Justice is a word that I do not often hear in the same sentence to God anymore. Many times we talk about the forgiveness of God, and the love of God, but what the justice of God. In fact we do not hear much about a universal theme of justice hardly at all. Justice is now a word that is always associated with another word. Social justice relating to matters of justice in society, or unjust meaning that something is not right. The idea of justice as a concept is something that I think few people really think about, however justice is one of the reasons why I believe Christianity is truth. What is justice? Essentially justice is everyone getting what they deserve. When murders get life in prison or face execution, we say, "justice is served" because it is understood that the murder got what they deserved for taking a human life. One of my favorite movies is the movie Hogfather. This is a movie that explores myths, the human experience, and what is called the "Noble Lie" Towards the end of the movie the character Death, and yes Death is a character in this movie, scythe and rob and all, makes a comment about mercy and justice that has always stuck with me since the first time I watched the movie. Death challenges his granddaughter (don't ask) to take the universe and grind into the finest powder and show him one molecule of justice, and one atom of mercy. What is being conveyed here is that if there is no God, the concepts of Justice, mercy, and even love are nothing more than lies we tell ourselves and our children, in hopes that they one day become real which is also a lie. If there is no God, then really is no justice, at least no true justice. We have justice for certain crimes, but there is not justice for the person that insults you, the person that was mean to you, and so you can think about all the wrongs in your life that will never be right. I reject this idea and do believe that there is a thing called justice, because I believe there is a God, however, if we are going to talk about God and justice, then we must say that God is a just God, after all a God who is all powerful will always be just because they have the power to determine what justice is. If God is a just God, then it stands to reason that God would be a totally just God taking into account every injustice no matter how big or small, and to me this is where a majority of religions fail, but is where Christianity succeeds. I can not keep track of how many injustices I have inflicted over people throughout my life. I've lied to people, cheated people, insulted them, talked badly about them behind their backs, and the list goes on and on. I'm only 27 years old. I cannot imagine how many injustices I will inflict should I reach the age of 80 or 85. This does not take into account all the unknowingly times I wronged someone. Now these might seem small, however if we are looking at justice, can we really say that justice has a limit? It does in our society because if we punished everyone based off all the wrong things they did, there wouldn't be anyone left in society, and we can not keep track of all the wrong doings of each person all the time, and so we prioritize. God is not limited and thus if He is to be a justice God, the He must give each person punishment for every wrong that they do, not matter how big or small. Be honest if you were to think about every wrong deed you have done in your life could truly say that you have done enough to make up for it? Can you really feel like you deserve to be called innocent, or at least that your debt has been paid? I can not. This is where I feel many religions fail. I think most religions do not adequately address the issue of justice if they even address at all. I can't say that I have studied all religions, so I am making an educated guess here, but looking at the ones with the biggest followers I feel like Christianity is the one that best deals with justice and that is of course through Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God and is the second person in the Trinity (Within in one being of God, there exists 3 persons coequal and co-eternal namely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) We believe Christ took on flesh and lived a sinless life and then died on a cross. This death was the sacrificial atonement for all of God's people. All the sins of God's people were placed upon Jesus at the cross and God delivered His full wrath upon Jesus for the sins of the world. This action paid the penalty for all those that are in Christ and death itself was conquered and thus Jesus rose from the dead, the first fruits of what is to come. It is though Jesus that all of Justice is accounted for, because Jesus took on all of the sins of his people both big and small and thus every believer has not reason to fear the judgement of God because they know that God's judgement has been paid in full by Jesus Christ. This is grace, and so Christians repent and believe in Jesus who has saved them. It is with this understanding that Christians are able to forgive other people, knowing that they are forgiven, and understanding that justice will be done. It will be done on judgement day, or it has been done on the cross. It is through Jesus that Christians can properly address issues of justice since they have a total concept of justice, and I believe this is part of the reason of how unbelievers' thinking is darkened as it says in Romans 1. Without a proper concept of justice, how can think about things in a proper way? What do you think about justice? Do you think Christianity gives a proper answer to justice? Do you know of another religion that answers all injustices both big and small? Comment below and let me know!
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OverviewHere you can read various thoughts and discussions that come from the mind of our Pastor Archives
February 2023
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