Almost all violence emerges with some kind of rationale that
justifies its use. Warfare, capital punishment, or corporal punishment
all follow a self-conscious logic. At the core of this “logic” usually
rests a commitment to the necessity of retribution, justifying violence
as the appropriate response to wrongdoing. When wrongdoing violates the
human divined moral order, “justice” requires retribution or
punishment, repaying wrongdoing with punishment, pain and often also
death.
This human interpretation of retribution, which
is still being applied is some kind of an "historical short-circuit"
that occurred in which certain concepts were taken from their biblical
context, interpreted through the lens of Roman law, then used to
interpret the biblical texts.
The result has been an
obsession with the retributive themes of the Bible and a neglect of the
restorative ones— in other words a basic theology of a retributive God
who desires violence.
Consequently the legitimacy of retribution has become an accepted cultural given around the world.
Is this correct, absolutely not.
Genesis 9 verse 6 warns: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image".
Or
as we read in Deuterenomy 32 verse 35: "it is mine to avenge; I will
repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near
and their doom rushes upon them."
Mankind can not take the law of retribution in its own hand, because that right belongs to God.
If
we look at the state of the world today, nobody has to tell you that
the situation is extremely grim, maybe even hopeless for some.
Political structures are falling like a deck of cards, natural disasters are happening daily.
America
and Britain, which led a "coalition of the willing" under false
pretenses into a war with Iraq, which has now spread into Syria and
other Middle Eastern countries, resulting in millions of casualties of
innocent civilians, large numbers of refugees, will not escape divine
retribution.
As a matter of fact, the results of these
divine retributions are already visible. Britain's economy and its Pound
Stirling are crumbling, after they voted in favor of Brexit.
The
US is not only plagued today by a meltdown of its political system, but
is also experiencing one natural disaster after the other.
The
EU is going through an inner revolt between member states wanting
closer unity and nationalistic populists, who want to turn the clock
back to independent statehood.
Last but not least, on
the subject of divine retribution, if you wonder why Haiti has been so
hard hit recently by hurricane Matthew, and just a few years earlier by a
devastating earthquake, followed by an epidemic of cholera, think again.
Roman Catholicism is the official religion of Haiti,
but voodoo may be considered the country's national religion. The
majority of Haitians believe in and practice at least some aspects of
voodoo. Most voodooists believe that their religion can coexist with
Catholicism, which is a myth. Former Haiti President François Duvalier
recruited voodoo specialists to serve as tonton makouts to help him
control all aspects of Haitian life. Duvalier also often indicated that
he retained power through sorcery.
There are many more of these examples of retribution showing up daily around the world, as the day of judgement draws closer.
Yes
indeed, the power of retribution is not really a part of our "human
objectives" during our temporary sojourn on this planet. It belongs to
God.
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EU-Digest