Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Repentance and Social Media Mobs


It is an intriguing vantage point I have regarding the domestic abuse by Ray Rice toward his then fiancĂ© and now wife Janay.  I root for the Ravens but I am not fanatical about the Ravens so I think I can be a little more objective than most of the people who live around me.  I have not seen the video.  I get physically ill viewing violence against women and children and I argue that I don’t need to see it in order to be appalled by what Ray did to Janay.   The first video of him dragging her out of the elevator unconscious and dumping her limp body on the floor beneath him told us what had happened in the elevator.  To view the video from inside the elevator and to cause mass hysteria because of how graphic the violence was, is to react on pure emotion resulting in a social media mob mentality.   As Christians we should never join a screaming mob.  Mobs yell, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 

What we should pay attention to is the repentance of the guilty person.  We should test him to see if he takes full responsibility for his actions with no qualification or justification for any part of the abuse he did to his wife.  If he does take full responsibility then he can be redeemed and made new.  If however, he, in any way thinks that his behavior was caused by her behavior toward him then he is not truly repentant and is still in his sins.  As David said to the Lord, “For I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me.  Against thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.” 

No comments:

Post a Comment