When bad things happen to bad people

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violakat

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I sometimes wonder if our attitudes are right when we see bad things happen to bad people. Such as a drunk driver being sent to jail for 80 years for killing an 8 year old (Made up scenario). Don't get me wrong, I like to see people get what they deserve. But I wonder if sometimes we tend to gloat a little too much. It's like sometimes I see people stick their noses up at others and act in that childish way of "Na na na boo boo." Hopefully you know what I mean. It kinda makes me wonder if we are being hypocrites ourselves when we do this. I mean, if each of us looks at ourselves, the way God see our sins, then where does that leave us? Not much better then the drunk who kills someone. I mean, maybe the better response should be that we are grateful that God kept us from doing the same thing, or changed us from that very person.

What do you think.
 
I don't dwell on it much because bad things happen to good people as well, cancer, divorce, financial struggle, untimely death, etc.
 
I don't dwell on it much because bad things happen to good people as well, cancer, divorce, financial struggle, untimely death, etc.

yea. ive done some bad things specially when i was a kid. but if it wasnt for nothing but bad happening to me i guess id be in the grave.
 
I don't know that I like seeing people "get what they deserve", you know? I'm glad God doesn't give me what I deserve for the mistakes I have made. :( What I DO like is seeing someone or something put a stop to the evil someone is doing so that no one else is hurt.

This is something I reeeally had to come to terms with as a cop who saw a LOT of people do a lot of horrible things to both the innocent and not so innocent. Sometimes human nature can blur the lines between justice, punishment and vengeance. That's a dangerous road to travel.
 
Justice Punishment and Vengeance

Sounds like a Bad 80's movie with Charles Bronson.


But I grew up in a home where to make someone angry was a sin and breaking the rules was irrelevant so long as no one was made angry.


I had a lot of unlearning to do as a Teenager.


But I came to value Justice and proper Consequences that punish fairly.
 
Mostly...I just wish nobody ever did bad things in the first place...? I dunno, I can be pretty unrealistic. But then I start wondering about why they did it, and imagine all sorts of things that might have pushed them to it....

Before you know it, in my imagination we're best friends and robbing banks together.

I might...have some issues.
 
I don't dwell on it much because bad things happen to good people as well, cancer, divorce, financial struggle, untimely death, etc.
I think you're missing the point. I'm not dwelling on the bad stuff. I'm talking about our attitudes. How do we react when we see those whom society deems as bad get punished, etc.
 
I'd have to confess a bit of schadenfreude. So many awful things happen to the innocent and undeserving (for example, at least here in New York City, motorists can injure and kill pedestrians, and the standard police line is always "no criminality suspected) that to hear of the law (or karma, if you believe in that kind of thing) catching up to someone who's had it coming can be refreshing, like life working the way it should, even just once.
 
It's just our flesh reacting. The flesh delights in someone getting their just rewards. The spirit, when redeemed knows better. Just one more part of our never-ending struggle.

MERCY is NOT receiving what you DO deserve.
GRACE is receiving what we do NOT deserve.

We are blessed to have both. Many people do not have either, and it's easy, sometimes, for us to take it for granted.
 
No matter what happens to the drunk driver of this made-up scenario, the 8 year-old child can't be brought back to life. What's done is done. All we can do is continue to prosecute drunk drivers and encourage people to drink responsibly, arrive alive. Alcoholism itself cannot be outlawed, because that would of course require the prohibition of alchohol in some form.
 
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said,[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
 
I sometimes wonder if our attitudes are right when we see bad things happen to bad people. Such as a drunk driver being sent to jail for 80 years for killing an 8 year old (Made up scenario). Don't get me wrong, I like to see people get what they deserve. But I wonder if sometimes we tend to gloat a little too much. It's like sometimes I see people stick their noses up at others and act in that childish way of "Na na na boo boo." Hopefully you know what I mean. It kinda makes me wonder if we are being hypocrites ourselves when we do this. I mean, if each of us looks at ourselves, the way God see our sins, then where does that leave us? Not much better then the drunk who kills someone. I mean, maybe the better response should be that we are grateful that God kept us from doing the same thing, or changed us from that very person.

What do you think.

We each need to hold our ownselves accountable and not be like the Pharisee, rather as the tax collector
[h=3]Luke 18:10-14[/h]New International Version (NIV)

[SUP]10 [/SUP]“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [SUP]11 [/SUP]The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. [SUP]12 [/SUP]I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
[SUP]13 [/SUP]“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
[SUP]14 [/SUP]“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
 
I actually use to think awesome they got what they deserved. Then I thought about my salvation, and how Christ died for me. For the sins I have commited and will commit. It really got to me. Now I pray for that person who killed, stole,raped, or destroyed someones life. I pray hard their hearts become unhardened. That they know they have the opportunity for redemption.
 

This is exactly what I thought about from just seeing the title of the thread, plus Zero used a NASB which is probably my fav, and he's a rush fan, so he gets triple points.

Yeah I was all about bad people getting what they deserved even after I read this in the bible, but the real wake up call for me was when Jesus talked about loving your enemies, if we only love those who love us, how does that separate us from the world? Not to mention I've dodged a few bullets in my time, and thank God, I didn't get what I deserved.
 
Justice Punishment and Vengeance

Sounds like a Bad 80's movie with Charles Bronson.


But I grew up in a home where to make someone angry was a sin and breaking the rules was irrelevant so long as no one was made angry.


I had a lot of unlearning to do as a Teenager.


But I came to value Justice and proper Consequences that punish fairly.
It also sounds like it could be the title of a song for the band MANOWAR...oh,wait...that's "Black Wind,Fire and Steel" I'm thinking of. lol
 
But you know, it's not just people who commit major crimes, such as rape or murder. But also those who irritate us. When we see someone we dislike,a lot of times it feels like that some of the people around me are cheering on the misfortune of the person who irritates others. Like they are finally getting a taste of their own medicine.
 
Vi--

Thanks for a great thread that has me doing a lot of thinking. I wish I could give "the good Christian answer" but you know me... I usually have a few rebellious thoughts churning around in my head.

At this current point in my life, God seems to deal with me a lot regarding confession, honesty, and repentance. He gets a grip on my soul to come clean about most everything in my life, and though I know it's for my own good, it usually feels like more of a death grip.

I'll give some very personal examples. The time when I lived with a member of the opposite sex while I was in my early 20's that I kept hidden from my parents because I didn't want to be alone, but knew better?

YEARS after the fact (as in, about 5 years ago), God kept pushing me to come clean. In fact, ALL of the things I'd kept hidden from my parents, much as I loved them, that I thought I had "gotten away with" one or two decades ago??? I went through a week where I could not sleep at all until I finally called them and told them everything.

The times I made a mistake at work, and could have easily passed the buck? The things I should have never said, or the things I didn't say? The times I catch myself talking about something I shouldn't be talking about? God almost always pushes me until I apologize, confess to someone, and pretty much repent in dust and ashes made out of my own pride, burned to the ground.

So to be completely honest, now when I see people going through something similar I think to myself, "God is probably dealing with them the same way He deals with me." And I can't say I'm overly sympathetic, because for years, I was an enabler who also became good at hiding my own sins.

Sometimes people mistake grace and mercy for enabling a person to continually do wrong (or they are too tired to confront the person, or want that person's approval), so in reality, it keeps happening and only gets worse. In reality, the best thing that can happen is a consequence that will, hopefully change their behavior. Paul himself talked about handing people over to Satan, but of course, with the purpose of bringing them to salvation.

I thank you for reminding us that we should maintain attitudes of hoping for their best when and if the correction finally comes.
 
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The blood of Christ is better then a Green Card.


*than
 
I actually use to think awesome they got what they deserved. Then I thought about my salvation, and how Christ died for me. For the sins I have commited and will commit. It really got to me. Now I pray for that person who killed, stole,raped, or destroyed someones life. I pray hard their hearts become unhardened. That they know they have the opportunity for redemption.

Awesome post, yet I have ? you said "For the sins I have commited and will commit"
How would you know or can you say that you will commit any future sin?
If God took them away then are they or are they not taken away in Christ?