By this all men will know
John 13:35 NIV
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
From various new sources (not my writing)
On Oct 2 2006 32-year-old Charles Carl Roberts IV killed five schoolgirls and then himself at the West Nickel Mines Amish School. Apparently, Roberts carried a grudge for twenty years. In other words, over something that happened when he was 12! In the meantime, Roberts had “grown up,” married, and become the father of three.
Although the Amish community grieved deeply about the terrible incident and certainly were very shocked about the tragedy they also believed it was right to forgive. The Rev. Schenck reports a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls said of the killer on the day of the murder: “We must not think evil of this man.”
Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained to CNN: “I don’t think there’s anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts.” [8]
The Amish have reached out to Roberts’ family. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.
An article in a Canadian newspaper the National Post stated that the Amish have set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter.
The Amish do not normally accept charity, but due to the extreme nature of the tragedy, donations were accepted. Richie Lauer, director of the Anabaptist Foundation, said the Amish community, whose religious beliefs prohibit them from having health insurance, will likely use the donations to help pay the medical costs of the hospitalized children.[32]
The fathers of the Amish girls who had been shot went to the killer’s parents and asked what they could do to help them.
Dozens of Amish neighbors attended Charles Roberts’ funeral on October 7, 2006. He was buried in his wife’s family plot behind Georgetown United Methodist church, a few miles from the one-room West Nickel Mines schoolhouse. One mourner stated that Roberts’ wife was touched by the outward gesture of forgiveness by the Amish community. [10] The schoolhouse was torn down eleven days after the tragedy.
infinitesimus 