Vengeance
is Mine, I Will Repay, Says the Lord
Why is this so hard for me to
believe? Why
do we think that if we could mete out the punishment
to certain offenders, that our way would work better? Even
though God gave us the 10 Commandments, he didn't
always describe the punishment in enough detail to
cover those of us who violate them in 2007,
when accompanied by our defense lawyer. Hipocracy
is on exhibit in so many places in our world and
yet Jesus challenges us to not be like the Pharisees. Just
recently, a friend who has been on many mission trips
was talking about how he thought things would be
different if our leaders would just experience some
of what he had seen in the villages of Thailand where
the sex slave industry is estimated to be 12% to
15% of that country's GDP.
So... with neither malice nor vengeance
in mind, here are some thoughts on problem solving
and some human thoughts about justice:
1. Every elected US Senator;
member of the House of Representatives; member of
the Cabinet; and the President and Vice President
must enlist at least one of their children, grandchildren,
or closest relatives who is between the ages of 18
and 30 to be part of the military. It seems
like our wars might end sooner.
2. Anyone who approves
a foreign aid bill to an African country must drive
themselves from Nairobi to Mombassa to see what
happened with moneys previously approved to build
that road.
3. If your hedge
fund owned subprime mortgages that just foreclosed
on Katrina victims, you must go and occupy the
homes that were foreclosed during the rest of the
hurricane season.
4. If you are guilty of dog fighting, the
pit bulls get first rights to sentencing. (actually,
they would be more forgiving than any of us)
5. Before you get angry
and throw a golf club after a bad shot or a bad
hole, spend a week in a mud hut in Kenya with a
family of orphans who have all lost their parents
to HIV AIDS (that one's for me)
6. For each complaint
parents have about the school system, they get
to volunteer for a day and experience the school
day up close and personal as a teachers aid.
The more I think about it, I
am so glad that Jesus instructed us to not be in
the business of vengeance. This
is really hard work and these ideas probably
wouldn't work anyway. You can feel free to send
me some of your solutions if you would like to help
God out with his justice system.
Hebrews 10:30 says, "For we know him who said, 'Vengeance
is mine I will repay'. And again, 'The Lord
will judge his people'. It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God."
I do fear falling into the hands
of the living God!
Sent August 20,
2007
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