Loretta Zilinger was raped. She was convinced Dean Cage had raped her. He was convicted and sent to prison for 40 years, always insisting on his innocence. Sixteen years DNA evidence proved that he was innocent. He was finally released.
Zilinger still believed he was guilty and was convinced the DNA test was wrong. She feared for her safety. Cage struggled with adjusting to life outside prison. After being convinced that the DNA evidence is highly accurate she agreed to meet him. Rather, than hold on to bitterness towards his accuser, Cage embraced her and recognized that both of them were victims of the rapist.
Now they are working together to help other victims and those they misidentified. They want to spread their “message of forgiveness.”
Zilinger had lived with hatred and bitterness for years towards Cage. I imagine Cage was tempted to the same feelings towards her as he sat falsely condemned in a jail cell. This paragraph from the CNN story really stuck out to me, “For the first time since the attack, Zilinger no longer lives in fear. She feels at peace, like she has closure, and she wants to help other women reach that point.” She doesn’t know who raped her. This rapist is presumably still living free. And yet she feels at peace. What accounts for this?
The man who raped her took her innocence. But he didn’t take her peace. It was years of bitterness and hatred that took her peace. In fact, we see that it wasn’t justice that would restore her peace (the perpetrator is still at large). It was forgiveness. By forgiving Cage and releasing all her hatred toward him she gained peace. Bitterness and peace can’t coexist.
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled. – Hebrews 12:14-15
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The Destruction of Peace
Sin Destroys Peace
