Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Luke 17:3 "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 17:3 "Pay attention and always be on guard [looking out for one another]! If your brother sins and disregards God's precepts, solemnly warn him; and if he repents and changes, forgive him. |
Bible Question: Norm, you answered it very well. How does this, then justify punishment being deligated by society. Especially before an execution, I am sure that they probably always regret what they did to some level... So, can a devout Christian diligate civil justice? Turn the other cheak to me, rewards evil. I agree that revenge is evil, but retalliation is what makes civilization possible. |
Bible Answer: A different perspective.............................................. Welcome to the forum Pete2, If I understand correctly, you are saying that as Christians we must have unlimited forgiveness, and that this would lead to chaos in society due to a complete lack of retaliation and punishment. The first thing that needs to be explained is that there are eternal consequences to sin and there are earthly consequences to sin. Imagine a drunk driver kills another person, and later repents of their sin. The eternal consequence of their sin (Hell) is then taken away and they can spend eternity with God after they die. However, some of the earthly consequences can not be taken away. Their car may be able to be repaired, but the person they killed will not come back. Thus even Christians can support earthly punishment. Even a forgiven thief would still have to repay his victims. The second thing that needs to be explained is that the "nice" thing is not always the Christian thing. Imagine a criminal who commits credit card fraud. They may repent and be forgiven. However, it could be the Christian thing to do, to cancel all their credit cards. It may seem like the "nice" thing is to just pretend nothing happened and let them have absolute freedom again. However, that would just be leading them into temptation. What is truly in their best interest may be eliminate the opportunity to sin again until they are able to overcome its tug. That is the key issue for a Christian. Our response to sin should not be to punish out of retaliation or vengenge, but instead out of tough love for the other person. We should be motivated by bringing them closer to God. |