Kirk Franklin confesses struggle to forgive terminally ill biological father: ‘I’ve lived my entire life hating this man’

Article By April Channing // EEW Magazine

Multiple GRAMMY® Award-winning Gospel artist Kirk Franklin may have written many songs about love and forgiveness, but he says, he wasn’t practicing what he preached—that is, until recently.

In a transparent Instagram post, Franklin, 48, said he just learned days ago that his biological father, whom he never knew, has only “3-6 months to live,” which has inspired the composer to forgive his terminally ill dad for not being there for him.

“I’ve lived my entire life hating this man. He and my biological mother gave me up for adoption, and it left me never feeling good enough....to this very day,” Franklin said. “I took my hate for him and used it as fuel to be the best father I could be for my own. But what I did wrong, is I never took that fuel, and turn it into forgiveness....and that is wrong. Wrong for him, me, and the God I proclaim to represent.”

Now, the grim set of circumstances has the producer and hit-maker reevaluating everything and also desiring to obey the biblical command to forgive those who hurt us.

“How can I preach what I don’t practice,” reflected Franklin, who flew to Houston to visit the man he has resented all these years.

“It’s painful, it’s a process, but how disappointed I would be in myself for this man to leave this earth without being forgiven,” Franklin honestly wrote.

He added, “He deserves to receive what God gives me every day. Pray for him, and for me. God this is hard...I weep as I write.”

In the emotional and moving photograph, Franklin is seen kissing his father’s head as he embarks on this challenging journey toward wholeness and reconciliation.

In a 2015 blog post, Franklin called Gertrude Franklin, a 64-year-old widow who adopted him, an “angel.”

“She taught me everything. She taught me how to respect people and respect myself, and that's something I'll never forget,” he remembered.

His adoptive mother passed away when Franklin was only 17.