  For if that is true, then all other religions, by definition, are false and worthless.

But, of course, it is the case that there is only one way to be pardoned—it is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, whereby He not only suffered grievous torments in body but, most particularly, horrific punishment in soul.  He took the full weight of the sin of the chosen ones of God upon Himself, and cried, in the words of Psalm 22, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  He, the totally Just One, suffered for unjust ones such as ourselves.  This is why Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).

This is also why the sweetest sacrifice ever made evokes such bitter reaction, because what it represents strikes right at the pride and presumption of man.

May the Lord continue to give you courage and grace to testify of the beauty and glory of the gospel, in the midst of a hostile and cruel society.

Cordially,

Frank J. Smith, Ph.D., D.D., Pastor