Should criminals be shown mercy? 1
22nd Jul 2009
Hello lovely people
Should murderers and rapists be shown mercy? Should people who commit lesser sins or crimes be shown mercy? Or should people simply be punished for their crimes and be kept away from the victims?
We often read in the media about victims of crime or their families that refuse to even think about forgiving the criminals. When a Scottish backpacker was murdered, a relative was quoted as saying that “she will never succumb to pressure to forgive the killer”.
On rare occasions we read about victims that forgive the criminals or sinners, and then there is another uproar about these people’s gullibility and soft-heartedness. When a gunman killed five Amish girls and injured five others in Pennsylvania in 2006, the world was surprised when the Amish supported the family of the gunman.
Showing mercy is not limited to criminal activities against individuals. How do the Jews forgive the holocaust in Germany? How do the Poles forgive the Russians for the results of wars against them and for communism that was forced on Poland? How do people from Iran show mercy towards the Americans and the British?
The traditional religious definition ranges from acting as if nothing has happened, to giving tacit approval to hurtful behaviour, to sympathizing with the criminal instead of the victim. Showing mercy is often presented as an exercise of setting aside resentment or giving up grudges. In all of these the underlying assumption is that the victims have a right to judge the perpetrators, and that showing mercy is a withholding or a watering down of the right to judge.
However, the first commandment in the Bible is often overlooked. No, the first commandment is not the first of the famous Ten Commandments. The first commandment in the Bible (Genesis 2:17) states that “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Of course anything that is written down can be interpreted in many different ways. I choose to interpret this verse as saying”If you decide what is good or evil, you judge yourself and others, and that means that you become unaware of your true nature, which is Love. This lack of awareness is equal to spiritual death”.
Where showing mercy or forgiveness is only about withholding judgement, it does not necessarily mean that the forgiveness is based on Love. Forgiveness is about knowledge which brings us closer to Love.
To be continued.
First printed in The If Journal volume 124
Please leave a comment if you feel inspired.
Love and Light
Elsabe
