Balance between justice and mercy?

[angell1]

what are your ideas on the subject, how can we make a society both merciful and just?

often times, in order to avoid scandal, attitudes have been txtremely harsh, or the opposite, in order not to “offend” anyone, attitudes are very lax

for example, every time a prisoner is going to be released, I’m always seeing petitions from people of how they don’t want a “monster” in their neighborhood or how they deserve to rot in jail or go to hell and things like that

also, historically, pregnancied out of wedlock received a lot of scorn and ostracism and this caused abandonment and infanticide a lot of the time. I also sometimes see how people are fired from catholic schools if they get pregnant without being married.

there are many more exapmles, just wondering what your thoughts are.

obviously, for someone who refused to change their ways it’s different.

but we all have sins, and for all of us who do repent and are forgiven, do we really need our past ot constantly be dragged by an unforgiving society?

you can give your own examples or use mind on how we can b oth be merciful to people want ot change without giving scandal or making it seem like sin is ok

 

[francisca]

what are your ideas on the subject, how can we make a society both merciful and just?

often times, in order to avoid scandal, attitudes have been txtremely harsh, or the opposite, in order not to “offend” anyone, attitudes are very lax

for example, every time a prisoner is going to be released, I’m always seeing petitions from people of how they don’t want a “monster” in their neighborhood or how they deserve to rot in jail or go to hell and things like that

also, historically, pregnancied out of wedlock received a lot of scorn and ostracism and this caused abandonment and infanticide a lot of the time. I also sometimes see how people are fired from catholic schools if they get pregnant without being married.

there are many more exapmles, just wondering what your thoughts are.

obviously, for someone who refused to change their ways it’s different.

but we all have sins, and for all of us who do repent and are forgiven, do we really need our past ot constantly be dragged by an unforgiving society?

you can give your own examples or use mind on how we can b oth be merciful to people want ot change without giving scandal or making it seem like sin is ok

It is part of living in a community that if you do something wrong, you’ll suffer some degree of scorning by the community.

As Christians however, we know that we are forgiven, therefore we should restrain ourselves from scorning people as far as we can.

People aren’t always rational. Example: women who choose to raise their child out of wedlock actually trying to be responsible, yet community often being unkind to them and even towards the said children.

On the contrary, I read several threads about porn addiction, many people told the wife to be “understanding” and “bolster” the feeling of the porn addicted husband. I thought who would “bolster the wife’s feeling?”. It is rather irrational to demand women to bolster porn addicted partner, why not asking the porn addicted men to “bolster” their partners feeling so they stop being selfish. Whatever reason women required to “bolster” the feeling of the offenders and not the other way round.

The answer to that is this: this society takes men’s side. We as christians must protect “the orphans and the widows” as the bible ask us to.

There is no place in the bible that asks us to protect “widowers” or “porn addicts men”. Instead, God asks the Israelites to “drive out” all the nations who practice abominable from the land, and “spare no one”.

Porn addict man at home will cause their children to be exposed to porn too. Drive him out from your home if he refuse to repent, for the sake of your children.

Well, I hope you see the difference by reading the bible. See where God being merciful, and where His wrath can’t be appeased.

Social Justice? That’s God’s work. There is no justice in this world. We try do our part day by day.

God bless you and have your peace always.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

What makes retribution right or wrong? It should be carried out by those in lawful authority (Rom. 13:4), there should be a proportion between the gravity of the offense and the punishment (CCC 2266), and it should be done for a good purpose, e.g., “that the sinner may amend, or at least that he may be restrained and others be not disturbed, that justice may be upheld, and God honored” (S.T. IIb, Q. 108, a1). If it is sought merely to bring suffering and destruction to the criminal, then it is wrong.

The restorative aspect of punishment is not only for the good of society; it is also merciful to the criminal. Sometimes we think that mercy means withholding correction, and giving the transgressor whatever he wants (e.g. the new trend in parenting and education, never to tell a child “no” or show disapproval or inflict punishments); but this is contrary to mercy, since it only confirms the transgressor in evil.

In personal matters, we can show mercy by being kind to those who hurt us (in fact we are obliged to do do–Mt. 5:44). But again, while this kindness may mean doing “nice things” it may also mean doing restorative things that they don’t like (e.g. punishing a naughty child).