There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among his brothers. 

Proverbs 6:16-19, NIV (1978)

I have to confess, I have never seen anything quite like the events of recent weeks. A man was killed in cold blood, and a shockingly large percentage of the population applauded his murder. As if that wasn't enough, when many of those who openly celebrated evil were punished in ways such as losing their jobs or being expelled from school, people on the other side began celebrations of their own. The question I have is this: How have we sunk to such a level as to celebrate death and punishment?

On the one side we had a man who was unafraid to point out that the things God says are sin, are indeed sin. This has made a lot of people who enjoy their sin extremely angry. This anger has built up over time to open contempt and hatred, so it should not come as a surprise to anyone that hateful people are going to act on that hate, and especially when they are already steeped in a culture that revels in sin. This side, though completely despicable, is totally understandable - it is the natural progression of sin. Robert Bork referred to such a state as "slouching towards Gomorrah". It is very much akin to the total state of depravity that Sodom and Gomorrah reached before God wiped them out in order to both punish them for their sin and to protect the innocent from further harm.

The part that has disturbed me as much as the hatred on the one side has been a reciprocal hatred on the other. When companies rightfully fired those who were rejoicing in Charlie Kirk's murder, and when schools began to suspend and expel others who were doing the same, many people on the other side cheered this turn of events. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand; when people expose themselves as being so depraved as to celebrate murder, then justice must be served. A company cannot afford to not punish a person who brings harm to their business by celebrating evil. There are simply too many righteous people on the other side who will not continue to patronize a company that tolerates such poor behavior. It's the same for schools who expel people who revel in violence and who cheer on those who commit these wicked acts. Such students have exposed themselves as a danger to the other students. They are a type of cancer that must be addressed before it spreads. So, I am not condemning the punishment of those who richly deserve it.

What concerns me is the lack of humanity on the other side. While it is true that people who celebrate wicked behavior need to be punished in an appropriate way, this punishment should be met by the righteous with a kind of sober reflection. In the days when public hangings were a fact of life, those who witnessed the punishment did so with a mixture of sadness and relief; mourning for a person whose life had come to a harsh conclusion but satisfied at the prospect that justice had been served. It is certain that there were some who openly celebrated the punishment of their fellow man, but such displays were not looked upon with favor by those who understood the need not only for justice, but also the God-given responsibility to refrain from sinning themselves by rejoicing at someone else's pain and suffering.

But in our modern world, people celebrate. A person has rightfully lost their job - that's on them. But do we stop to think about how difficult it will be for their children, who now have one less parent to help feed and house them? Have we thought about our own hearts that have been lowered to such a point that we can actually be happy at the pain someone else is going through. Please don't misunderstand: pain is a necessary part of punishment, and those who experience it for their own wicked conduct are certainly deserving of any suffering that they receive as a consequence of such behavior. 

But decent people do not rejoice at the suffering of others, even when that suffering is just. Righteous people should be pleased when justice is carried out, but God has always insisted that this justice tempered with mercy. When we openly celebrate the bad things that happen to bad people, we are in danger of sinking to the same level of hatred and depravity that brought them to the point that they find themselves in. And, when the righteous begin to sink to the same level of hatred that those they oppose have, can we even say that we are righteous anymore?

Our nation finds itself at a tipping point, and that balance can easily be swayed in either direction. Will we "tilt" towards justice, or will we lean in the direction of revenge? Will we go in the way that a man who loves his fellow man should go, or will we plunge headlong into the same flood of evil speech. evil thoughts, and evil actions that have brought the wicked man his just and deserved punishment?

If our world is ever going to heal from this great divide, then it will have to be the righteous who lead the way. We got to this point because those on the side of this world quite literally hate those who are on the side of God. For those who fancy themselves as Christians, it means that we begin to act in a Christ-like manner. It means on the one hand that we see the need for justice, and this will at times require a heavy penalty. But on the other hand, it also means that we walk in Jesus' commands and begin to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  

How did we sink to this level? We stopped loving one another and replaced that vital Christian virtue with hate. How can we get out of this mess that we find ourselves in? Isn't the answer obvious? Isn't it time to temper our sense of justice with the proper measure of mercy? Isn't it time for us to once again love our neighbor as ourselves?