Friday, March 10, 2006
When Those In Authority Fail
My Wednesday post on forgiveness and the resigning vicar drew some interesting comment. Leading among them was this comment from someone that occassionally guest blogs here too.
What do we do when our society abandons it's "terrible responsibility." Especially when our society is the church! The primary public example I can think of is the shuffling of homosexual peadophile priests about the Roman Catholic church. Justice was not served, and in some cases still is not.
Al Mohler, looking at the case of the Presbyterian pastor that was exhonerated by a church court for charges stemming from her performing marriages of homosexuals said this
Say you are a woman that has been sexual abused by a pastor. We've seen a bit of that lately. Suppose in such circumstance the church removes the pastor from his job, but, in the declared name of forgivenesss, they allow that pastor to retain his ordination and seek other work? Is justice served? Has the church abandoned it's "terrible responsibility?" I think so? So how does one respond in those circumstances?
The church is God's authority in the world. God demands justice, and He went to the cross for it. What do we do when we do not see it here in His name?
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: forgiveness, justice, authority, responsibility, church, Christianity
Here's another take on forgiveness. Mine. Forgiving is an action, not a feeling. If you haven't been wronged, then there's nothing to forgive. Forgiving, in part, means giving up your legitimate right to exact retribution and handing it over to your civilization and its authority. This leaves your society with the terrible responsibility of OWING justice to its citizens in exchange for acting in a Godly way. A society that turns a blind eye to evil abandons its responsibility. Similarly, a misguided society that pursues forgivness for evil instead of justice abandons its responsibility. If the citizens and their traditions are sufficently Godly on their own, civil order may prevail for a long while, but eventually people will feel the Victim and choose vengance.There is a lot I like about that, though at this point I am having a hard time fitting it with the theological undertsanding of forgiveness and the cross - I have asked my commenter to clarify. I think his notion of "forgiveness as action" is strongly related to mine of "forgiveness as transactional." But this issue raises a terribly important question.
The bombers, products of a horribly corrupt and unjust society, chose vengance.
The vicar chose forgivness and tragically doesn't know it.
The vicar's culture owes her justice to the best of its ability to understand justice.
This is also my argument for the death penalty.
What do we do when our society abandons it's "terrible responsibility." Especially when our society is the church! The primary public example I can think of is the shuffling of homosexual peadophile priests about the Roman Catholic church. Justice was not served, and in some cases still is not.
Al Mohler, looking at the case of the Presbyterian pastor that was exhonerated by a church court for charges stemming from her performing marriages of homosexuals said this
Her acquittal is a dark day for that denomination -- a sign that open defiance of the church's own policies will not be punished.As a Presbyterian, how do I respond to this? I think my church has abandoned its terrible responsibility, and I have no court of appeal, save somt of civil action claiming that church heriarchy breached its contract with me as a member somehow, and submitting the church to civil authority that way is just wrong.
Say you are a woman that has been sexual abused by a pastor. We've seen a bit of that lately. Suppose in such circumstance the church removes the pastor from his job, but, in the declared name of forgivenesss, they allow that pastor to retain his ordination and seek other work? Is justice served? Has the church abandoned it's "terrible responsibility?" I think so? So how does one respond in those circumstances?
The church is God's authority in the world. God demands justice, and He went to the cross for it. What do we do when we do not see it here in His name?
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: forgiveness, justice, authority, responsibility, church, Christianity
