A recent chat I had with a friend about a career decision he was facing set me thinking. If I had the opportunity to work on behalf of someone who everybody knows has caused a great deal of pain and suffering, but has not yet been tried, and therefore not convicted, would I take that position?
Arguments in favor: everyone is innocent until proven guilty; even the most heinous of criminals is entitled to being treated fairly; and, careerwise, it would be the opportunity of a lifetime.
Arguments against: well, everything else. . . that, despite the fact that he has not been convicted, his crimes are well known and documented. Could I, well aware of the atrocities this person has committed, willingly ally myself with him?
As we struggled through the pros and cons of the situation, I remembered my previous post about the movie Dead Man Walking, how Sr. Helen Prejean remained firmly on the side of a convicted killer, despite everyone around her condemning her for her decision. And I thought of Jesus and the company he kept -- people who had not yet been tried or convicted, but about whose sinfulness nobody had any illusions.
But I still wasn't convinced. This person's crimes are on a much larger scale than your average criminal. And I wasn't entirely sure that my friend really believed his arguments about fairness. Intellectually, yes. In his heart, not really. What also concerned me was whether he could, if he came across the people whose lives had been ruined by this person, justify his decision to them and to himself with a clear conscience.
I told him to pray about it. His immediate response was "Ugh. Praying -- the answer is no." My response: if that's the case, I know what I would do.
But when I thought about it afterwards, I realized that I was pretty sure that my friend had not really prayed about it, but had simply assumed what the answer would have been if he had. But I'm not entirely convinced that would be the answer.
After pondering this for a few days, I'm still not sure what I would do if I was in his shoes. But after thinking about it, I do have this to say to him: go back and really pray about it. You might be surprised!
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5 comments:
That is a tough one. No one needs to die for their sins, but those who have done harm and can not stop or feel no remorse do need rehabilitation. I could never defend those accused. I would feel good helping the innocent from being jailed, but I would never be able to deal with those who are not innocent being set free. I wish people were always honest and simply plead guilty when they knew they did something. I would then fight to not have them set free or a light sentence, but to receive the rehabilitation needed to change. There is a great "deleted scene" from the film SiCKO that goes over Norway's penal system. I wish everywhere was Norway.
Hello!
Thanks for popping by!
Hope you are well my friend.
Interesting post this one and i would not know what advice to give.
have a great week!
Hmm, that certainly is one of life's dilemnas. I don't know if you're much of a film buff but it reminds me of a conversation in Clerks. Kevin Smith's first film. In it two convenience store slackers are talking about Star Wars and how, when the Death Star was destroyed by the rebels (the good guys) it wasn't yet complete and so must still have had many independent contractors aboard who lost their lives through no fault of their own. The moral of it was that people always have a choice (well, it was more funny than moralising really). In the end I think what's important is that your friend ought not to have regrets about the choice he eventually makes.
You're absolutely right about the prayer bit of it. I think we sometimes assume we know what God's going to say, but I find more often than not He's kind of unexpected. Whatever the answer ended up being, I would hope I would be obedient (popular concept!) to Him first and foremost, but I'd want to make sure that I had asked Him first, so I'd know (if at all possible) what I was being obedient about.
I'd imagine that philosophically and spiritually, it's a hard decision to make. Personally, I couldn't do it. Not if I knew the other person was guilty without remorse.
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