Jilted Groom, Runaway bride, Media storm

This story is generating tons of attention:

The jilted groom whose bride-to-be ran away four days before their wedding still wants to marry fiancee Jennifer Wilbanks, saying, "Haven't we all made mistakes?"

"Just because we haven't walked down the aisle, just because we haven't stood in front of 500 people and said our I Do's, my commitment before God to her was the day I bought that ring and put it on her finger, and I'm not backing down from that," John Mason said Monday in an interview with Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" show.

It was Mason's first public statement since he learned on the morning of his scheduled wedding day that Wilbanks had gotten cold feet.

Talk radio today is filled with people who think Mason would be a fool to marry this woman after what's taken place.  I personally think that this is between Mason and Wilbanks.  I admire the man's devotion and commitment to her.  I consider it commendable.  And in listening to him today on Sean Hannity, it's clear that what drives him in his willingness to forgive her is a strong faith.

However, I do think that she needs to pay a price for  her false initial reports to law enforcement officials and for the resources that were used in trying to locate her.  Emotionally she may already be paying a price if reports are true, nevertheless, people need to know that this kind of stuff can't be allowed to happen without consequences.

This one will be interesting to follow, to say the least.

UPDATE:  Rodney has commented here but also has some powerful things to say at his place:

I see a great need for compassion in the case of Jennifer Wilbanks.

If there is a case to answer for her false statement about being abducted, then let her face the law, but as far as we are concerned, we should be reaching out in love and forgiveness. The Bible commands us to do so and Jesus' example impels us to do so.

Yes she has done something stupid. Yes she has hurt a lot of people, but that's the same situation as the two examples I've referred to from scripture where Jesus shows compassion, not rage. Jesus wanted those women to know forgiveness and love, not punishment.

Even if the whole thing was a premeditated stunt, which many are claiming, Jesus was prepared to die to forgive her of that. Do we know better than he does? Do we dare condemn while he forgives? Aren't we glad that he forgives us of our wilful sin or do we consider her sin to be more repugnant in the eyes of our Lord than anything we could ever do?

Let the law deal with her if it considers she needs to be prosecuted. Let her fiance reconsider their future together if need be, but let's pray for this woman, not throw her to the wolves. Let others form the lynch mob, not us. As Christians we should know the value of forgiveness and be ready to share it.

I hope that if I ever mess up bigtime, and God knows we're all capable of it, I will find Christian friends that will help me face up to my responsibilities in a gentle and loving way, just as Jesus would.

Salient and poignant points.  Rodney's entire piece is worthy of your time.

Comments

[Rodney Olsen]

Good to see that I'm not the only one in the blogosphere to think that there is room for forgiveness on this one.

If she broke the law she needs to face that but she also needs people who can and will forgive.

I've written a lengthy post about the issue on my own blog after seeing some very scathing attacks from fellow Christian bloggers.

[LR]

I think what this woman did to her fiance & family is heinous. However, it's a family matter, and if they want to forgive her, it's no one's business. As for her being charged with a crime in Georgia, or being charged for the expense of looking for her, I just don't see it. She didn't commit a crime in Georgia...she simply disappeared. And by the time she made the bogus kidnapping allegation, in Albequerqe, the search had all but been abandoned. Unless I'm missing something here, the only jurisdiction that has any right to charge her, is Albequerque, and they don't seem too bent out of shape, probably because she recanted so quickly.

[Jay]

Sure she needs forgiveness. But I wouldn't blame the guy if he got cold feet now either.

[stephanie]

Who of us do not need grace?
Who of us do not need to learn to show more grace?

Today I need more grace. Today I pray for this man, this woman to know grace and in that grace to find the truth as to where their path is, or is not to be.

[Bonnie Cornelius]

I can forgive and maybe even forget this ever happend but what really disturbes me and makes me unable to forget this, is she made a point to go jogging and disapear. She knew that Lacy Peterson went out for a jog and never came back, so why not her? People would believe that she was kidnapped because she went for a jog in keeping with Lacy and her story. That really bothers me that she thought enough about what she was going to do that she even thought about Lacy and what would seem more real. I don't think I will ever forget that point above all other points to this story. Forgive, yes, forget? never.

[L K Tucker]

Wilbanks may have been a victim of Dissociative Fugue. There is a little known conflict of physiology that I believe is the cause of these events.

Others are missing. There is a long list of missing college students. They were all high achievers and computer users.

The problem was discovered when it caused mental breaks for Knowledge workers using the first close-spaced office workstations. The Cubicle solved the problem by the 1960's.

Wilbanks would not have had Cubicle Level Protection in a doctor's office.