Justice and Forgiveness
Christians follow simple guidelines to help them get through some of life’s problems. One of the most important is to “love your enemy”, which Jesus taught in “ Sermon on the Mount”, that way you learn to forgive people for doing any wrong to you. Christians take these teachings very seriously, because Jesus taught it to them and they believe that if they don’t forgive others, then God will not forgive them. That’s kike in a parable of “The Unmerciful Servant”, the king forgave his servant but when he found out that he was being unforgiving to another servant he threw him in prison. It isn’t very easy to follow the rules even for a Christian because if someone does something horrible to you, you would want to return the insult and hurt them. If they find it hard to forgive they often pray to God to give them strength to do it. An example of a Christian who has lived out Jesus’ teachings and forgiveness and love of enemy is Corrie Ten Boom, when she forgave the people who killed her sister and an ex-guard at the concentration camp during the Second World War. When Peter asked Jesus about the number of times he should forgive people, Jesus said that you should keep on forgiving non-stop. Even if someone does something that is really wrong then you should still be willing to forgive. However Christians still believe that the offender should get a just punishment for their crime.
Christians believe that punishment and forgiveness should go together because as the state punishes the wrong doer the Christian should also forgive them at the same time. Christians believe that some criminals were forced to commit the crimes they did because they were brought up that way or they might be drug addicts and so Christians want to understand the causes of their crimes and help them reform so they can lead a better life. Jesus also taught not to take revenge, because that’s hate and they were taught to love. The part about punishment should be left to the state authorities and God, because they are the only ones that can carry out the punishment. The most important thing about punishment, Christians believe, is that it is just. There is no point in making it too harsh because then it wouldn’t be a fitting punishment and the aim of the punishment is to reform the offender not bring about revenge. The punishment should be about showing the wrong doer that what they’ve done was wrong and give them a chance to change. Christians believe in forgiving people and they think we should be like that towards criminals as well, because after all they are people too. Although Christians do believe that in order to be forgiven you have to say that you are sorry and the perfect example of that would be the parable of “The Lost Son” where a son has wasted all his father’s inheritance on reckless living and was forced to work with pigs. Then the son went back to his father because he wanted to work for him, because he admitted he was no longer was he worthy to be his son. His father didn’t want to hear any of it and instead threw a big feast for his lost son, because he has been lost and now is found. Hence, the Christians think of all the criminals as lost sons because they haven’t found “true happiness and freedom” with God as quoted from Billie McCurrie, who became a Christian in the Maze prison.
