Just out of curiousity

[MikePantelides]

If you were called to jury service, isn't it against our beliefs to condemn or judge someone. Christianity is about love and forgiveness, technically we should not be in a jury, am I right in thinking this? How can we call anyone guilty?

Any thoughts on this?

 

[TheDag]

There are several passages in the NT that say we can correct a fellow christian who is in error. This leads me to think that judging is a little more involved than what jury duty would be.

I also agree that christianity is about love and forgiveness. However it is not about there being no consequences for actions. There is a price that has to be paid when we sin. This I believe is part of the reason why in Romans the question is asked "Should we then go on sinning so that grace may abound?" and the answer is a strong emphatic "Certainly not". So just because someone may ask for forgiveness does not mean they escape the consequences of their actions and the consequence for some actions is that they must face court and possible jail sentence or other penalty.

 

[drich0150]

I look at our civic duty or even conscription into the countries army as "rendering unto Cesar what is Cesar's." Because our just like our responsibility to pay tax Christianity needs to be apart of and even represent God in the whole trial process. We benefit daily from having those who have proved not to be able to live with, or under societies rules, separated from the rest of us when they have been convicted of a crime, so it is our duty just from the mere fact that we benefit from this system to be apart of it when asked..

 

[LetHeavenFillyourThoughts]

Frankly, i have used those scriptures, truthfully, to get out of jury duty a half a dozen times...I can't handle the stress....a lot of prosecutions are based on circumstantial evidence not 2 or 3 eye witnesses....

Circumstantial evidence goes like this..someone is murdered, a sane witness says they saw you enter the room in which the victim was discovered, your fingerprints are found at the scene...nobody else was seen going into the room...so you can be sent to jail for years and years for that kind of testimony...

Like I say I can't handle circumstantial evidence...so I avoid jury duty.

 

[BigNorsk]

If you were called to jury service, isn't it against our beliefs to condemn or judge someone. Christianity is about love and forgiveness, technically we should not be in a jury, am I right in thinking this? How can we call anyone guilty?

Any thoughts on this?

You are confusing the two kingdoms. You are not serving on a jury to condemn a person, you are serving to help determine if a crime was committed by them with the certainty being beyond a reasonable doubt.

Marv

 

[JohnDeereFan]

If you were called to jury service, isn't it against our beliefs to condemn or judge someone. Christianity is about love and forgiveness, technically we should not be in a jury, am I right in thinking this? How can we call anyone guilty?

Any thoughts on this?

No. There's nothing in the Bible that says that we shouldn't be on a jury.

To the contrary, even Jesus said that we are to "render to Ceasar what is Ceasar's". That means fulfilling our civic duties, as well as our duties to God.

In addition, the book of Romans tells us that the government is ordained by God to be a minister of justice and to punish evildoers. That includes the court system.

 

[iamjcs]

Matthew 7:1-2-NLT
Stop Judging Others, and you will not be Judged.
For others will treat you as you treat them.
Whatever measure you use in judging others,
it will be used to measure how you are judged.

If you judge mercifully, you will be judged mercifully.

 

[faithful follower]

I believe we have a civic and Christian duty to serve on a jury. If there is to be justice, it would be best served by a Christian jury prayerfully considering all evidence.

 

[salida]

What? A person makes judgements everyday by what clothes they are going to wear that day, etc. If a person looks at the color yellow and say its red - that is even a judgement even though they are incorrect.

 

[MikePantelides]

You don't sit on a jury to pick out what clothes you wear or what you deem a certain colour to be, these things don't potentially put a man/woman in prison taking away their freedom. Good discussion, it's good that we discuss things like this.

 

[heron]

You are not serving on a jury to condemn a person, you are serving to help determine if a crime was committed by them with the certainty being beyond a reasonable doubt.

Without the court system, victims would have no defense, and oppressors would run rampant.

Remember there's a whole book of the Bible about the judges God put in place.

Some other verses for balance:

Lu 12:57
And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?

Le 19:15
You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

Mt 5:25
Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.

Joh 7:24
Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

Joh 7:51
"Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?"



Surrounding the two verses you're talking about, Jesus is teaching His disciples many principles of life that give better results than gut instinct ones would. Jesus speaks of generosity when being taken advantage of.

Mt 7:1
Lu 6:37
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

Even though Jesus challenges Old Testament ideals, He does not tell them to throw out the original law, which God commanded to follow from generation to generation.

Mt 5:17
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.


The heart of the law is protection of the innocent, and justice when one person wrongs another. It is a valuable practice in any society, and allows people to live in safety.