You Will Be Judged by the Same Measure You Judge Others

Let's Get Real - Scripture Day 320
February 13, 2016

God has always shown mercy towards those who accidentally violate His commandments...

"Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.

He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time.

Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”

Joshua 20:1-6 ESV

RANDY: God does not intend to have a harsh punishment for those who accidentally cause even the death of another person.  The condition of this is the intention of the person who causes the death. If they did not mean to kill the person they struck, they will not suffer the same fate as an intentional murderer.

This makes me think about the DUI homicide trial I testified in a couple years ago. The driver accidentally killed a person in the other car when the wreck occurred.

However, an overzealous district attorney chose to pursue 1st degree murder charges rather than a lesser charge, as should have been warranted. Based on a weird technicality in the law, he was able to push this through and the drunk driver was convicted of 1st degree murder and was given 35 to life.

Even the judge in the trial said this was a miscarriage of justice. Our nation is so far away from God’s heart, I wonder what he thinks as he looks down upon us these days.

I fear we are sowing the seeds of our own destruction. Jesus said we would be judged by the same measure we judge others.

If we are unwilling to lessen an accidental homicide punishment to a lesser charge than intentional murder, I wonder if God will forgive our nation for any of the accidental evils we commit? I fear we already know the answer to this...