Brad Pitt, BP, Oil Spills, Death Penalties, Jonah, and Jesus

Let any topic linger long enough and sooner or later somebody is going to say something really stupid/thoughtless about it. In my opinion, Brad Pitt is taking this prize for the BP oil spill accident. Pitt is quoted at the DailyMail:

Asked about the people responsible for the crisis, the ‘Inglorious Bastards’ star said: “I was never for the death penalty before – I am willing to look at it again.”

I can’t help but wonder if Mr. Pitt would make this same statement in regards to murderers and rapist that the liberal left often rushes to defend. After all, these people are merely guilty of taking something so precious that it can never again be restored (Roman Polanski anyone?). It’s not like they caused an accidental leak of an oil well inside a massive body of water…

Absurdity of Mr. Pitt’s statement aside, this story did get me pondering the death penalty. I’ve always been a proponent of capital punishment. If it could be shown beyond reasonable doubt that someone was guilty of a despicable act, one that merits a death sentence, I had no problem with the act of removing him/her from this world. However; lately I’ve been coming ever more aware of a core principle of Christianity: Grace isn’t fair.. At least not fair by the definition I choose to grant it. Philip Yancy, in his book Rumors of Another World does a better job than I dissecting this thought:

Grace means that no mistake we make in life disqualifies us from God’s love. It means no person is beyond redemption, no human stain beyond cleansing.

When dealing with issues of grace on the abstract level, this seems like a obvious and typical “church” statement. I know it’s easy for me to muster up prorated grace for vague, general offenses that, if the were known, most likely never really bothered me in the first place. I notice a complete change in my attitude when I begin to apply specifics to the principle.

I recently read a news story about a mother who strangled her two toddlers to death. After this act, she tried to stage a automobile accident by pushing her car off of a bridge, with her children’s bodies inside, to give the impression the children drowned in a terrible accident. When the truth was found out she stated her reason for the act was to be “free” from the responsibility of them.

The taking of these two innocent, helpless, lives in this context is appalling to me. As a relatively new dad who would move mountains for the sake of his little guys, there is not a fiber in my being that doesn’t want to see this mother receive the death penalty — the punishment I feel she deserves. I even believe I’m not wrong in stating it would be completely right and just for her to be put to death. However; as a Christian, I need to remind myself that this mother is still loved by God, and He is still waiting for her to turn to him for forgiveness. In a paradox of love, I don’t think I’ll ever understand, His heart is broken, and equally grieved, for the children and their mother. He still loves her in-spite of her actions.

'Jonah' by Michelangelo

If I’m being honest, this bothers me. It seems unfair and unjust. I can sympathize with Jonah who became upset when the people of Nineveh repented and escaped damnation. After all, why should someone who’s soul is so obviously degraded — to the point where she can meticulously calculate and plan the death of her own small children — be given even a chance at divine reconciliation and as a result heaven? My sense of justice becomes in indignant.

In the account of Jesus and the paralytic (Luke 5), Jesus asks the question, “Which of the two is harder, to bring physical healing or to forgive a person’s sins?” Had I been in the crowd, I would have responded that physical healing would be harder. Not because I understood any of the intricacies involved with either act, but because I could witness immediate results to the former while nothing may be made evident to me as a result of the latter. In my small mind, the immediacy of the end result directly relates to the amount of effort applied.

And here is where I get caught. The point Jesus was making is that both the act of forgiveness of sin and the act of physical healing are miraculous — set in this light, the difference between the two is my perception of them. Rather than begrudging the fact that an evil person has an opportunity for repentance, I should be in awe Christ’s ability to grant it. Furthermore, just because a reason for this seemingly unfair gesture may not be evident to me, it doesn’t mean it’s of any less significant in the scope of eternity. Again, I’m the one with the small mind.

I’m proclaiming that I am against the Death Penalty now. Not because I think people who commit these atrocious acts should escape any form of punishment for crimes; but because I want to afford them every possible opportunity to turn to Christ in repentance — even when I don’t feel they deserve it.