Can This Be Done?

Jesus said to his disciples:

"You have heard that it was said,

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.

When someone strikes you on your right cheek,

turn the other one to him as well.

It is a time of trouble for the Church. The Church is surrounded on all sides by those that wish her harm. In the Middle East, the very cradle of the Christian Faith we have seen more blood spilled since the time of the first Christians. Terrorists have killed innocent men, women, and children because the will not betray the Son of God. In our own country, our government has in recent time trampled upon the religious rights of its citizens, attempting to force even religious orders to provide contraception and abortion as part of the benefits that they provide their employees. Temporarily, the pressure has been removed because of the change of regime that came about this last January. Certainly, the amount of discrimination that is occurring against Christians in this country cannot be compared with that which is happening in the East. 

People in the East are willing to die rather than to forsake their Christian beliefs.  It has always been so in the Christian Church. Today, you can go on YouTube and easily find things that are pro-church and anti-church. On other places on the web, you can view evil men killing believers just because they are believers. What is it about this Jesus that makes people loyal unto death?  This is not a new thing, From the first century, Christians went to their deaths out of their love for Jesus and one another. The love the Christians had for one another was what attracted people to their group.  It was a different way of living in a culture that was cruel and hateful.  

I believe that inside of us all there is a desire to love and be loved. Through the generations, this desire has remained and we spend our time looking for what in most civilizations is lacking.  For the most part, we spend our lives being hunters and gatherers.  We reach out for the tings that we believe will make us happy.  Included on this list of things are food and shelter. I do not think that it is natural for a human being to say, "I now have enough."  I remember reading a story in high school about a man who visits a land where the natives will give him all of the lands that he can walk over in a twenty-four hour period.  There is just one rule.  He had to make it back to the starting position or he would get nothing. The man begins his walk and he notices how beautiful the land was. He walked over a huge portion of flat land that would be perfect for farming. He walked around a beautiful lake that would supply all of the fish he needed. He walked this way and he walked that way.  Time was running short he looked at his watch, he had to get back to the starting line.  He began to run.  Those hills that just yesterday which allowed him such breath-taking views of what was his now caused his legs to tire.  Minutes to go he sped up and just yards from the goal, he fell down dead.  The natives laughed and buried him where he lay.  In the end, the man claimed eighteen square feet of land, six feet down and three feet across. 

For the Christians, there was the point when they said that they had enough.  That point came when the love of Christ and their brothers and sisters filled up their hearts.  They shared with one another and they smiled and life became joyful.  This joyfulness was both a blessing and a curse.  For the world does not like to see what they do not understand.  What cannot be understood must be destroyed so that the normal way of hate and greed can be restored.  Yet, many were attracted to the Christian way because they saw it as the ultimate good and could change what was a hard life into what would become a joyful life as burdens were shared and people were loved for who they were and not what they could do for you. 

In the Eastern lands, the Islamic terrorists cannot understand the joy of these Christian people and so the will endeavor to destroy what they cannot understand. The Christians are not willing to give up the perfect joy of Christ for the misery of indentured servitude.  And so, they willingly accept death instead of betraying the One Who loves them. They know that their joy will be complete when they are with Jesus and while they do not look for martyrdom, they embrace it when it comes.  They do not die in vain.  Their example, their love for one another, will plant seeds in the desert and the seeds will grow and many of those whose lives are filled with hate for all things Christian will find themselves irresistibly drawn to the joy of Christ.  This is what happened in the first century and it is going to happen now. 

In America, our dry martyrdom cannot be compared to those who have given their lives for their belief in Christ.  But, we too will attract more believers if we stick to what Jesus has told us.  We are to turn the other cheek, we are to help carry other's burdens, we are to show love to our enemies and keep a holy joy in our heart.  It will not be easy for we run counter-culture to a people who seem to be in love with things that go against the law of God.  They confuse convenience with happiness and pleasure with joy.  Our example to them is that they can have so much more following Jesus than they can on their own.  

Today, I pray for the martyrs in the mid-East.  I thank God for them and for the example that they set for me.  I also pray that God moves His hand end brings to a conclusion the bloodshed in this part of the world.  I pray for our nation, that we take to heart the laws that God has given us so that we may have a happy life here and eternal life with Him later.  May we once again sing "God Bless America" and know that He will. 

The Death Penalty

On June 21, 2016 Pope Francis that "No matter how serious the crime it is an offense to the inviolability of life and the dignity of the human person, as well as a contradiction if God's plan and His Merciful Justice." (Catholic News Service) He went on to say that the death penalty is not justice, it is revenge.  
The pope is correct in his thinking here.  Although there are many examples of people being condemned to death and being executed in the Bible, let's look at the first reported murder, the case Cain versus Able. The motive for this killing was simple jealousy and Cain slew his brother because he was jealous because God did not accept his sacrifice.  God of course knew what Cain had done.  Did He apply the death penalty? Actually no he did not. He sent Cain off to exile. 

The Bible says "Whoever sheds the blood of men shall his blood be shed for God made man in His image."  The catechism says that the death penalty may be used if there is no other way to protect society from harm from the perpetrator.  Today we have such a method, it is called "Life in prison without the possibility of parole."  We can take the worst of the worst and keep them away from others until such time as God calls them home in order to answer for their crimes before His tribunal. 

Maybe we are too concerned about the perpetrators here and are not considering the victims?  Let's talk about them a bit. Very often it is claimed that the execution of the one that hurt their loved one brings closure.  If you do a little bit of research you will find that, in America, the long time between conviction and the ultimate execution keeps the wound fresh red and raw in the victim's family.  Then when the execution finally does occur there is no closure because many of the families realize that this second killing did not bring back their loved one. 

What are Christians such as you and I supposed to do?  Jesus is very clear on this.  We are to love one another as ourselves and we are to include our enemies in this.  We are to turn the other cheek.  But since we are to love others as we love ourselves we are also allowed to deal a lethal blow to defend our lives against an aggressor.  What I think we are being asked to do is to err on the side of mercy.  

Let me tell you a personal story.  My mother, Violet, was a wonderful woman. She had a hard life growing up during the depression.  Her mother wasn't especially good to her during her childhood.  She grew up, dropped out of high school and obtained work in a defense plant.  After the war she met my father, married, and gave birth to me and my siblings. She was always looking for happiness to come into her from outside, she never learned that happiness comes from within. She ended up divorcing my father and she went to work for our family doctor. When he retired she continued working for the doctor that bought the practice.  Part of her compensation package was that she was to receive free health care from them.  This doctor apparently took this obligation with a grain of salt.  She misdiagnosed a growth on my mothers skin and prescribed an ointment to fix it.  It was not going away but she really could care less because she was not receiving any money for treating my mother.  Mom was getting very concerned and she went to see her former employer who recognized it as what it was, cancer.  She was immediately put into the hospital where she received the news that it would have to be removed.  The surgery went well and afterward the follow up showed no return of the cancer.  Then on the third follow up it was discovered that the cancer had indeed returned and had invaded her lungs and that her condition was terminal.  She went to a surgeon who said she could buy herself more time if she had the tumors removed.  She was scheduled for surgery and the doctor came to see us and gave us the good news that it had gone well and that she might have as much as a year or a year and a half to live.  Three days post op she went into a coma and died.  At the funeral a lady came up to me and offered condolences which I accepted.  My younger sister came up to me and said that that was the doctor mom had worked for.  I looked at this so called doctor and my heart filled with hate and rage.  I never knew I could feel such negative emotions as I did at that minute.  I nurtured those feelings over the next months.  I also went into a deep and dark depression that lasted for six months!  Then one day I realized that I was a Christian and Jesus was calling me to forgive.  I did forgive this worthless excuse of a doctor, gave her an unconditional pardon and at that moment my depression lifted and I felt once again the warmth of God's love filling my heart.  Don't get me wrong, I wound not cultivate a relationship with this doctor, I would not take her to lunch, or play Parcheesi with her, but I no longer wished her any harm and placed her under God's care. 

Jesus knew that forgiving brings its own rewards and that is why he asks us to do not the impossible, but the very, very, very, difficult and forgive those that do harm to us. 

What are my views on the death penalty?  In general I am against it.  I think there are some people whose offenses are so heinous that the death penalty has to be on the books to deal with them.  I cannot imagine the world would be better off if we kept people like John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, or others like them alive.  But they are the exceptions to the rule. 

The death penalty is fraught with the danger that an innocent person will be put to death.  IF you are poor, black, living in Texas, or California, Alabama, or Florida you are likely to get the death penalty if you are found guilty of murder.  In Texas there is was a ruling that a capital defendant is entitled to a lawyer but they don't have to be awake during the trial.  This is true I swear it.  Let's face it, once you are dead, you are dead even if ten minutes or ten years later DNA evidence proves that you are not guilty.  And let's not forget if you execute the wrong person, the killer is still at large. 

So I guess I for the most part agree with Pope Francis. Let's get rid of the death penalty.  It's time to prove that we can be better that the people we jail.  It really makes no sense to kill people to teach them not to kill.   What do you think?