Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Vengeance is MINE

There are a number of verses in the Bible which refer to this oft-repeated message:  'Vengeance is the Lord's'.  Most of which come back around to the fact that if we love our neighbor as we have been commanded to do, we can't also have a vengeful heart.  Sometimes, the Old Testament pronouncements are seemingly meant for the ancient Hebrews and sometimes they're meant for all people and sometimes, it isn't clear.  Paul states the case that THIS one is meant for all people.

Romans 12:19
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Leviticus 19:18
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 32:35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."

At the same time, it appears that the Bible sanctions the notion that we are free to wish for a holy justice to be done.

Psalm 94:1
O LORD, the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth.

1 Samuel 26:10
As surely as the LORD lives," he said, "the LORD himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

The question that we might ask is this:  why is God allowed vengeance and His followers are not?  The answer is fundamental to our existence - we over do it.  Show up for a fist fight and someone brings a knife.  Have a knife fight and someone brings a gun.  Some bully steals a kid's lunch money and calls him a dork, the kid shows up the next day and starts shooting.  We are incapable of meting out proper justice within the framework of vengeance because our self-interest gets in the way.  It is such a powerful compulsion - to deliver what is deserved and some extra to make us feel better - that God says, 'Don't even try it.'

God DOES however allow a mechanism for punishing those who break laws and who threaten safety.  The State.  The State is not holy, nor always just.  But the State IS God's vehicle for us to use both internally and externally to right wrongs.

First, we must understand there are different systems of right and wrong in play.  One system is God's system and whether you agree with it or not, the Biblical spectrum is clear:  that we have all sinned and because of that fact, we all find ourselves under the 'good' line.  I might launch into a discussion of salvation and the imputed righteousness doctrine but I'll save that for another time

There's another 'system' which is unique to each individual - we all have an understanding of what constitutes a good person and what constitutes a bad person and as broadly as we want to apply our understanding, it is a personal thing.  Indeed, it is sometimes even a moving target.  Not wholly reliable, but powerful in eliciting emotion and reaction.  We all see people on the news doing horrible things.  And the reaction is often one of disgust and hate.  A Christian worldview should not prompt these things but instead should remind us that, our own actions are every bit as offensive to God.  The correct reaction should be compassion, even while pursuing a course of redress through proper channels.

There are others.  Global, cultural, societal, and national morals exist and all have different differences.  I was at my son's baseball game the other day and as I often do, I was chewing and spitting sunflower seeds.  I couldn't help but think about the recent controversy that happened in Dubai where the citizens of that country were particularly offended at the sight of Tiger Woods spitting on the golf course.  It is apparently, a breach of that society's rules.  While our nation's laws and collective ethos fall short of God's, (can't throw everyone in prison, right?) they are still necessary and needfully administered.  God recognizes the need for 'earthly' authority to police 'earthly' wrongdoers.

My point?  There have been many over the last few days who have celebrated the death of Osama bin Laden.  There have been others who have questioned this action.  And I'm sure there are others (than myself) who have feelings of tension and internal conflict.  As I said to one friend, "I'm happy about it but I'm not feeling great about being happy about it."

1.  Biblically speaking, an attitude of hate, yes, even toward the most vile person in existence, is wrong and sinful.  To act on this hatred is wrong as well.  If I adopt God's view of man, I must acknowledge that apart from Christ, I am no better and I must seek an extra measure of grace in how I think about my enemies.

2.  To celebrate this enemy's death, IN AN ATTITUDE OF PERSONAL HATRED, is also wrong.  As the King quote so aptly put it, 'darkness can not drive out darkness'.

3.  To act as an instrument of the government (this is also an argument for capital punishment, by the way) and hunt and kill an enemy who threatens the citizens, is not morally wrong.  In fact, taken to its logical conclusion, any other view would necessarily make one a pacifist.  I would even extend this thought to say to NOT kill could be considered immoral and in this case, it would be the mark of an immoral government were we to let the man go unpunished.

4.  Furthermore, a celebration of justice and the death of an enemy of our people is right and just.  Provided the celebration is recognizing the death as a collective victory and a means to a more secure end and not a fulfillment of a personal vendetta.  Admittedly, this is easier said than done.  I have crossed the line into personal hatred and this has been the emotional roller coaster of the week.  I won't go so far as to say I shouldn't be glad that he is gone, but I should never allow myself to be glad at the destruction of a human being.

Is this even possible given the inherent contradiction?  I think so.  An analogy might serve us well.  I think of the judge in court.  Who is, on the one hand, derelict in his duties if he doesn't rightly interpret the law and mandate punishment.  In a sense, he can be glad at the end of the day, once justice has been carried forward.  In another sense, he would and should, mourn the fact that human beings will be punished and suffer because of the law.  It should NEVER mean that he fails to administer the law out of some distorted view of compassion and forgiveness.  As a human he is called to forgive and as an officer of the magistrate, he is called to duty.

The difference between right and wrong in this instance is to me, very clear.  Yet the line is razor thin and it seems we're all right up against it, on one side or the other.

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