In a remarkably touching interview on CNN, the family of Robert Godwin Sr., whose murder was posted in a Facebook video expressed an amazing profession of faith while talking about the killer, Steve Stephens, and God’s forgiveness. Debbie Godwin and Tonya Godwin Baines, the man’s daughters, were interviewed by Anderson Cooper Monday.
“I wasn’t going to ask you,” Cooper said, “but since you brought this person up, but I’m not going to use this person’s name in front of you, but if this person is out there listening, what do you want them to know? Obviously, you want them to turn themselves in, but what do you want to say to them?”
“I would say turn yourself in, that would be number one,” Debbie Godwin responded, “I mean because although I do believe in forgiveness, I do believe in the law, meaning, when you break the law, there’s a penalty for breaking the law. And this man broke the law by taking my father’s life.”
“And so although I forgive him,” she explained, “there is still a penalty that he must pay for what he did to my dad. And so I would want him to turn himself in. And you know what, I believe that God would give me the grace to even embrace this man. And hug him.