Justice served

I intentionally did not put punction on the title because it couldn't decide if it would be a statement or a question.

Read this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20514969/

This case for some reason has really hit me hard. Violent acts happen all the time, even in our city, but I guess since many CCU students attend our church and I've had many friends go there, I could really relate to this situation. A young, Christian couple, enjoying a date where they walked across the river. The fact that this girl was a virgin (I would still consider her a virgin and I hope she does as well) makes it hit home for me even more. The powerlessness of the boyfriend to not be able to do anything I think tugs at every male wondering how they would be able to handle the situation. We, as men, always think that we would be able to overcome challenges and protect our loved ones in situations like this, although it is morbidly obvious that that is not the case.

I struggle with forgiveness in these situations. Since justice in the sentencing appears to be served by him getting the max, and it appears he will not be able to do harm to others not I get myself to a place where I could forgive (with repentance) but I can't squelch the hatred I still have. Does that mean I don't forgive?

I like to think that I have hatred for the act, not the person. I truly do feel bad for the person as he is obviously mentally ill and I'm assuming his upbringing has skewed his view of right and wrong. It does make me challenge our current penal system and I do think there are better ways to reform our society.

So two thoughts for everyone reading this:

1) We must drive change and I firmly believe that education is a driver in getting people the knowledge and ability to make choices that are good for them and society. There are numerous organizations in our city/country that educate and I don't mean just in schools but on life skills. This is one of the reasons I am active with Healthy Visions. (www.healthyvisions.org). Once a cycle begins, poor parenting, lack of focus on good choices, etc. it is extremely difficult to break out of that cycle because you will lack role models, etc.

2) There must be a better way to operate our prison system. I heard a statistic once that over half of inmates are mentally ill. I think it stems from point 1, but there must be a way to treat people of the illness instead of just putting them in prison. For those who know me, you know that I definitely feel that people should pay the consequences for their actions but at the same time we must, as a society, work to help people instead of just treating the symptoms by just punishing them for their actions.

To me, this is where the church needs to step in. We're obviously missing the boat and it is most definitely not the government's place to fix our morality. We, as a church, must quit being the degraded idiots and step up and make a change.