Monday, November 13, 2006

Guess I'm just dense about Justice ...

Started thinking about a peculiar scenario this morning.

Imagine hearing on the news that a judge about to pass sentence in a particularly cruel domestic abuse case suddenly announced, "It's clear beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of harming his wife and molesting his children for more than 10 years and deserves a life sentence. But because he stubbornly questions my authority, I have no choice but to find him Not Guilty. Sir, you are hereby released to go on about your business ... and have fun with the rest of your life."

Imagine the indignation we'd see from the victims and their families. Imagine the outrage we'd hear about this terrible miscarriage of justice.

Then picture courts across the country adopting the same bold new precedent: all a defendant need do, no matter what the charges against him, is challenge the court's right to pass judgement or question its authority to hold him accountable in any way for his crimes.

Bank robbers, child molesters, rapists, murderers and terrorists are simultaneously released as every inmate in the US challenges his presiding judge's authority. In fact, we wouldn't need prisons any more because lacking authority to impose sanctions, the new legal system allows each person to decide for themselves what's legal and what's not.

Would that be justice? Would anyone willingly choose to live under such a crazy "rule of law"?

Still atheists and skeptics argue their inalienable right to ignore God's law, and scoff at His authority to pass judgment and hold every one of us ultimately accountable for our actions.

But God's authority is eternal and without fault, and never depended upon consent or popular consensus in the first place.

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