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public press as the result of a slur on
your character, it is literally impossi–
ble for a courl to go inside the minds
of perhaps millions of people and
change the wrongful impression they
have of you.
Root Cause of lnj ustice
This is Satan's world (11 Cor. 4:4).
One writer once described lhe earlh
for Christians as "enemy-occupied
territory." As such, all of man's legal
systems, no matter how much good
lhey can somelimes do, suffer from
certain fatal flaws. When Adam
chose to follow Satan rather than
God (Gen. 3:6), mankind carne un–
der a curse (Gen. 3:17). Man was
condemned to go bis own way: Man–
kind, with all his inherent limita–
tions, would have to rule himself
without the benefit of God's
supernatural help.
Human judges are just lhat:
hu–
man.
They are not a ll-knowing. They
a re subject to pulls and urges of
physical flesh, and, as all men are,
subject to the direct spiritual in–
fluence of the devi l himself.
And so in this world, justice is in
the hands of puny man. Often judges
abuse their office. This often happens
when tbey have a lifetime tenure and
become accountable to virtually no
one. Christ's parable of the "unjust
judge," who feared neither God nor
man (Luke 18:2-8), recognizes this
problem. The point of this parable is
that if a sour, unjust and (presum–
ably) life-tenured judge will grant re–
lief lo a poor widow because of her
continua! pleadings, how much more
will a just God grant relief to His
people who pray to Him!
The parable sbows that the judges
of this world are very fallible human
beings. The apostle Paul made this
precise point when he chastised the
members of the Church of God at
Corinth for going "to law before the
unjust"
(I Cor. 6:1 ).
l t is because of the natural tenden–
cy of human judges to be subject to
lhe sway of the devil that God contin–
uaUy admonished the leaders of His
people in ancient Israel to judge legal
matters rightly. "Thus speaketh the
Eterna! of hosts, saying, Execute true
judgment" (Zech. 7:9).
But true judgment easily escapes
The PLAIN TAUTH May 1979
fallible human judges. No man can
know everything about a matter.
Only
God views aH human events
with an
objective
and right perspec–
tive.
Through a Glass, Darkly
The apostle Paul spoke of the human
limits toman's judgment when he said
that in this life now "we see through a
glass, darkly" (l Cor. 13: 12). Man's
five physical senses aren't a lways
equal to the task ofdiscovering the real
truth ofa mattei-.
For this reason, a ll of man's legal
systems get mired down in problems
of evidence. What
is
the truth of a
matter? How can we absolutely
know
bow a certain event occurred?
To return lo our rape victim- she
has to tell a court what happened if
When God restares His
government to the earth,
there is going to be
justice, f air play, and
equity in the ·a.ffairs of
men.
' '
the criminal is ever to be punished.
Else there is simply no way that hu–
man beings can ever know if she real- .
ly was attacked!
The Bible recognizes these human
limitations. In fact, one of God's Ten
Commandments, "Thou shalt not
bear false witness" (Ex. 20: 16), cen–
ters on a courtroom-type situation.
Often the
only
way you can know
something is by human testimony,
and human memory is often a dull,
inaccurate instrument. This is why
many contracts must be in writing.
And it is also the reason that, when
courts do rely on human memory,
God Himself has commanded tbat
the testimony not be false.
Time and Money
Another defect in man's legal sys–
tems is that those who aren't ricb
often literally cannot afford justice.
Going to court takes time, and many
people cannot afford to leave their
work for any extended period, and
then do so only at great cost.
Worse, legal battles in sorne coun–
tries can take literally years! An indi–
vidual could be stripped of his life
savings, or severely injured, and yet it
can be years before he ever sees any
restitution. Court rules of procedure
are fiendishly complicated, and a
lawyer is usually necessary if one is
going to get anything accomplished.
Yet in America, lawyers charge
around $50 an hour, and going
through a tria! can take scores of
hours! Moreover, even if one is com–
pletely in the right, he will still have
to pay for bis own lawyer. This fact
a lone virtually ensures that in many
instances of rank injustice, one will
still be much worse off than when he
started-even if he wins!
In sorne cou ntries, very poor
people have access to "free" legal
services in such matters as welfare
payments, school integration, or dis–
putes with tbeir landlords. But even
then, poÜr people still do not have
access Lo free services for their most
pressing problems, which almost al–
ways involve child-support and ali–
mony payments.
No wonder God absolutely con–
demos a situation where the poor are
taken advantage of, cast off (as in
divorce), often literally robbed or
swindled, and yet are provided no
justice: " [W.icked men] judge not the
cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet
they prosper; and the right of the
needy do tbey not judge. Shall I not
visit for these things? saith the Eter–
na!: shall not my soul be avenged on
such a nation as this?" (Jer. 5:28-
29.) "Thy princes are rebellious, and
companions of thieves: every one lov–
eth gifts [bribes], and followeth after
rewards: they judge not tbe father–
less, neither doth the cause of the
widow come unto them" (Isa. 1:23).
In Thls Present Evll World
Perhaps tbe most aggravating thing
about man's legal systems-particu–
larly the Anglo-American common–
law system-is that
until
the govern–
ment of God is restored to this earth,
we aren't going to be able to do too
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