Reaction Paper/Initial Thoughts before a study

I just watched The Boy In The Striped Pajamas.

I've been trying to refrain from blogging before I've thoroughly thought about a topic, but I feel that a reaction to this movie should be noted. I won't tell the story though because I would like you to see it for yourself.

It's about a prison camp here in Poland during WWII.

I think that Justice is relational. Injustice is relational too. We see acts through our own eyes. We see things being done from our points of view. I can beat something all day long and you wouldn't think anything of it if it were the ground. But if it were your mom... well that would change what kind of act it was wouldn't it? That would just be wrong.

You can drive your car over a squirrel. And though you may cringe when you look in the rear view mirror and see its tail sticking up in the air and it twitching on the ground, you would keep on driving and no one would think anything of it except for my roommate Sarah who loves animals. However, if someone was driving at night and ran over someone you knew, it would change things wouldn't it? What would you think about the driver of that car? What kind of act of justice would you demand as consequences of the driver's actions? Would you demand that they go to prison? Would you demand that they pay you money? What kind of person would you accuse that driver of being?

What if I told you the driver was me? Does it change things?

Depending on what my relationship with you was, it might change the way you would see justice come about.

I think it is easier to do justly if we can look the person in the eyes. If we can have a conversation with someone without preconceived ideas. If we can put ourselves in their shoes we might be changed. Because in their shoes we might see something different--ourselves, our humanity, our desire for respect.

What is fair and reasonable and just might change in your eyes because in realizing one's humanity, we find answers to what is and is not justice.

A Better Place

"If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it. "
Genesis 1:7

"cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause."
Isaiah 1:16b-17

So in the last blog post, I wrote about two different verses. And it is reasonable to say that they both connect and flow like a story.

The first verse was of Cain. We see what sin wants to do and what God says we must do.

The second verse was of Israel. We see what sin does when it gets in the house.

Isaiah writes about how messed up Israel is because it let the sin inside. But then he changes and kind of says, "Now that the sin is inside, stop and do good." And then he gives us examples of how to do good and what good looks like.

Now this verse in Hebrews has been on my mind. It seems that stopping one action and doing the opposite is one of the toughest moments of the fight. There's always that human nature to look back at where you've come from and how things used to be... nostalgia. Everything looks prettier when we look back at it. And Paul writes about Abraham's journey. Abraham believed that there was a better place than where he was. So he headed off in this direction of the better place even though he didn't know exactly where it was. He hadn't heard of it before. He hadn't seen it before. He didn't have family there. But he moved in faith in the direction of his belief of a better place. But it says that had he wanted to go back to where he came from, he would have had the opportunity. But he didn't look back.

I think sometimes that we are not "what we've done" or "where we've been" but rather we are where we are heading. The hope we have in Christ is that there is Grace for what we have done and where we have been. And there is the Promise that there is a better place and a better way. In between the two, we have moments of decisions... accept the grace and move forward toward something better? or stay in our old house where we know what it looks like and what it feels like and what it smells like and what it tastes like. Even though we've tasted its bitterness, the nostalgia of its sweetness beckons us back.

"If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."
Hebrews 11:15-16