Sunday, January 15, 2012

Mercy vs Justice

"Get the Bad Guy"

It seems so many people are so eager to "get the bad guy" movies celebrate this, as the bad guy finally gets what he deserves in the end. Video games teach you how to constantly focus on destroying the "bad guy". Our God given sense of justice and righteous retribution can become overly honed to quickly and furiously destroy the "bad guy".

Unfortunately these same dimwits, are often quick to shallow judgement, not not take the emotional time to truly listen and understand others. Eager to "get the bad guy" they bounce at their first sign of it. 

How easy it is to persuade someone they are "getting the bad guy". How quick and easy it is for someone to rush to judgement and decide an innocent is guilty. And they swoop in to destroy someone, even those who are near and should be dear to them. From OWS, to gangs, even in their own homes. Dimwits overly zealous to "get the bad guy" swoop in, destroy, never knowing or accepting or taking to time to find out they are hurting the innocent, and they themselves become the "bad guy" by hurting the innocent. 

After the first act of "Punishing the bad guy"  Any attempt by the innocent to defend or explain themselves is beat down, because that would make the punisher face their own guilt.  If the person they punished, was actually innocent then they themselves are guilty.  


Any attempt to plead with the punisher only motivates them to greater cruelty.

The Crucifiers of Christ hearts were filled with the "Get the bad Guy" mentality. They actually believed they were the good guys.

That is why Christ taught what he did. Oh, I do believe in "getting the bad guy" and getting them good. But I also believe in taking the time to get it right. 


"Just be Nice"


On the other far side of the "get the bad guy" spectrum is the overzealous mercy side, "Just be nice." How just being nice and bringing someone to Christ can save souls. 

We've all heard and read the articles of a almost victim of a violent bad guy, says Christly things and gives the bad guy warm fuzzies, they repent and get better. But we also read of kindly Christians getting killed trying to give warm fuzzies to violent bad guys. 

"Just be nice" is great until taken to the wrong extreme. "Oh he raped you, Just be nice." "Oh he threatened to kill your baby. Just be nice." 

These become the people who sit back and do nothing about injustice and abuse against themselves and others.

Just as an overzealous sense of "get that bad guy" can destroy the innocent, "Just be nice" can be misused to enable abusers to rule, crush and destroy, all the while thinking they are Christlike buy being nice to the bad guy while they continue to wreak havoc. There is a time to "be nice", and their is a time to "get the bad guy". 

Mercy and Justice have to balance.

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