Our Litgous Society

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers! (1 Corinthians 6:1-8 ESV).

How do you handle injustice? In the name of "justice," some Americans have initiated strange and convoluted lawsuits. Consider the following:

 At a recent boxing match a fan drank too much, got into a fight, and ultimately fell down a flight of stairs. His family wanted "justice," so they hired a lawyer and sued. Included in their lawsuit was "Ticket Master," the company that sold the man the ticket to the boxing match.

 Then there was the man who bought a four-seated plane. In order to rig the plane so he could fly it from the back seat, he removed the pilot's seat, along with all its safety equipment. The plane crashed and the man's family sued the company that designed and built it. The family won a million dollars, even though the man altered and deliberately misused the original equipment.

 In another case a young woman was injured when her fiancé deliberately smashed into her go-cart, as they were finishing up their ride around the track. The court ruled that the young man who actually ran into the woman was 85% responsible, the young woman herself was 14% negligent, and the theme park was 1% involved. However, in the interests of "justice," the theme park was required to pay the entire cash judgment.

Shifting responsibility, blaming others, and expecting someone else to pay for our stupidity is common in today's legal system, but someday we will all stand before a truly righteous judge who will accept no excuse and will tolerate no legal jargon. On judgment day you won't be able to sue anyone or blame anyone else for your own sins. While it may be common and fashionable to find justice through our courts system (and sometimes that is warranted), the only real justice comes from a righteous life through Jesus Christ.