Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, for we all fall short in many respects. -James Chapter 3
A doctor at a university hospital in New York City was sentenced to 240 months in prison for sexually assaulting 245 women.
Now, imagine if it were an orderly instead of a doctor and that he had "only" sexually assaulted 10 women: It seems likely that he would have received more time than 240 months (20 years).
If we accepted membership into the family of Christ, His Father and the Holy Spirit, then we should strive to judge, to discern, as He does.
As a supervisor in a factory, I was held to a higher standard that the guy on the line.
I don't have a problem with a two-tier justice system as long as those who have been entrusted with more authority are held to a higher standard, not a more lenient one.
Power corrupts. That warning in James was inverted to give advantage to the powerful.
Spending 50 years in the title insurance business I learned there were two occupations leading the Do Not Trust groups. One is doctors and the other is clergy, of any faith and denomination. They will often take advantage of any situation and not make full disclosure. The doctors then show up with their lawyers and the clergy show up with God--or so they claim. Now I put big pharma executives in with the doctors as it seems that they are working as a team. ---ken
ReplyDelete"To whom much is given, much is required." I have no problem with those in positions of authority, power, or responsibility being judged more harshly. Just like you, in my position in Quality I am always held to a higher standard than those that report to me.
ReplyDeleteOr better yet, ELIMINATE THE POWER! What kind of people do you think we attracted to merely administrative coordinator type jobs with little to no power over everyone's life, the economy, businesses, etc? Far better ones I can guarantee.
ReplyDeleteTerry Pratchett, in one of his books, said that one Country locked politicians in jail as soon as they were elected. It saved time and effort.
ReplyDeleteI think he might have found the perfect solution.
Phil B
We should not expect non-Christians to act like Christians.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a corollary; we should not expect virtue of them who reject the author of virtue.
DeleteIn his series on apologetics, Victor Marx very simply summarizes the seeming conundrum.
People...like all primates, are inherently selfish. They look out for themselves before anyone else. Over millenia humans created a society that TAUGHT the young to suppress that inherent selfishness and to think of others. And look what society was able to create by teaching altruism. Sadly the people who were incapable of learning that lesson have seized control and are working feverishly to dismantle the society that was created by suppressed selfishness and increased cooperation. We are seeing the results of that being played out now on a daily basis. While the unselfish portion of society was busy building and creating the lazy greedy portion insinuated themselves into power. We'll be lucky if it all doesn't come crashing down completely.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the issue.
DeleteYou have to work with others for the common good and delay (or completely deny) your own gratification to build society together.