I watched an interesting, pretty violent movie last night, "Law Abiding Citizen". It was centered on a man whose wife and child were violently killed in front of him, and after the legal system failed to exact real justice on the two killers, went on a vengeance spree that claimed the lives of many individuals who were related to the case in some way.
It was an interesting look at two relevent topics: 1) our imperfect legal system, and 2) the idea of taking justice into your own hands when "the system" has failed.
I agree with the movie that our legal system has failed true justice in many respects. With plea bargains, criminal informants, probation, etc our system in many ways enables criminals to commit more violent or felonious crimes because they know that the punishment, if they're caught, comes in now way close to a justice for their crimes.
I find it interesting that in today's legal system the first person to reach the courthouse get's off with the lightest sentence. For instance, if three men are involved with aggravated robbery and assault and they're all caught, it's the first one of the three to plead guilty and agree to testify that gets 3-5 years, rather than the 6-8 that the other guys are given. Rather than let them all plead guilty, the other two are used as trophies for the prosecuting attorneys and their teams.
The alternative of course is a system where you're guilty until proven innocent, but those systems don't seem to go so well and usually end up with more innocent people behind bars. It is unsettling, though, to think about the number of guilty people that are walking the streets because of legal loopholes, short sentences, probation, etc when they should be breaking rocks in the hot sun.
The other point is vengeance. This is pretty simple to me: I know that if my wife and kids were killed by some ruthless criminals (or any criminal for that matter) my gut instinct would be to rob them of their life in a slow and painful way. But what good would that do me? It wouldn't do me any good, of course...only get me in a much deeper hole than the one I would be trying to fill. The call is to render forgiveness, allowing Christ to fill our hearts and those of others when our fallen humanity simply wants to create havoc and hurt for those that did the same to us.
Herein is the quandary: as Christians we're called to love our enemies and forgive those who do us injustice. Christ dying on the cross was an injustice, and we're called to follow Him, are we not? And yet, we know that the justice system that has been crafted for our earthly society allows the guilty to walk without full restitution for their crimes and we complain. Where should Christian mercy and human justice truly meet and complement each other? How can we mesh the idea of "turning the other cheek" with a system that protects the innocent from those who would repeatedly take advantage of them? I don't have the answers...Do you? Post your thoughts, readers!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Trust
I've come to realize more and more how much I need to trust God to reveal His plan for my family's life in His time. I'm too prone to worry and concern myself with knowing the future, but only He knows. I understand that it's up to me to drive success in my life, but I can't do it without Him. And when I feel like I don't have control, I need to trust that He does.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Evening walks...and ethics talks?
I took a walk tonight, went the usual 4-mile route after the kids were in bed and I could walk stroller-free and headphones blasting. It is a very balmy, humid night out there with a dense haze and a heavy blanket of cricket and locust chirping. Just the kind of night I need to clear my mind. Along one of the town's border roads I saw 5-6 deer standing in the field across from me. Very beautiful moment as I stood watching them watching me. No one else around. It made me realize how much we all need to take a moment to be separated from the world, to take a step away and unwind. Especially in today's go fast, have now, can't wait culture it's important to slow down and be thankful for the simple things in life.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the Church's teaching on homosexuality (nothing like taking a 90degree turn in topics, eh?) vs. that of the contemporary world. We hear all about the agendas of the homosexual lobby...equal rights, "same-sex marriage", homophobia, special status for the LGTB community, etc. I believe that people are getting so hammered with the radical gay lobby that people are beginning to lose sight of the underlying issue, or maybe they've never given this topic a second thought.
The Church, of course, teaches that same-sex relations are inherently wrong, due to the disordered nature of these acts. Our sexuality is given to us to use with dignity and towards the intended aim of sex: unity and procreation. You can't have one without the other for a chaste union. But, this is common argument material. What has really been on my mind lately is the nature of the arguments that gay/lesbian/transgendered/bisexual promoters use. Rather than approach these acts from a point of human well-being and personhood, as does the traditional understanding of man and woman, they approach these "lifestyles" from a purely sexual perspective.
For the first time in history, men and women are being defined by their sexual preference. Not their accomplishments, rank, status, or most importantly their existence as individuals made in God's image...but by the ways in which they choose to act out their sexual appetites. Using this same logic of classifying a person by their drives would be like asking for special status for vegetarian lasagna lovers. In the lasagna eaters world vegetarian lasagna lovers are a minority and should be given special treatment, right? Or, to hit closer to home...why not statutory rapists? That 25 year old guy really loved the 15 year old girl he was dating...people may look down on his actions but he can't help the way he feels, right? Shouldn't he be given the right to act the way he pleases?
Now, I'm not promoting the incarceration of people who, for whatever reason, feel attracted to persons of the same sex. Nor am I trying to put them on the level of a criminal. Every person, without exception, should be shown the same love that Christ shows us every day and be allowed free will. What I am promoting, however, is a logical and reasonable critique of the arguments that GLBT lobbyists use. People should not be classified by their sexual preference. Men and women have been created thus...man and woman, a binary species like every other, but with a reasoning soul and the ability to see beyond simple drives. God created them male and female, right? Last time I checked he didn't create them gay, bisexual, vegetarisagnan, or statudaterapist, right? Isn't it time we started seeing beyond sex and into the will of God?
I have been thinking a lot lately about the Church's teaching on homosexuality (nothing like taking a 90degree turn in topics, eh?) vs. that of the contemporary world. We hear all about the agendas of the homosexual lobby...equal rights, "same-sex marriage", homophobia, special status for the LGTB community, etc. I believe that people are getting so hammered with the radical gay lobby that people are beginning to lose sight of the underlying issue, or maybe they've never given this topic a second thought.
The Church, of course, teaches that same-sex relations are inherently wrong, due to the disordered nature of these acts. Our sexuality is given to us to use with dignity and towards the intended aim of sex: unity and procreation. You can't have one without the other for a chaste union. But, this is common argument material. What has really been on my mind lately is the nature of the arguments that gay/lesbian/transgendered/bisexual promoters use. Rather than approach these acts from a point of human well-being and personhood, as does the traditional understanding of man and woman, they approach these "lifestyles" from a purely sexual perspective.
For the first time in history, men and women are being defined by their sexual preference. Not their accomplishments, rank, status, or most importantly their existence as individuals made in God's image...but by the ways in which they choose to act out their sexual appetites. Using this same logic of classifying a person by their drives would be like asking for special status for vegetarian lasagna lovers. In the lasagna eaters world vegetarian lasagna lovers are a minority and should be given special treatment, right? Or, to hit closer to home...why not statutory rapists? That 25 year old guy really loved the 15 year old girl he was dating...people may look down on his actions but he can't help the way he feels, right? Shouldn't he be given the right to act the way he pleases?
Now, I'm not promoting the incarceration of people who, for whatever reason, feel attracted to persons of the same sex. Nor am I trying to put them on the level of a criminal. Every person, without exception, should be shown the same love that Christ shows us every day and be allowed free will. What I am promoting, however, is a logical and reasonable critique of the arguments that GLBT lobbyists use. People should not be classified by their sexual preference. Men and women have been created thus...man and woman, a binary species like every other, but with a reasoning soul and the ability to see beyond simple drives. God created them male and female, right? Last time I checked he didn't create them gay, bisexual, vegetarisagnan, or statudaterapist, right? Isn't it time we started seeing beyond sex and into the will of God?
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