God is Holy and Just
If one can avoid fighting over mere words, the better. It is only appropriate to fight back out of self-defense or to handle things legally through the court of law. In watching part of a crime show, Murder Made Me Famous, I learned about a murder motivated by a false sense of vengeance against the system of justice. In short, a man served in prison for 18 years for a crime he didn’t commit, but upon release he committed an actual crime that he now serves for life.
I was watching tv in the break room while on my lunch (who knows why the food store invests its money in DirecTV service) and there was a story on Reelz about a guy who served a crime he didn’t commit and he had purchased a small tv to watch in his cell. He became hardened by the experience, and his cellmate recalled that it was like the tv was doing the time for him. The show even mentioned a Netflix series called, making a Murderer. Some criticism to the series was due to the fact that details were missing. After the man served his time (or tv) he later did commit a brutal crime and was sentenced to life in prison. What was the criticism? The Netflix series being criticized by the Reelz show put forward that it made light of his actual crime that he was guilty of, leaving out the reasonable evidence.
Now the writers/directors of this Netflix series seem to be approving murder. It’s not as severe an issue as committing the crime. But this sort of messaging only encourages people to lash out, to avenge themselves. And that’s kind of what we do when we hold others in contempt. Have you ever been angry with someone without a cause or ever hated anyone? It’s not right for one to take matters into their own hands. For the Christian the aim is to be at peace to the best of one’s ability, but it can’t always be helped if someone gets offended by just anything (like not using the preferred pronouns).
However, the one we don’t want to offend is God. But really, we all have actually offended Him. It is His right to take vengeance in the way He sees fit. He made clear in His Word what offends Him, namely sin. In Hebrews 9:27 it reads, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”. [This following is written by Ray Comfort] In one ten-year period in the United States, 100,000 murderers were never brought to justice…It makes sense that if He is good and just, He should be angry with those who have taken the lives of others, and He should punish murderers, rapists, etc. This is the teaching of the Bible—that God will “by no means clear the guilty.” He “will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” “God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Ex 34:7; Ecc 12:14; Ps 7:11)
