Good News on the Law: Which book will you open?

Good News Daily ^ | April 3, 2008 | Steve Bloom

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Good News on the Law: Which book will you open?

By Steve Bloom
Good News Daily

You’re a Christian. You’ve been in a serious auto accident or hurt on the job. Now what? What’s the first thing you should do? Open the Yellow Pages to find a lawyer?

What do you think? Typical secular legal wisdom says yes, open the book. But is the telephone book really the first place followers of Jesus Christ should turn when we think we might have a legal claim? Let me suggest a better idea. When a Christian gets hurt, or is in an accident, or has any other reason to think they might have the right to sue someone else, don’t open the telephone book, open THE Book, God’s book, the Bible!

When you look in the “Attorneys” section of the Yellow Pages, what kind of words do you see? “Aggressive Representation”… “Get the Results You Deserve”… “Protect Your Rights”… “Enforce Your Rights”… Words that play to our egos, to our greed, to our selfish desire to get revenge on others and grab the most for ourselves.

But when you open the Bible, what kinds of words do you see? “Reconcile with your brother”… “Blessed are the peacemakers”… “Turn the other cheek”… “Go with him the second mile”… In the Lord’s Prayer, Christ even tells us that we will be forgiven as we forgive others. Exactly the opposite of what we see in the Yellow Pages ads.

As Christians, we’re called to remain vigilant and not allow ourselves to get caught up in the World’s destructive ways. Lashing out with lawsuits against those who’ve hurt us might sound tempting at first, but often it only leads to more pain and misery for everyone involved. And hastily suing those who’ve sinned against us is directly contrary to what Jesus taught when he said “Go, first be reconciled to your brother or sister.”

The Bible is all about reconciliation. The Yellow Pages are all about revenge. I know full well that there are plenty of good, competent attorneys advertising in the Yellow Pages, and I’m not trying to criticize their skills or legal ethics. But the reality is that many of them are not counseling their clients from a Biblical, Christian perspective. And with all the pressures of our secular society, it’s not always easy for any of us to honor Christ in the way we respond to injury and damages.

One of the hardest teachings in all of Christianity is the idea of turning the other cheek, going the second mile with someone who has done us wrong. We can read Christ’s words, we can understand them, but living them out when someone has hurt us is a different story. To me, it all comes down to the concept of grace.

Grace. We often think of grace as a complicated idea, beyond our full understanding, maybe something theology professors and seminary students like to talk about in their late-night intellectual discussions. And, yes, grace is a deep concept, with major theological implications. But it’s also something very real that makes Christians different from the rest of the world.

How does grace fit in with whether we should seek revenge or reconciliation when someone hurts us? Well, we know God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that we could be forgiven, so that we could be reconciled to God. And God did all this for us even though we don’t deserve it, even though we really deserve punishment. So God responded to our mistakes not by asserting all his rights, and not by trying to give us what we deserve. Instead, God gave us an incredible, undeserved gift of forgiveness. And I’m suggesting that Christians should strive to do the same thing when other people make mistakes that hurt us.

In one of his parables, Jesus teaches about a king who forgave the debt of one of his servants, a debt so deep that the servant could never have paid it back. The servant was grateful, but then the servant encountered someone who owed he himself a small amount of money. Instead of following the King’s example of undeserved forgiveness, the servant treated the man very harshly, throwing him in jail because he wouldn’t repay. When the king heard about this, he was very disappointed that his servant didn’t follow his example. I believe Christ told this story to encourage us to follow God’s example of grace, giving forgiveness even to those who don’t deserve it.

While lawsuits aren’t strictly forbidden by the Bible (“Thou shalt not sue” isn’t one of the commandments!) and court action might even be necessary in certain cases, God clearly encourages us to seek positive alternatives to litigation. So if you’re hurt on the job or in an accident or find yourself in any other situation where you’ve been injured or suffered damages because of someone else, rather than suing the person who has hurt you, prayerfully consider forgiving them instead, as God has forgiven you. And remember, don’t open the telephone book, open THE Book!

(Stephen L. Bloom is a Christian Lawyer serving clients throughout Pennsylvania for more than 20 years from his offices in Carlisle (for inquiries about representation visit www.irwinmcknight.com). He is a frequent speaker on Christianity and law (for inquiries about speaking visit www.practicalcounsel.com) and is the author of The Believer’s Guide to Legal Issues, published by Living Ink Books and available at www.IsThereALawyerInTheChurch.com)


This column contains generalized information only and is not intended as a substitute for the specific legal advice of your own attorney.

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My monthly Christian legal column, for your consideration, comment, etc.

~Steve

[melsec]

Hi Steve,

My wife has been off of work for a year for an injury she suffered at work. We do not hate her work nor do we blame anyone for what happened. We do however seek some for of compensation for her inability to work. Obviously this is something that will need legal representation though it does not need to go to court!

Somehow I don’t see how forgiveness come sinto the equation

Mel

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Obviously this is something that will need legal representation though it does not need to go to court!

Yes, it makes sense for you to have legal counsel, and there is nothing wrong with that at all. But it will make sense for you to prayerfully seek God's wisdom when there is a negotiation process and you have to decide whether to settle or pursue a formal legal claim. I'm not trying to lay down absolute rules, but I am relaying the warning that litigation tends to take its toll on all parties involved.

[swmobuffalo]

I respectfully disagree.

[LikeLight]

I respectfully disagree.

You're probably not in a minority in that disagreement. I appreciate your civil manner about it.

[LambSlave]

While lawsuits aren’t strictly forbidden by the Bible

The Bible does say that Christian vs. Christian lawsuits are prohibited (I Cor 6:1-10). If we are to be fully obedient to Christ, we would never engage in a lawsuit (Mat 5:38-41) (Luke 6:29-30), which is the same as a prohibition. Christian lawyers I have known started with good intentions, but eventually were tempted and fell right into Satan's hands (accepting cases of divorce, representing Christian vs Christian, luxuriant wealth, depending on money for their security instead of God, ignoring demands of discipleship to spend time on their practice). I personally think it is a path that opens us to many temptations.

[jdub]

So when someone is harmed greatly in an accident, they should sell their house and all their possessions to pay for the injuries? How about future harms? Why do you equate being compensated for a wrong to revenge?

[jdub]

Would you care to disclose how much the insurance industry pays you to say things like that?

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I personally think it is a path that opens us to many temptations.

That's for sure.

I'm not so sure, though, that the passage from I Corinthians is an absolute prohibition. I've perceived it as being more of a very strong warning and plea, but not an absolute "forbidden" statement. But the result is the same. It is a defeat for us already when brother goes to law against brother.

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Would you care to disclose how much the insurance industry pays you to say things like that?

Great question. I don't do insurance defense work, nor am I paid by any insurance company. But that is an insightful question.

[jdub]

i watched a trial recently where the plaintiff's attorney made the mistake of letting a preacher on the jury. The guy flat out lied, said if that there was fault, he could award damages. Two people suffered grievous injuries, hundreds of thousands in medicals alone. Fault was clearly proven.

According to the Bailiff, the Preacher browbeat the jury into finding no fault, as the accident was God's will and they had no business second guessing god. Judge threw out the verdict and admonished the jury for finding contrary to law and the proof.

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the accident was God's will and they had no business second guessing god

That's not my theology on this stuff. I guess some people think that way.

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I’ve got to hit the road for a few hours. Don’t be too hard on me in my absence. Talk to you late tonight.

[jdub]

we just settled a Worker's comp death case today. He had only been on the job a short time, so they claim that his average weekly wage shouldn't be based on 40 hours/week, but instead on actual days worked.

In their computation, his last week only had 4 days. He showed up for the 5th day, but died in an accident just after the start of the workday. The insurer didn't think he should get credit for the day he died, since he didn't actually work. Thats how the insurance company thinks; no heart, no feelings, its all numbers on a page, and the goal is to keep the number on their side of the table growing by not paying out on the other. One of the ways they do this is by making you feel guilty for receiving what you are entitled to.

In this case, the deceased left behind 3 minor children, no mother. Luckily the guardian appointed decided to check with an attorney rather than take the insurer's word for it that what they were offering was what they were entitled to. They were only off by $100,000.

$128,000 is not a lot when you consider it is to replace only part of the wages your dad would have earned had he lived, up until you reach 18 years old.

[melsec]

Hi Steve,

I have been thinking a bit (or God has been bugging me)about your article as we are currently going through this. I like to think right through things and don’t always take things at face value -slow to obedience I suppose. Any way I just thought I would throw some ideas by you and see what you think.

In the OT we have a serious of laws and remedies - these along with religious rituals were later codified in the Mishnah I believe. Any way the OT Jews had people they could go to for remedy of a situation - the synagouge, judges and finally an appeal to the king. They had rights, as we do and had proceses to obtain those if they were being deprived of their rights. I know everyone,it seems, is more interested in their rights than their responsibilities these days and that the rights they claim are sometimes evil. This should not stop us from claiming ours. There are a few examples of this in scripture and these people are not condemned for doing so as these rights are God given.

Paul tells us not to bring each other up before courts. There are the reasons you posted but also that these courts were civil authorities (namely Roman) - they could be corrupt (as can ours) and they did not necessarily judge according to scipture.

Having said all we still find ourselves with legal problems and having to go through the legal processes to seek our rights and the remedies for the situtaions we find ourselves in. What a Christian needs to appreciate, rather than looking at the black and white pronoucemnets of Paul (which you know people interpret in different ways),that we actually work under a different paradigm than that of OT Jews. In fact we are able, beacuse of the Sacrifice of Jesus, to have our first appeal to the King. In fact we have a private audience as if we were His Son. So it is a best silly to seek a worldy remedy before we have sought a heavenly one and satisfied ourselves with His supply before we then go and put the more wordly processes in action.

Next we need to look at rights versus righteousness. A lot of Christians will say they want righteousness but what they may really want is there rights witout thought or consideration of anyone or anything esle. You are quite correct that this must start with forgiveness prior to antthing else, otherwise there will be little satisfaction in whatever the outcome. A Christian should wnat the rigteousness of God to rule over the whole situation. God knows how to judge and sees the thouhts and intents.... SO a righteous judgemnet would take these things into account and we are not able to do that.

Lastly he who owns a thousand cattle on a thousand hills and whose arm is not short in blessing is able to bring remedies into our lives which we have no way of accounting. So we ought to trust and place our faith in a God given outcome and that God is able to make up anything we might feel we did not get through negotiation.

As you can see I like to put everything through the wringer and like to know WHY. I wish I could just read it and do it and I admire those people more than I can say but at least I can say I get a lot of belssings working through things,

Blessings

Mel

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Appreciate your essay, Mel. Very thoughtful. And you get to the crux of things for me. Prayers for you as you seek a God-honoring resolution.