I am really not sure how to address this issue from a believers standpoint. I already know how to feel as an officer.
On August 23, 2003, while in protective custody at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, ordained Priest and suspected multiple-child molester John J Geoghan was strangled and stomped to death in his cell by Joseph Druce, a self admitted white supremacist and murderer.
How do you treat, both intellectually and emotionally, incidents where evil preys on evil? I know how I want to feel, but is it right? The fallen are fallen and the lost are lost and once their life is extinguished a man’s chance for redemption through Christ is lost. But then both their actions/decisions brought them to this place. The following is the feed of the outside of the cell during this incident.
Psalm 7:13-15 13 He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows. 14 He who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment. 15 He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made.
5 comments:
How should we feel?
We recall that Christ loves and died for them both, we hope and pray that the priest did experience true contrition for his sins and went to his final judgment with a door cracked open.
Not sure, but you may be interested in this blog (it isn't mine, but is related to your post)
www.thesestonewalls.com
(BTW I just found your blog, starting to read. I was once a police officer although was not practicing my faith at the time, although it was a step closer to it!)
I post the link because you cite the priest. I'm not familiar with his particular story, but there are priests being jailed without a proper investigation. There are many innocent behind bars, right there with the guilty.
As Christians, we are called to pray for the salvation of all, to do what we can to aid them, and to think the best of them, for that is why Christ died. Because He looked upon the worst humanity could do and said, even to the very worst, "You are worth it."
We must do the same.
Sorry for the rambling comment.
No I appreciate your comment...one of the mysteries of God is his ability to love us completely at the same time planning his perfect judgement at the end of time for those who do not accept the gift of his Son.
In earthly terms the priest got what he deserved...in holy terms he is the same as all of us...fallen short of the perfection of God.
I disagree; he DIDN'T get what he deserved.
None of us gets what we deserve in this temporal life. We might pay part of it, and maybe we pay part of it....
then again, maybe we pay all of it through God's grace.
But this priest...this man, this human being...his life was shortened as a result of sin. The fact that his life was shortened means that if he WASN'T repentant yet, then he was deprived by a murderer of the possibility of being brought forth to repentance.
That is an eternal crime. How is this man's murderer going to offer atonement for his sin of murder?
How does one sin by one man right the sin of the one who is murdered?
God did not intend this, it is we who chose it.
He died to make reparation, and each of us is capable of terrible atrocities.
To say that this man deserved what he got dismisses the fact the the man who carried out the deed has also ruptured his relationship with God by carrying out the act of murder.
That is why we hope; it is NOT the earthly terms that matter. If it was, we'd have no reason to hope at all.
We all look to the eternal. And I , for one, hope and pray not only for the priest who was murdered (regardless of his guilt) but for the man who killed him in cold blood. I wonder which is more in need of mercy, and in that wondering, I realize it is I who needs even more.
By the way. I wish I'd had someone like you with whom to talk back when I was a fledgling cop.
Even those who shared my Faith really had no idea what they were talking about.
I did meet a Methodist chaplain and loved conversing with him; he gave me hope at a time I felt very very alone. I will always remember that chaplain fondly, for he was the only experience of God I found in my FTO life.
As far as I know, none of the other officers or dispatchers had any faith at all.
I pray you are a light in that world for the rookies who come your way.
Thanks one of the reasons I started this blog was I did not have anywhere to ask and think things through form a Christian Cop prospective
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