Justice Principles For Strong Societies

[Source: https://abidanshah.com/2018/10/19/the-witness-stand-by-pastor-abidan-shah/]

The Law of Witnesses -- Deuteronomy 19:15-21 

Today I woke up to some interesting news: The U.S. Supreme Court doesn't want to get involved in a case of potential voting fraud.  The Ontario government is saying they will issue proof certificates to those that have been vaccinated for Covid-19, and you won't be able to get into a cinema or travel without one. To protect themselves employer will make vaccines mandatory for employees.

Justice plays a role in all of these. For example, if the Supreme Court isn't interested in a major case, then who will hear it? Can a government actually take someone's liberties away for not been vaccinated? Can an employer fire you for not been vaccinated? (Already there is talk of exemptions for medical reasons and for religious reasons.)

Ah justice, it eludes us these days. But thousands of years ago, God did give people of Israel some basic principles if they wanted to keep their society strong. We still use some of them today, but we've strayed far from others.  Let's take a look at what we kept and what we threw out.

Deuteronomy chapter 19:15 tells us that one witness is never enough -- there must be at least two witnesses in order to confirm a crime was committed. Well, we didn't keep that, especially in the West.  The Harvard Law Review as far back as 1901 indicated there was a time (before that) when most societies put much value on the numerical count of witnesses.  But today, the question is no longer "is one witness sufficient to declare someone guilty of a crime?" but rather the real question is whether one witness can prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the accused committed the crime he/she is accused of. So, it seems, the answer is yes -- one witness is sufficient. That puts a heavy onus on that witness. It puts a heavier onus on the crown's side to carefully select the witness.  Is it any wonder that we often hear with respect to a big case that could prove a well-known person, usually a politician, committed a crime, that the person scheduled "to testify" suddenly disappeared or was found dead, usually murdered?  Yes, we have strayed far from God's advice on "witnesses".

Deuteronomy chapter 19, verses 16-19a tell the Israelites how to deal with what may be a "malicious witness". All the parties stand before "the Lord, the priests and the judges" to thoroughly investigate the case. And if they find the person did indeed give "false evidence" then that witness shall be treated or dealt with in the same way that his "false testimony" would have brought upon the accused. Sadly, today we seem to talk a lot about perjury under oath in a court case, but when discovered after the fact, we seem to close a blind eye to it. Politicians and those testifying in front of Government committees also commit perjury and seem to get away with it more often than not. Again we have strayed from the way God would have us deal with a malicious witness.

Deuteronomy chapter 19:19b-20 is also very interesting. It reads, "Thus you shall purge the evil from among you." Wow. God was saying if you want a well-running non-evil society, then you need to do certain things to get rid of evil. Following these rules He set up, and having them as examples to others,  are in fact deterrents to future malicious witnesses, and/or to future crimes.  Al Capone and his gang certainly believed in the idea of a "deterrent" as they often had people killed as a warning to others. Guerrilla rebels also do that today.  But we seem to be too "sophisticated" for that. We prefer the ideology that psychologists and sociologists have sold us -- that such punishment just is to inhumane and it does not work as a deterrent. Tell Al Capone that.  Better still, tell God that.

Speaking of ideologies, Norman Doidge in his Intro to Jordan Peterson's book, entitled "12 Rules for Life: An Anecdote to Chaos" writes:

Ideologies are simple ideas, disguised as science or philosophy, that purport to explain the complexity of the world and offer remedies that will perfect it. . . . Ideologies are substitutes for true knowledge, and ideologues are always dangerous when they come to power, because a simple-minded I-know-it-all approach is no match for the complexity of existence.

That is sound advice to us all as we listen to ideologues in power today.

In verse 20, the Creator Who designed us, says, "And the rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you." I'm not going to argue with Him, unless I first choose to deny His existence.  Deterrence works.  I also know it because when my eldest daughter would get in trouble as a child and got appropriately punished, her younger sister, by two years, made sure she never did the same thing.

And then at the end of chapter 19, comes the verse that is difficult for modern ideologues to accept.  It reads, "Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."  Commentators have written much about this verse. You can look them all up. I do believe in showing true pity which is defined as "the feeling of sorrow and compassion caused by the suffering and misfortunate of others". So, pity is shown to the victims of the crime, not the perpetrators. Forgiveness may be extended to the criminal, but again as we saw earlier in Deuteronomy, that is up to the victim if they are still alive or their next of kin if not -- it is not up to us or up to the courts or the state.

It seems we have strayed away from that principle as well. Is it any wonder we find ourselves living in a world that just can't seem to get it together?

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.