Vengeance is Not For You

Leviticus 19:18

You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people,

but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:35

"Vengeance is mine, and recompense,

for the time when their foot shall slip;

for the day of their calamity is at hand,

and their doom comes swiftly."

Romans 12:19

"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,

'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.'"

Citizens of the United States of America would do well to heed these passages from the inspired Word of God. Little of our justice system is about justice; most is about vengeance.

What is the knee-jerk response when Americans watch a news report of this or that alleged crime? "Get him! The simplest explanation is the most likely! Take him off the streets! He belongs in jail!" Rarely does the news-watcher stop to think that the report might be incomplete, inaccurate or, perhaps even biased and slanted against the alleged perpetrator. One only has to look at the comment section of any article concerning arrests and investigations to see that this is the case.

Perhaps there is more - much more! - to the story than is being, or may ever be, reported. Our love of open-and-shut TV crime dramas has contributed to our completely warped sense of "innocent until proven guilty". In fact, when it comes to alleged child abuse and government property seizures, the accused is now legally guilty until proven innocent. EVERYBODY MUST SLOW DOWN. Seeing a report of an arrest, or even a conviction, is misleading.

Most of the time, those accused are advised to plead guilty in order to avoid the possibility of much longer, much more terrible sentences. In fact, convictions are all the District Attorneys actually care about, not the sentencing itself. Today, it is very dangerous to actually fight a legal accusation by the government. Think about it: the government (the DA) is accusing you, and you have to prove to the government (the judge) that you are innocent. If convicted, you face possible maximum sentencing which can and does completely ruin lives. Pleading guilty avoids very expensive trials and lessens very, very expensive (in financial and other ways) jail time.

Therefore, a conviction does not necessarily mean guilt. Furthermore, our country has both the highest per capita prison population in the world, and THE HIGHEST TOTAL PRISON POPULATION IN THE WORLD. Holy freaking crap. Why is this? In large part because of the aforementioned guilty-pleading situation. But also because of the enormous amount of non-violent drug offenders. Thanks to these drug laws, the non-violent drug offenders often end up becoming violent crime offenders as well.

So, instead of jumping to the conclusion that anyone who has been accused of a crime is quite obviously the worst person in the world, take a second to think about the situation first, and what type of canvas our wonderful government has provided on which these situations have been painted.

Finally, remember that even if a person has committed a crime, is actually proven guilty (how often does that happen?), and is convicted, our job is not to enact vengeance!!! The prison system currently is basically one long spanking for adults. How about dealing with the actual problem?

For example: a 16-year old boy steals $50 worth of merchandise from a convenience store, physically hurting no one. Let's have him pay the store back $200. If he cannot do so, he is now a forced employee of the store until his debt is paid. Or what if someone is drunk and drives his car into the front of a person's house? Assess the damage, and that person loses control of his finances until he pays back the damage in full - all the damage, whatever that may be.

Wait a minute. I think I have heard of something like this before...it's coming to me...I got it - it's from the Bible! Exodus 22 has very specific laws for restitution. There is no jail. There is no punishment. There is restitution. The victim is not only restored, but actually benefits from the situation. The thief now has real incentive not to steal in the future. The government no longer has incentive to make more laws, because it doesn't actually benefit from crimes being committed. A side note here - it's not good when the government benefits from crimes being committed.

Once again, God makes the best laws. Humans suck at it. Between Deuteronomy, Romans, and Exodus, the Bible has a much better plan for how to deal with crimes than our draconian and completely corrupt US government. Don't feed the beast by buying into the idea that we need to get that guy who allegedly just committed a crime. Use a filter for the information you are receiving, and have mercy on the people who have (or may not have!) just done something really stupid.

Look for justice, not vengeance. Even though our awful government will completely screw up the situation, you'll at least know how it should be handled, and your personal understanding and application of justice, wisdom, and mercy will be through the roof. It may even help you in your dealings with your children or other homo sapiens.