Even for a man preaching God's Word regularly, it is hard to find forgiveness for a wrongdoing, especially for something that affected a Church.
Nearly $175,000 was stolen recently from the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Kingston, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and church members are still trying to come to terms with the crime that affected their place of worship.
The church's leader, Pastor Paul Metzloff, admitted that it is still very hard for him to forgive the people who committed the crime.
"That's a very interesting question. Christ preaches forgiveness for everything, and that's something we grapple with," Metzloff told NewsWeek16, when asked if he could forgive those who allegedly took the money.
Church members are equally still bothered by what happened. Sarah Seltzer, for instance, said she was surprised that people close to the pastor and the church could do something wrong.
"It came as a shock to a lot of us, it did," Seltzer also told NewsWeek16. "We never expected it, a lot of us are close to her and we never expected it."
Thesuspects in the alleged theft are 44-year-old Cherie White, Metzloff's former secretary, and her husband, Keith White. They are currently facing theft and conspiracy charges for supposedly stealing the money in a span of six years.
Cherie has already admitted that she took some money for church donations for herself, and as a form of extra pay for her work as its secretary.
Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Gregory Skibitsky for his part said the couple's alleged crimes have big implications.
"By jeopardising the future of the church, they put an entire community at risk," Skibitsky said.
The Christian pastor nevertheless expressed confidence that the community will soon be able to move on from what happened.
"Certainly, this is not the first time the church has been stolen from, lied to and betrayed, and we will rise above this," the church leader said.
