When Christ was nailed to the cross he said \u201cPater dimitte illis non enim sciunt quid faciunt.\u201d This translates to: \u201cFather, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\u201d The pronoun \u201cthem\u201d likely refers to all that contributed to the crucifixion of Jesus, inclusive of the judges and government.<\/p>\n
If someone has an allergic reaction to the food you gave him, you should be forgiven if you didn\u2019t know he had the allergy.\u00a0 However, you should not be\u00a0forgiven if you gave him food that you knew was going to cause him an allergic reaction. If a person has caused another or others loss or injury, it would be plausible to assume that he could be forgiven because he didn\u2019t know what he was doing.\u00a0 A plausible extrapolation of the statement made by Christ whild being nailed to the cross is that God is free to punish those that knowingly cause another loss or injury.<\/p>\n
What if a judge condemned a man to jail when he knew the evidence against him could have been a fabrication, or falsified, or exaggerated? Would this imply that God should punish the judge because he knew what he did? According to man\u2019s law, the Judge acted in accord with the rule that a man must only be found \u201cGuilty beyond a reasonable doubt\u201d. The word reasonable leaves much leeway, even in the strictest sense of the legal dictionaries. Plausibly in God\u2019s eye, the loss or injury inflicted on the condemned man (and his friends and family) \u2013 especially were he innocent \u2013 would also be considered.<\/p>\n
What if the judge knew that punishment beyond restitution or prophylaxis was wrong, or that disproportionate punishment was wrong and he repeatedly over-punished, would he be guilty? After all, man\u2019s law may have mandated his actions. Perhaps the people that wrote the laws were guilty and should be punished by God as well. Perhaps God would also punish those that even suspected that what they were doing and did it because they were too lazy to investigate or think about what they were doing.<\/p>\n
Utopia wouldn\u2019t punish the guilty judges, lawmakers, police officers and supporters beyond restitution and prophylaxis. It\u2019s unknown whether God would be that merciful. God might vaporize them because they know that disproportionate punishment is wrong and knowingly do it anyway.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Christ was nailed to the cross he said \u201cPater dimitte illis non enim sciunt quid faciunt.\u201d This translates to: \u201cFather, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\u201d The pronoun \u201cthem\u201d likely refers to all that contributed to … Continue reading