Treachery, lies, jealousy, and murder!
Arrogance, debauchery, and sexual deviancy!
Disasters, political intrigue, social chaos, and war!
These headlines from Genesis – like today’s headlines – remind us that, from Adam and Eve through the time of Jesus and over the past two thousand years, history is filled with similar stories, similar sins, and similar solutions.
My earliest memories include watching nightly news broadcasts filled with images of war, protests, and assassinations on our black and white, and eventually color, TV. I also grew up reading and discussing books, newspaper and magazine articles, and exploring questions about life and death, sin and salvation, and society and justice. My curiosity eventually led me on a seventeen year adventure researching and writing a fiction novel, Plight (2010) and later Plight: Revised Edition with small group study guide (2015).
The book’s preface summarizes my experience:
The seeds of this prose were planted in the early 1990’s amidst constant and repeated cries for “Justice!” relative to various events that dominated America’s national consciousness around that time.
Robert Bork’s contentious nomination to the Supreme Court, the Iran-Contra affair and Oliver North’s trial, the Lyle and Erik Menendez trials, the O. J. Simpson trial, the Michael Fay caning, presidential culpability, abortion, gun rights, the institution of state lotteries, evolution versus creationism, the separation of church and state, and many other incidents and issues saturated public discourse and private conversations.
Since then, additional events garnering our attention have included acts of terrorism, kidnappings, bombings, mass shootings, and assaults and murders at the hands of terrorists, gang members, immigrants, mentally ill individuals, police, family, and friends.
In the aftermath of some of these, anger, frustration, and rage have manifested themselves in a sweeping array of movements, riots, articles, books, movies, speeches, and proposed legislative actions from coast to coast and in our nation’s capital.
Commonly repeated is a demand for “Justice!” But, what is justice? Would any of us even know justice if we saw it? Is there anything that objectively defines justice?
Thus, intrigued by a concept so widely used, but difficult to define or corporately agree upon, I began seeking to understand the essence of justice. Guiding questions for me included, “Are there things always true everywhere all the time?” and “If so, what are they?”
During my quest, I reviewed the Judeo-Christian scriptures, other religious texts, various cultures and history (African, American, American Indian, Asian, Australian, Aztec, European, Greek, Middle Eastern, Roman, tribal groups, and more). I looked for commonalities and took note of repeated distinctives that seemed true always and everywhere. Ultimately, a set of eight principles emerged that seemed foundational – four to society in general, and the other four to justice in particular.
After completing my initial research, I was encouraged to integrate these principles into a fictional literary adventure to serve as an entertaining educational tool. The result is a virtual society of citizens that have embodied the research and development of people, principles, policies, procedures, priorities, and plans in the life of their community. During their journeys, they have explored childhood, adolescence, dating, love, marriage, parenthood, infertility, adoption, divorce, education, careers, community, success, failure, sports, handicaps, health, aging, death, bullying, discrimination, war, immorality, criminal behavior and consequences, and more.
Plight introduces the reader to the first city established by this community, and a sequel explores their second city more in depth. Although the places, plot, and characters are fictional, many of their experiences are real and even historical, as are their feelings and fancies, joys and sorrows, trials and triumphs, standards and principles, and hopes and dreams. Through immersion in this planned community – and further examination via the study guide included in this revised edition – Plight offers opportunities for reading pleasure, education, inspiration, reflection, guidance, and, hopefully, more informed decision-making in day-to-day living, as well as appropriately seeking and rendering justice.
The eight principles are outlined below.
Society
Authority – Who is in charge? What basis, document, person, group, etc.? Does everyone agree, or are there competing authorities? For example, if one group upholds Jesus Christ and the Bible, another upholds Mohammed and the Koran, and another claims themselves as their own authority, agreement on the next seven keys is less likely, but at least everyone will know where everyone stands while making their claims.
Differentiation – Parent or child? Officer or citizen? Military or civilian? Spouse or not? Different rules apply in different situations. For example, parents have the authority to tell children what do, like when to go to bed, whereas children don’t exercise similar authority over parents. Officers have authority to arrest unruly citizens, soldiers have authority to conduct warfare, and spouses have authority to engage in sexual relations with each other, but applicable rights and rules can vary. Differentiation helps categorize and frame situations.
Standards – What are the relevant rules and values? Metric system or Imperial system? Values defined in the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, a state, or another country? For example, the clinical definition of death varies around the world, around the country, and even among different hospitals and physicians. Determining a date and time of death requires knowing what rules define death in that location, the time zone, date, and calendar standard (Gregorian, Hebrew, Islamic, ISO-8601, Julian, Mayan). Similarly, what standards define life, male and female, right and wrong, monetary value, and so on? Defining standards is crucial to productive communication and positive action.
Accountability – Who makes the rules? Who enforces them? What happens when rules are broken, lines are crossed, and standards are violated? For example, when my car was stolen out of my parsonage driveway in the mid-1990’s, it was one of 400 cars stolen locally by a gang of four teenagers over a six-month period. Since my car was the fifth car with one 14-year old boy’s fingerprints on the steering wheel, he was sentenced to juvenile prison for two years. Stealing only four cars didn’t meet the criteria to trigger a prison sentence, but five did. When all four boys were finally arrested and punished, the series of car thefts abruptly ended. Accountability helps protect society and maintain orderly, safe communities.
Justice
Balance – What evens or tips the scales? The very concept of justice involves finding appropriate balances between everyone involved. In the book of Esther, evil Haman treacherously sought to kill righteous Mordeci and annihilate the Jewish people. However, King Xerxes ended up publicly honoring Mordecai for his faithful service, executing Haman on a pole Haman had built to kill Mordecai, giving Haman’s estate to humble and righteous Queen Esther (who then transferred it to Mordecai), and overruling Haman’s genocidal decree with a decree of balanced, limited punishment against antagonistic enemies of the Jews (Esther 1-10).
Due Process – What are the appropriate processes and steps? Are they followed equally, procedurally, and according to established standards under legitimate authority in due time? When Adonijah sought to usurp King David’s throne, he claimed the throne on his own authority and hosted a private party with select co-conspirators. However, King David responded by privately naming Solomon his successor with his faithful leaders as witnesses, and then publicly and properly anointing, blessing, and enthroning him in full view of the citizenry (I Kings 1).
Integrity – Is everyone and everything open and honest, or some hidden and dishonest? Lacking integrity, some things seem fair, but turn out extremely unfair when everything is revealed. Solomon’s ruling between two women fighting over a baby included him wisely discerning truth from lies (I Kings 3:16-28).
Recompense – This final step is the determination, considering all the other fundamentals, where punishment, reward, and sometimes restitution is warranted. When King Nebuchadnezzar selfishly prided himself for all his accomplishments, the Lord punished him, yet when he repented, the Lord rewarded him such that he became even greater than before (Daniel 4). Jesus and Paul affirmed rewarding faithful workers, including food and wages (Luke 10:7; I Timothy 5:18). Ancient recompense for theft or other sins included full replacement plus 1/5 of the value to repay victims for their troubles (Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers).
With a little practice, these principles can help provide clarification and guidance in many situations. To further explore the framework of society and justice in an engaging, enlightening, and stimulating journey to a place where learning never ends and danger never sleeps, read Plight, and consider using the study guide with your class, club, family, small group, or staff.
Published in The Sentinel, Summer 20024, pp. 9-11.
