Forgiving Duch

The story of Duch caught my attention the other day.

During the Khmer Rouge regime, Duch was in charge of Tuol Sleng camp, which was responsible for atrocities resulting in 16,000 deaths. The line that caught my eye in the newspaper report was this one:

"Duch , who became a born-again Christian while in hiding in the 1990s..."

The question naturally arises: "Would God be fair to forgive Duch for such atrocious crimes?" I am sure that there are many whose instinctive self-righteous reaction would be to declare that Duch deserves to burn in the lowest corner of hell for eternity for what he had done.

The answer, of course, is YES! If Duch is a genuine believer (and there is every reason to believe that he is), God would be perfectly fair to forgive Duch for every single one of his sins, because Jesus Christ bore the just punishment for those sins on the cross, and has given Duch His perfect righteousness. Of course, Duch will still have to bear the earthly consequences of his sins, but that is nothing compared to the eternal punishment which he has been saved from.

The truth is that none of us deserve any less punishment than Duch for our heinous crimes against a most holy God. And the good news of the Gospel is that God can and will forgive us if we believe!

This is something that was brought home to me in an excellent sermon by Phil Johnson (my favourite preacher of the moment) on Justification by Faith, which is part of this excellent series "Truth under attack", which I highly recommend! In it, he expounds on 2 Cor 5:21:

"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

Every single sin of every believer was imputed to Jesus Christ on the cross. He was MADE SIN for our sake, and God's wrath was fully poured out on Him and completely satisfied, once for all, so that God is fully justified in pardoning the sins of every believer. And every believer, everyone of us who is IN CHRIST, has the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to him - credited to his account, so to speak. This is the glorious heart of the Gospel. What a wonderful truth!

While trying to find out more about Duch's Christianity, I came across this insightful article. Some excerpts and my comments:

Today, more than 100,000 Cambodians belong to more than 3,000 evangelical churches across the country, among them many former members of the Khmer Rouge. "The former Khmer Rouge more often open their hearts to God," said Heng Cheng. "Duch is a role model."

But of course. Those who have witnessed for themselves the depths of depravity of their own hearts would certainly be more open to the Gospel.

Duch's conversion to Christianity has caused some friction with his former cadres. For instance, Nuon Chea scoffed at Duch's conversion, saying in his revealing 2003 interview: "Duch wanted God to take responsibility for his sins! ... You commit the sin, so you pay for the sin. Nobody can help take responsibility for the sin."

This man certainly understood what the Gospel is about. He just refused to believe it!

It is religiously significant, some believe, that former top Khmer Rouge leaders Meas Muth and Nuon Chea have not sought forgiveness for their roles in the alleged genocide. One possible reason, suggests Columbia University's Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman, is that Christianity uniquely claims that the road to salvation runs through repentance, remorse and making up for past sins.

"Perhaps the Christian ones are more intent on forgiveness because they have the belief that repentance and true belief in Christ will help them once and for all reach heaven, no matter what they've done," Thurman wrote by e-mail. "Whereas Buddhists do repent, do try to do better, but remain aware of a long road ahead to reach enlightenment or nirvana - no one else can grant them the ultimate salvation, in their view."

That, of course, is the great peace and assurance which the Gospel affords - that salvation is a supernatural work of God, who is able to save to the uttermost. May He receive all the glory!