Judicial Standards That Make Sense

And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.
Deuteronomy 19:20

The point of good law combined with a fair judicial system that truly punishes crime is the creation of a civil society. When the punishment fits the crime after fair examination to all involved and justice is met, the net result on a society should be moral commitment. Other people should respond with satisfaction that justice was served. And the real punishment should help deter future actions of the same kind.

It is debated that just sentences are actually a deterrent, and the high end of the debate centers around the death penalty. But it seems to me that right here in this scripture we have wisdom from God confirming that just sentences on carefully tried and convicted criminals serve as an instructive deterrent to the rest of society. I believe God teaches this principle so that we can have His heart on sin and punishment.

We must remember the issue is not the practice of rash or arbitrary harshness. No one could be convicted on circumstantial hearsay. Two or three witnesses were required by God's instructions (Deuteronomy 19:15-17) and false witnesses were fated to suffer the intended punishment of the one falsely accused. To lie about a murder put the liar in jeopardy of the death penalty. So there were built in prescriptive principles to prevent abuse. The result of such careful legal consideration was fear of God and fear of punishment. Both of them were a positive result. That is a good thing for all of us.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

Some thoughts on justice

You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 16:19-20

Justice matters to God because it is righteousness applied to the most difficult human circumstances. God is just. He treats humanity with grace and mercy. He does not let sin go unpunished, yet He forgives the truly repentant and extends mercy. He has pity on the needy and truly cares for them.

God also cares about human justice and those who are charged with dispensing it because it is a means that He has set up (that's what the last half of this chapter in Deuteronomy is all about) to answers the prayers and right the wrongs of people in need. It is not the only answer to their prayers, but righteous judges acting on biblical principles, practicing true justice are meant to be dispensers of God's mercy and help. In Israel, justice was not about human power to gain. It was about the human power to aid others and to give.

A rant about the absurdities of any one system of human justice corrupted by sin would be pointless. Biblical principles of justice must still frame the Christian worldview on society, even if much of our culture disdains biblical christianity and sees no need for it with stringent secular commitments. Secularism as a model, especially naturalism, cannot be fair or equitable because at its heart it has to be committed to survival of the fittest or strongest. Justice is thus impossible and the situation is warped into injustice by sinfully, selfishly warped human nature. God's truth, however, is still the corrective.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

The real hallelujah chorus…

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.”

Revelation 19:6

This loud rejoicing comes in heaven as two things occur. First Jesus and His saints prepare to wipe out the beast and false prophet at the final battle of Armageddon. All opposition is defeated by the word of Jesus’ mouth. And justice is finally met against all the evil that has arisen against Christ at the end. That is cause for rejoicing and praise.

The second event is the preparation for the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is there that Jesus and His church experience the joy and the celebration of the church’s redemption and Christ’s final possession of the church. And it is a feast… a party like none other. This brings on the songs of praise from the vast multitude in heaven as they anticipate this great event.

So praise can be offered both in judgment and in joy. We can rejoice that God is just and the giver of our mercies. We can worship the God Who is simultaneously our Great Lover and the Fearsome Judge of all who reject Him. He deserves this type of praise.

Technorati Tags: Revelation,Worship,Justice,Church

Reason for God to act.

And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.

Revelation 18:24

Just a simple observation from this text today. When God does finally move against the Babylon in Revelation, it is because she has opposed Him to the point of killing His messengers and His people. He executes profound judgment because His justice must deal with profound sins: rejection, raging against God and His work, and the responsibility for the deaths of most of those on the planet who have died to this point in the book of Revelation. God can easily handle His own opposition. He does not need anyone else to serve justice for Him.

Technorati Tags: Revelation,Judgment,Justice

Do not think that Tiller's Murder was justice!

Vigilantes DO NOT administer justice. A murder of a murderer is murder. The state is the God-given authority on that matter. Democracies and Tyrannies alike. And don't give me the lines about "would you kill Hitler if you had the chance"? or that war is somehow murder. Wars are waged by governments who have the authority to bear the sword against what is wrong... Read Romans 13:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ro 13:1-4.

Paul wrote this when Nero was burning Christians as torches to light his garden. Deal with the tension, believer. Governments do not always have biblically moral policies. And in a perfect world, our government should outlaw the brutal murder of unborn children. But it does not. And had it acted on late-term abortion provider George Tiller, it would have indeed been justice. But one angry anti-government madman is not justice. It is further injustice. It hurts the peaceful and prayerful pro-life cause more than we can imagine.

Christians, let's make sure we understand justice. Only Jesus will dispense it in eternity (Read Acts 17:30-31). And it is an imperfect and rare commodity until then. When we understand that only God gives justice, we do well. When we think that humans will always do it, we make a HUGE MISTAKE. Fallen humanity cannot really understand justice. Even the best judge is born a wicked sinner who rages against God. Even a Christian involved in the legal system or law enforcement still struggles with a selfish human nature. Let's understand that. And don't let ourselves think that justice was somehow served. It wasn't...

Evil men do not understand justice,
but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Pr 28:5.

True & Just

And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!"
And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!"

Revelation 16:5-7

This song of worship comes as a direct response to God’s retributive judgment on those who have rejected and rebelled against Him. It praises God for His justice. The praise follows a simple line of thinking. God is just because He brought the judgments. He acts in judgment and that alone is cause for Him being seen as just. Secondly. God acts in such a way that those who are judged are judged in a deserving manner. There is an irony in the judgment that turns the water to blood, since the beast and his followers have led a bloody persecution against God’s people. The punishment fits the crime, and that is just.

Thirdly, God is just because He is the Almighty. God has all power at His disposal to dispense His justice. He is remarkably restrained when one considers that fact! He could just obliterate the world of humanity at any time, but does not do so. And the final observation about His justice is that He is true. He does not cause further sinful behavior, neither are His judgments subject to debate about their moral equity. He is true and so are His actions.

Lord,

I do not pause to consider these truths enough, because like most Christians, I tend to associate judgment with rage or anger. But Your justice is fundamental to Your very person and nature, as the angels sing of in this passage. May I be equally impressed and worship You Who are just and true.

Amen

Technorati Tags: Revelation,Justice,Truth,Judgment