pattimax said:
Do NOT get me wrong, I am not heartless, but wouldn't it stand to reason that not everyone is cut out for the kind of ministry you're referring to? Who are we dicussing? Bored pastors? They should do something else. Celibate priests? Same. High divorce rate for married ministers? The divorce rate is high everywhere.
Ministers whose behaviour turn criminal or foul are unlikely to have ever imagined things turning out that way. Once they entered ministry, they were probably sucked into the chain of events . . .
pattimax said:
I am very sorry that you think society is victimizimg criminals. Where do you come up with this stuff? Our attitude makes them criminals?...
I'm sorry for seeing things that way . . . I hope I didn't say anything untoward.
I just think criminals are misunderstood people.
I get that from personal experience.
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I've made a lot of bad choices in life. There are a lot of stupid things I've done that I regret doing and people I've offended. There's no point bragging or boasting about being holy or righteous. There's no point claiming I'm better than anyone because of rules that I follow, so it's not my policy to make claims on following any. That might even be a bit phony. Instead, I think it's my humility and personality that's important. Holiness is still something I value; I do try to be "holy" and do the right thing, but I don't conform to any standard. It's entirely personal and between me and God.
Here is where we might victimise criminals -- when someone breaks the law and gets a criminal record, we say, "Ok, fine. That's not my problem. That's
that guy's problem." It's an insensitive, and a very selfish and arrogant attitude. But we all do it. What if, one day, we went and did the same thing? We don't really care about that person when we should. We're more concerned about our own moral integrity than that of others. We're proud of ourselves and despise others.
I really don't know if I might become a criminal one day, a future where I might start doing despicable things like taking drugs. I don't really know the future. I can picture a possible fall from grace, a downfall, a fall into a world of darkness. I could become a murderer, a thug, thief, junkie, a wife-beater, a stalker, a paedophile. It might happen to me one day. Who knows? I'm not the master of my destiny. Life can easily go . . . you know . . . haywire. Guess that's why I have to trust God with my life. So I won't start falling into . . . you know.
That's why I am no better than the criminal. I have nothing to be proud of. If in the future, I did something just as bad, I'd be a hypocrite. For me to claim to be better than them is to be arrogant -- to believe that I would never disgrace myself but committing the same crime or violating the same principles. I'm just another human being. Even if I don't become a dangerous criminal, I may do something else just as despicable.
Might I add that I was bullied in primary school and secondary school? I never had many friends. Nor did I have a social life. I realise now what it has now cost me. I know I was partly responsible. But when I was a kid, I could not have understood any better. There's a bit more to it than that, but what I will say now is that I had a disturbed childhood. You can imagine how deranged I became over the years. All of the things that "normal" people take for granted -- self-confidence, a sense of humour, social skills, etc. were things that I lacked.
It's not something I usually tell people about, explaining something that happened in the past can be difficult. I have moved on, but with some "missing pieces" in my life that need to be filled. This is what holds me back from being a "normal person." I can imagine then, that people who screw up real bad in life, people who turn to drugs, have a marriage break-up or suffer from depression, have a lot of "missing pieces" that need to be filled or restored.
All I can say is that we've all got a life story. Most people are going through a process of self-discovery. They're going through a phase where they're trying to figure out who they are as people. Sometimes during this process of discovering themselves, people form desires and wants that can lead them to dangerous places. We make choices that can ruin or destroy us. We have triumphs, but we also have failures.
I don't see the criminal as any different. To me, they're just broken people.
pattimax said:
Do you not know the difference between right and wrong?
Justifying their behaviour is not what I'm trying to do. I'm just saying we need to understand why people behave badly. Why do people lie, murder, covet, commit adultery, etc.? It's because of what people want from life. The desire is the disease. Condemn the disease, not the person. Wrongdoing is caused by what people want. But the same disease affects all of us, so we're all guilty.
Their lives are not mine, so I have no right to judge their actions. I would probably have done the same thing in their situation. I just think criminals are just misunderstood people.
Don't get me wrong. I feel sorry for them because I'm really feeling sorry for myself. What I see in them is something I see in myself. I may not be a criminal, but I am motivated by the same selfishness as they are.
No, it's not my job to justify anyone's bad behaviour. That's God's job. Everyone has a life story. Everyone makes bad choices. It's God's job to fix the problem, heal the people and make things right again. God justifies these people, not me. Hey, Pattimax . . . you know why I'm saying this. This is the meaning of Christianity. It's about how a life of sin -- a life spent
missing the mark is justified by a God that makes things right again.
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