I'm Just Kidding!

Proverbs 26:18-19 Like a madman who throws flaming darts and deadly arrows, so is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”(HCSB)

What goes through your mind when you read your daily news papers? You read of a man who grabs a gun and walks to a neighboring village to spray bullets at unsuspecting victims. You read of a student who brings a gun into his school and slays at random everyone in his vicinity? Are you appalled? These are madmen who throw flaming bullets and deadly arrows. We should be grievous at the sinful behavior in our world. But should we be equally grievous at a justice system that treats criminals as victims, and victims without justice?

You would never think of yourself as a madman would you? If you have ever purposely deceived another person, only to blurt out “oh, I’m just kidding,” when you got caught; you are exactly like the madman. You have the same heart as the madman, and God sees and judges the heart of man. The difference between you and the madman is only one of degree. You both begin with the same heart that seeks to deceive and wound another human being. The madman does not fear the consequences of his behavior, so he takes his actions to the extreme. You do fear the consequences of being caught, so you deceive in a lesser degree.

Throughout my sinful past, I have deceived many people in the way that I am describing. I feared being in jail, so that kept me restrained in some degree. The justice system the Old Testament prescribes would have hindered even further my past behavior. “Stripe for stripe, skin for skin, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Do you think our justice system is good? A system that seeks to reform and correct the criminal, instead of being an arm of justice? Which philosophy hinders crime, and protects society more? Just some ponderings...