By the sinner expressing sorrow at their own sinfulness as the younger son does, the response of the father (who symbolises God) is to welcome his returning son home without any reservations. Even when Jesus himself was being crucified he said "father forgive them for they do not know what they do." This shows that whatever the circumstances God is ready to forgive and show compassion.
There is a belief around Christians that if God can forgive then we can therefore forgive one another. Jesus’ death on the cross made the basis of people believing in forgiveness of others. Jesus had forgiven the people who put him on the cross to be crucified.
In the Catholic faith the Sacrament of Reconciliation asks a person to have second thoughts about the way they live their life, to confess their sins and by doing that to reform their lives for the future instead of living through a life of sinfulness. Sinfulness can in some cases go from sin to something more serious in society: crimes which can mean prison sentences, fines or community service.
The “pattern of Reconciliation” is (sorrow) to realise you have done something wrong. Without realising you have done wrong, you can’t move onto the next stage which is confessing by saying that you have done wrong. By doing this you are taking responsibility yourself for what you have done. The whole aim of reconciliation is to forgive, so the sinner will then ask for forgiveness and try to begin again or “wipe the slate clean”. In consequence of committing the sin, after being forgiven penance will be expected. This makes for the damage that has been done, or for the hurt caused. It rebuilds your relationship with God and the community.
Forgiveness helps people to stop dwelling on the past and focus more accurately on the present. But by not forgiving, people miss the positive aspects of life, it can change a person.
Skill AO2- attitudes: show how Christianity is relevant to the topic
Name one crime you consider to be serious.
Explain how a Christian would want a criminal who has committed a serious crime to be treated.
Crime is on the increase in all parts of the world. It is committed by many and even those who are a part of Christianity. However there is a very important difference between crimes and sins, although they are alike.
The dictionary definition of crime is an act punishable by law. Crime is an act which breaks society’s laws. I would describe sin as a crime against God. Crime can also be described as the breaking of a religious or moral law.
However it is found that there is usually a reason for somebody to commit a crime. A person may commit a crime for a number of reasons. Some of the causes of crime today are: greed, personal revenge, unemployment and boredom, influence of newspapers and television (e.g. violence from films or TV programmes), poor environment, careless neglect and the demands of drug adduction. Many drugs are not only illegal but it costs a lot to pay for the addiction. This leads to the person committing further crimes.
The assortment of crimes is wide. Some crimes are minor, for example speeding and various crimes can be serious such as murder. Because of this variety in the severity of crimes, the punishments for committing them also vary in accordance with the severity.
The most common forms of punishments for breaking the law are attendance centres, community service, probation, fines, imprisonment and capital (corporal) punishment.
Only the most shocking crimes that have been committed, sometimes call for the death penalty. Some people would disagree with the death penalty as it is unjust and unfair because the criminal does not suffer for what they have done or learn that it was wrong. Or get reformed. Although the reasons people agree with the use of capital punishment are because it prevents the offender from causing more harm to the community and from breaking any further laws. Capital punishment often discourages members of the public from doing any serious crimes as they realise some of the gruesome forms that can be used in capital punishment.
In my opinion, in a Christian Society capital punishment would not be a suitable method of punishing because God made this Earth, he made the life in it too. To destroy a human life through capital punishment would be the wrong thing to do; it would be destroying a part of something God created- a human life.
In a Christian’s view although it is just to punish those who have broken society’s laws, would it not be better for the offender to be forgiven and if possible to also be reformed. It would be a better use of a life. Reforming somebody’s life can also have a positive effect on the community as well as the person him/herself.
A form of punishment that a Christian would be in favour of is attendance centres. At these is an opportunity to reform the attitudes which have previously led to crime. Another form of punishment that would be in favour is community service because it gives a chance to reform and has a positive effect on the community. It’s just like an unreligious penance.
Prison could be seen as a “just” punishment because prison could also be a way to reform prisoners. Someone being isolated from reality of life can help a prisoner appreciate normal things from life and try not to re-offend again.
Skill AO3- Evaluate issues: evaluate different responses to religious/moral issues
“There could be no such thing as prison in a truly Christian Society”. Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer, showing that you have considered more than one point of view.
There are many reasons why punishments are given. The five main aims of punishment are called protection, retribution, deterrence, vindication and reform.
Most Christians believe that punishment and forgiveness can go together. They also believe that they should be involved in preventing crime rather than just continue punishing it. Over the last 150 years many Christians have worked towards the idea of reforming criminals as they see the idea of reform as the most important part of punishment. Forgiveness and Reconciliation are important. They believe the best way of “punishment” is reform. People who commit crimes need help. Linked to the punishment will be help that will stop them from offending again.
Elizabeth Fry was shocked by the appalling conditions in which female prisoners and their children were kept. She significantly contributed to improving the treatment of prisoners especially those that were female. All of the work done changed prisons across the world. Prisons were no longer seen only as an act of punishment but now also as a way of reforming prisoners. She did this as a Christian and because of her religiously inspired thinking about prisoners was that they were fellow human beings.
This is an example of a crime that Christians may debate upon whether the punishment is fair. Imagine a man’s wife being heavily pregnant and unexpectedly her water breaks. In a mad rush- they speed in their car to the nearest hospital. As he drives the car, he is unable to concentrate correctly on the road and keeps glancing at his wife to see how she’s going. Because of his lack of concentration he then hits something heavy on the front of his car. He now automatically slams the breaks down, gets out of his car and searches for whatever he had just hit. To their horror he discovers the body of a young child and finds that the child is dead.
Now Christians would debate about this incident because although it was an accidental, non-alcohol related death, an innocent child has just been killed. Therefore the parents would want justice to eliminate some of the emotional pain of their child dying. The man that ran over the young child would be punished for vindication. Vindication is when people must be punished so that the laws will be respected. This is against the statement of “love thy neighbour”, although it is justice, it also seen as an act of revenge. There is no need to reform the offender, it was an accident. The grieving parents that say he should go to prison are against Jesus’ teaching.
I think we should impose our religion on other people because it would do them some good. By imposing our religion on people, we would turn them into Christians which would make them into better people. They would learn the parables of Jesus and from learning the lessons are a better person in society. I think there would be less crimes and less hatred in the world. Most importantly of all, if people would have faith they would believe that we all have a purpose in this world that could prevent them from breaking laws etc. They could love one another and proceed in an important teaching of Jesus: “love thy neighbour”.
Although it would be wonderful if we could impose our religion on all of society, I believe it is impossible. I believe there would be no such thing as a truly Christian society because we now live in a multicultural society. Many people are too drawn into their own religion to be converted to Christianity and others like atheists have no interest in believing in things that they can’t see, like God for example.
We are as human beings all unique, in that we are able to make our own choices. Since the beginning of the human race it has been necessary to make laws and codes. Laws are the foundation of society, without them life would be chaotic. We have these laws because of the small amount of people that disobey the laws and threaten the stability of society. With these laws come punishments which are necessary. Human beings are quite complicated and so is the world we live in. In the Old and New Testaments things were very different. Life then was much simpler and the laws given then reflect this. One law from the bible for example was “thou shall not commit adultery”.
My overall conclusion is there could never be a truly Christian Society. There will also be crimes because people will always have the free will of choosing what they want to do.