| TheTip.org |
| Polls | Members | Refer | Forums | Write for TheTip! | Home | Impeach Bush |
Impeach George Bush
Tookie's dead - what would Jesus Do?
Arnie's taking a beating over letting Tookie die. But like Mick Jagger said - "We shouted out who killed the Kennedy's but after all, it was you and me". In our -ahem- democracy, our government does things for us, as our representatives, not as our overlords. WE THE PEOPLE do the governing by proxy. So did we do what Jesus would do?
Source: Thetip.org, 2005-12-27
Candidate: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Now most of us know the story of Tookie Williams. He was a founding member of the Crips, was convicted of murdering Albert Owens, Yen-Yi Yang, Tsai-Shai Lin, and Yee-Chen Lin in a spree of robberies.
His prison record was not exemplary. He repented of having been a founding member of the crips, negotiated a peace-accord between the crips and bloods, has co-written books and movies condemning gang membership and violence, and has made a consistent effort to stop kids from joining gangs since around 2000. He's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize a few times, both for Peace and for Litterature. He has never admitted to the murders nor assisted the police by giving up gang member names and activities during questioning.
In short, he was a convicted murderer who at a minimum has realized that he took the wrong road in his life and made an effort to stop others from taking that road.
Now - what would Jesus do?
There is, of course, the question that comes before - e.g. why would Jesus be involved in this question? For the faithful, Jesus is alive - he lives in our hearts. He is our Lord, in addition to our savior. We are his disciples, we learn from him. It's important to us what he said and did - we live by taking his examples and words and incorporating them into our lives as best we can.
Now Jesus was not a governor. Instead, he was a wrongfully convicted criminal. His crime wasn't murder, but subverting the rule of the Romans and Religious Establishment (Pharisees and Sadducees) by speaking the truth. His case is not parallel to Tookie's - Tookie, at least on the face of it - is one of us. He's fallen short of the Glory of God and according to the scriptures, like all of us, deserves to die.
But that's not the question here. The question is who should do the killing.
Jesus was pretty explicit about who has the right to judge and who should judge and so some relevant quotations are in order:
John 8:15 & following -
You people judge by outward appearances; I do not judge anyone. But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate because I am not alone when I judge but I and the Father who sent me.
Luke 6:37 & Following -
Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven.
Now that seems pretty clear to me. Forgive, don't judge, don't condemn. So what would Jesus do with Tookie? Wouldn't He forgive him. Didn't he even say - "I do not judge anyone." Didn't He, in fact, come to take the sins of the world upon Himself? Isn't He the Christ?
Was his sin-removing sacrifice only valid for upstanding people? Only people who are already good and deserving of heaven? No - he said so himself - He did not come to save the righteous, but the unrighteous!
Did he only forgive them AFTER they'd repented? No - he forgave them before they repented - he offered us all clemency while we were yet sinning - while we are still sinning! Who has stopped sinning? I'd love to see your explanation of this amazing feat of yours in the comments below!
So the truth is, I think, we are none of us in a position to judge Tookie - first even though we know he is a convicted murderer, we know that he maintained his innocence. Only God knows the truth. Only God can judge for sure. But even if he did murder those people, only God can judge, for God says rightly:
"Vengeance is mine"
For only God can truly take vengeance for His people. God will seperate the wheat from the chaff at the end of time, and those who should have come will weep bitterly that they missed the invitation. Until then, it is up to us simply to spread the good news, e.g. that Christ has forgiven the sins of the world.
This means Tookie too!
Lastly, I want to remind everyone of what Jesus did when the pharisees of his time tried to exact the death penalty on a woman who, under the law of the time, was doomed.
He drew a line in the dirt and said "Whoever is without sin, let them throw the first stone."
Now Jesus wasn't condoning sexual immorality. Nor did he condone murder or even lying to your sister. But he was very clear on this - we are not to judge, not to condemn; and that instead we are to forgive and spread the good news, that sins are forgiven by God.
If Tookie was guilty, we should have offered him forgiveness in Jesus' name. That's easy for me to say, I wasn't one of his victims. I've been a victim of other crimes, though, and what choice do we have as victims?
We can hate the perpetrator of the crime - and this only serves to build inside us hatred. We can seek revenge, but again, this only serves to build inside us a lust for killing. We can call revenge justice, but here we run into Jesus' hypocritical wall - if we want justice for Tookie, shouldn't we want justice for us too? And if we want justice for us, don't we deserve death too? Remember, ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, not some. This means ME and YOU, not just Tookie.
So the truth is, if we take the "justice" plea, what we really want is selective justice - justice for Tookie, mercy for us. But that's hypocrisy. In truth we should want mercy all around - mercy for everyone.
And that's good for us, too, because then we don't harbor anger and the desire for revenge in our hearts. It's not our hearts that are clouded by rage and fear and pain, but rather with the genuine blessedness of forgiveness. And I'm not saying we should have a supercilious holier-than-everyone view toward forgiveness, but that we will simply reap the benefits of being ourselves merciful, in particular according to the promises of Christ, that we will be shown mercy.
He says:
Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
So as Christians, and as governing citizens of our world, shouldn't we show mercy?
Does this mean that we should repeal the death penalty - absolutely. Christians are not revenge-takers, but forgivers.
Peace and Love to you in Jesus Christ.
Robbie Lindauer
Add a comment to this Message in our Forums.
While you're at it, check out our forums too!
User Originated Comments:
From: little to the right
2006-03-04 00:00:00
well i dont think jesus would have approved of
killing the people that tookie killed.
From: MarkH
2006-02-07 00:00:00
news flash - the death penalty was around long
before george w bush. he didn't kill tookie -
tookie killed tookie and three other people, lest
we forget. i realize personal responsibility is
not in vogue, but the death penalty right or wrong
is the law of the land in most of the us. the gift
of life is a gift from god and only he has the
power to grant or deny it. i am at odds with the
law, but also with well over half of my fellow
citizens. until the laws are changed, then we can
only speak out against the death
penalty.
but, to blame george w bush is
ludicrous and preposterous. is there anyt
injustice out there that he is not responsible
for? according to you bleeding heart libs,
obviously not.
comparing bush to hitler
is abhorent and sickening and so completely
outrageous to be included with comments about what
would jesus do? i can say for certain that jesus
would tell you to 1. love gw bush 2. pray for
george w bush...
and to you "absolutely
hate bush" you are right about one thing, it is
beyond belief how much you hate bush.
gail if you think falwell, robertson and
dobson advise gw bush you are very ill informed
indeed.
From: absolutely hate bush
2006-01-12 00:00:00
if i were to write here as to what i feel about
gwbush, i will stop here, as i don't want to spend
the rest of my life in some foreign torture prison
that our fuhrer says doesn't exist. i will say
that i hate this sob beyond belief!!!! beyond
belief!!!!
From: gail
2005-12-30 00:00:00
what would jesus do?? well i gotta agree with
robbie, as we seem to share the same beliefs. but,
for the real answer to the question, a higher
authority will have to decide on this. that person
is (gwb), our fuhrer, and self-appointed
spokeperson for jesus on earth. (just ask him, as
he and his advisors, robertson, falwell, and
dobson will confirm it)...
Related News
| Irreperable Harm - Schwarzenneger Cheats in Governor Race |
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
owned by TheTIP.
[ Skip Next | Next | Random Site | List Sites |Previous ]
NEWS | ACTION | RESULTS | POLLS | MEMBERS | SEARCH