I sat and thought for quite awhile and have come up with the perfect sentence for this young man Jobe.
I think I would let him go scott free. Well not totally. He should serve some time in a juvenile facility as my one friends noted, but what I mean is, he would be better served if he received mercy. I think that would change his life for the better. No amount of jail time does any rehabilitation.
If he deserves hard time then I would say so does his mother. I know one has to make his or her decisions in life, but at the age of 15. I think the parents of any child (person under the age of 18) that commits murder should be the one ultimately responsible.
All I am trying to say is that this young man did not intend to harm that man, nor bring this kind of pain on his family’s life. It was and accident and he should be forgiven.
Many people ask me if it were you in their shoes what would you do. And I would still say what I am saying now. He is forgiven. I know he didn’t mean to do it, and I am certain he would be the young man cutting my grass every week trying to repay me for saving his life, when infact it would have just been God using me to spare him what the world says he deserves. Death.
And if we think about it that is what we all deserve, but God has given us the opportunity to live through one more day. I think the world that is living aught to thank him right now for that.
Thank you God.
#1 by Lauren "LoLo" on June 19, 2007 - 3:01 am
What if it was Isaiah that God killed, I think that we should not be so quick to answer the question of life if we have not had to physically walk through them ourselves. I don’t believe that he should receive the death penalty, but I do believe that he should be in jail for a very very very long time…but I do see what you are saying as far as God’s mercy is concerned.
I believe that Jobe’s parents are only liable to a certain degree…I don’t believe that they should take full responsibility for what their son did…but what I do believe is that their is accountability at whatever level in life that you find yourself. The parents do have a heavy influence in the lives of the children today, but to have them take full account, i don’t think so. And also this was not his first run-in with the law, but this time it caused many lives to be affected and he should be judged by God accordingly…just as we have to deal with consequences for mistakes that we make, what makes Jobe any different? Just saying “sorry” to God isn’t always enough… sometimes we will still have to walk out the consequences of our actions.
Yes you are right that he should be forgiven just as God has and will continue to forgive us, but be careful that you are not asking people to “forget”.
I believe also statically that the jail would be empty if we had more men and women of God that truly stood up and be the real church instead of waiting until someone is on there death bed or death row to revive them. If we as a body did more preventative maintenance, the jails would not be built and they would turn the ones that do exist into equipping centers.
I do thank you for your honesty and transparency.