Imagine a man who had killed not one or twice but a hundred times. By today's standards he would have been termed a serial killer and thus irredeemable. So indeed was the character in the tale I am about to relate.
A narrative from an authentic book of narrations goes thus. There once was a man from the people of old who had killed 99 people and had embarked on a quest for redemption. He sought after the most knowledgeable person on earth and was directed to a hermit from whom he inquired if he could be forgiven after haven killed 99 people.
The hermit replied that he couldn't be forgiven. Upon hearing the response the man killed the hermit bringing the total to 100. He continued to seek after the most knowledgeable person and was directed to a scholar. Upon reaching the scholar he asked if he could be forgiven considering that he had killed 100 people.
The scholar responded that he could be forgiven as nothing stood between him and repentance. He advised him to migrate to a town where the people worshipped God and join them in worship. He further told the man not to return to his home town for it was an evil place. The man took the advise and began his journey to the land wherein he sought redemption.
However, he was to die before arriving at his destination and the angel of death came to him. An argument then came up between the angels or mercy and wrath on who would take the man's soul. The angel of mercy posited that the man had repented and was seeking God while the angle of wrath responded that the man had never done anything good.
The dispute was settled when the two angels sought the opinion of a man who was actually an angel in human form. He proposed that they measure the distance between the two lands and that whichever he was closer to would determine his fate. The distance was measured and by God's mercy he was found to be closer to the land of the righteous people. Thus his soul was taken by the angels of mercy.
Lessons from the narrative
*Never despair of God's mercy no matter the sin(s) you have committed or are still committing. The time is NOW for you to turn to him in sincere repentance.
* If you are trying to kick a bad habit, you may want to consider changing your circle of friends or environment especially if your friends are engaged in the bad habit or it is prevalent in your present environment.
Did you pick any other lesson from the story? If you have please feel free to express yourself in the comments section.
For sparing your time to read this piece I say:
Shukran
Danke
Merci
Gracias
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Спасибо
Wow the story is so interesting, indeed God's mercy is always with us if only we can seek his face. No sin is too dark that he can not cleanse