The pendalum of public opinion swings. The things which were wrong have been seen with such compassion that they are now considered right. An absent dad and rough environment gets a robber probation without additional time behind bars. The illegal alien is hidden by his neighbors. Excuses are made for the punch thrown by the athelete in the bar.
Sure, there should be compassion but where is the justice?
The radio reported that most Latinos know someone who is an illegal. They feel compassion for those illegals and support them. That is why they voted for candidates who rejected policing immigration. I am all for the compassion but doesn' t this show no compassion for those who went through the legal process of becoming citizens? Is the legal process unjust?
The compassion of our society has led our nation to largely support homosexuality as an approved lifestyle. While I will never support hurting homosexuals, I must take a look at the Bible and wonder if the Bible has forgotten compassion when it states that homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord. Yes, I have met homosexuals and do not want them to be hurt but I can't approve their lifestyles either. I must have compassion but I also must have justice.
Justice is found in obedience to the law. It is found in the correction of a society to be one of law. Chaos will eventually rule in a society which has all compassion but no justice. Oppression rules in a society which has all justice and no compassion. The two must be balanced.
Jesus did not dispense with justice. He told the woman who was caught in adultery to "go, and sin no more." How was a woman who was well known in this particular sin supposed to make a living if she didn't do what she had done? Everyone wants to see the compassion He had for her in His pardon but not the justice He had for her in His command. The two are balanced.
Yet,the farther we get from a Christian world view, the farther we get from justice. We simply don't know what is right or wrong. We have taken right and wrong as things that change by the minute. They are determined by whether we like the accused rather than whether or not what was done is wrong.
Yes, we don't understand justice. What does that say of us?
Proverbs 28:5 (ESV)
5
Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
3 comments:
As I read this, two Scriptures came to mind.
"What does God require of thee? To do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. "
And from James: "Mercy triumphs over Justice."
My own temperament is one that leans first to consider what is just and what is true, although often not popular, fairness.*
At that point, the Lord always...always...brings the above two Scriptures to mind. Especially the one from James.
I often pause and rethink my decided action.
Deb
*I once overheard two co-workers discussing me. One was saying that I was too demanding. (That is putting it mildly.) The other replied, "She is tough. But Debby is always fair. Always."
I think God may have preferred to hear the word "merciful" come up. Sadly, even my attempts at merciful often only rise to "fair".
The Christian world view is founded on this: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne - Ps 89:14a. Ps 97:2 also said the same.
Of course, here the righteousness and justice are the righteousness and justice of God, not those of men. Our God, Scripture said, changeth NOT, and so, accordingly, the righteousness and justice of God too, do not change like shifting sand; no, they don't.
Additionally, the correct perspective is, justice tampered with mercy. This means that justice must be looked at, with mercy thrown in; it is not just mercy, and justice is thrown to the wind; the Christian world viewpoint is not like that. This is despite James 2:13, for if there is no judgement and justice being looked at, there can be no mercy to talk about, for the very definition of mercy is about one not getting the full penalty from a judgement. Here is where James 2:13 is not properly preached; it should never be explained as mercy is better than judgment in the sense that no justice and judgment be engaged, just let people off the hook. If it were the case, where is the role of righteousness and justice, and discernment and judgment! And wouldn't it be in direct contradiction to such fundamental declaration as quoted in Ps 89:14 and 97:2, as I have given, right at the beginning of this comment.
Where can we get these God's righteousness and justice? From the Word of God, of course. And from the laws, precepts, and commandments are specific prescriptions underscoring God's ways - His righteousness and justice, and His will and directions for men.
The liberty that cometh with salvation, is now so confused by careless preachers and pastors, and teachers of the Word, that it is misconstrued by many believers, that the Christian life is not bounded by laws and commandments of God. No, on the contrary, the Christian life is about His righteousness (Rom 14:17), and every Christian is to seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6:33); the only thing, for the New Testament believers, is the laws are additionally inscribed upon our hearts, apart from we are able to read the written Bible.
What does it mean that the laws are inscribed upon our hearts? What it means, is that the Holy Spirit, if we do not suppress Him, would convict us of what is righteous and what is not. It therefore means that the believer or Christian is without excuse for doing wrong or sins. If it were the case, can a Christian sins or does wrong? Yes, he/she could. How do we explain this? The apostle Paul told us that, there is the voice of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer, and there is still the voice of Iniquity; and we are to harken to the voice of the former, and turn a deaf ear to the latter. The Iniquity which many called the carnality or carnal flesh, it came about in men, from the Fall or the Original Sin; it is NOT removed upon our entry into salvation. Also NOT removed from us, is our volition, meaning we can still decide to turn from the righteousness and justice of God by not obeying the written commandments of God or the promptings of righteousness from the Holy Spirit.
Cont...
continue from above
The life of a Christian is to live out the ways of the Kingdom of God, His righteousness and justice. And that includes upholding the same, and therefore, standing against oppressions, and corruptions against the poor, and the weak. The wicked, they oppress, and they engage in corruption to obstruct justice to the poor and the weak. One of the reasons for the terrible state of injustice or unrighteousness is because for too long a time, Christians themselves do not live out the ways of God's kingdom, and we are too complacent to stand up, express our stand, and defend the justice and righteousness that are in line with those of God's Kingdom. It is sad, that afterwards, we lament how come the state of things have gone that bad!
For one thing, there is the great lack of solidly word-grounded servants of God, good teachers, preachers and pastors, bothered with defending the interpretation of the Word. We must speak out, balance out the erroneous and skewed teachings of the Word, especially, on the net (Internet). It is not acceptable to simply say God will defend His own Word. Why not, not do anything, and simply say God can do the great commission work Himself, no need to preach His Word, God can do it Himself, not need to take care of anything, God can do that Himself! Where is your love for God when you love Not, His Word, when you obey not, His Word, and you bothered not, that the Word's interpretations have gone hay-wired. We let the yeast work through bread, and then afterwards, we wonder how come things have become so terrible.
We do not want to speak up; do not want to spend the time and take the trouble; and then we lament at the consequences. Yes, the people using the Internet may not be your little local church's members, and they may never be your flock, but aren't you too narrow minded, if you would not want to do anything if it does not increase directly your congregation? Please, it is not always, not your fight. Check your heart condition, if you love the Lord and His Word, you cannot be a bystander all the time. May we all be warned that, negative repercussion may hit us; or even if you are spared, our loved ones may not be, our children and their children may not be. You may not get into homosexual lifestyle, but if homosexual lifestyle has become legal alternate lifestyle and become widespread, our children may be drawn into it. It is like if we don't war against the widespread abuse of drugs and it's peddling in our community, we will regret it, when one day, our own children or their children have become drug addicts.
Anthony Chia, high.expressions
PS - I am not a homosexual hater, I only cannot accept the practice of homosexuality, as it is offensive to God. I am with a church that has a ministry to help those caught in homosexual lifestyle, helping them to come out of such lifestyle. I join the Lord to love the sinners but not the sins. However, stubbornly wicked people who seek to corrupt, can expect opposition from God, and so, from me, at times, as well.
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