A Broken System for a Broken World

As I sit here waiting to see how the case of Troy Davis ultimately resolves itself, my thought starts to wander to the root of it all. Once we get past the emotional cries for a family that will be losing a member tonight (innocent or guilty), once we get past the tinted glasses that urge us to scream "Racism" every five minutes....even once we get past the analytic side of us that recognizes that the system is broken, we eventually come down to the ultimate truth of this whole situation.

The system is broken because the world is broken, and it has been since The Fall. Yet, we still manage to be surprised at every injustice and every nastiness of life that rears its ugly head within this world. There is a difference between being surprised and being sympathetic. My heart goes out to both parties at the end of the day. One family has already lost a loved one and the other may well lose theirs before this night is over. There has been a lot of pain and suffering as both parties cry out for justice.

One of the verses that inspired me to go to law school is Matthew 23:23 -

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."

These were Christ's words, and He suffered at the hands of the system. If God made Man felt the sting of injustice, dying for the sins of the whole world at the hands of people claiming to do God's will, then we should not be surprised that anyone should die in the place of another at the hands of a self-proclaimed secular state.

Should we mourn the death of the innocent? Of course. However, we should mourn every death, regardless of the crime. Christ thought enough of them to die for their sins. Who are you to say they aren't worthy of tears or thoughts? One man was already executed tonight, and while his crimes were disgusting, God had a purpose and a destiny for that man.

At the end of the day, every child of God is called to do their part to establish heaven on earth. However, we were warned! Christ told us that in the last days, man's love would grow cold and brother would betray brother. If any of us honestly expects things to get better anytime soon, then I suggest you read Revelations. This world and everything in it will be corrupted and destroyed at some point. Our task, as it has been since Pentecost, has been to focus on the souls of men, first and foremost. After that, we meet what needs we can.

So, with what time remains, I'm praying for the soul of Troy Davis, as well as the souls of all of the people intimately involved with this case.

The system is broken because the world is broken. It was never our task to fix the system. Only to save the passengers on the ship before it completely goes down.