tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448378901591621575.post7576170579532702315..comments2023-10-31T03:44:21.678-07:00Comments on Mount and Mountain: Mike: The Fifth BeatitudeMike Smith and Rami Shapirohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12797108504119005047noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448378901591621575.post-78422696077199198852008-07-09T10:29:00.000-07:002008-07-09T10:29:00.000-07:00Your comment is on target. As always, I'm partial ...Your comment is on target. As always, I'm partial to any point which draws on Gandalf, Froda and company for illustration! <BR/><BR/>Yes, I think justice and mercy are one in the kingdom of God, whether in its fulness or in the present moment whenever we attempt to live under the rule of God.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for participating!Mike Smith and Rami Shapirohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12797108504119005047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448378901591621575.post-89633366155430183042008-07-09T08:20:00.000-07:002008-07-09T08:20:00.000-07:00What is justice? What is mercy? You suggest that, ...What is justice? What is mercy? You suggest that, in the kingdom of God, the two are one. Why not in the here and now as well? If we do not temper justice with mercy, it is not just. Your Jewish friend is trapped in a false binary, in which granting mercy is equivalent to granting aquittal. This is not the case. <BR/><BR/>While it may seem a ludicrous example, I'd point to Gandalf's treatment of Saruman after the destruction of Isengard for a definition of justice tempered with mercy. Saruman, though he is a murderer and a traitor, is not aquitted; he is stripped of his power and his position, but not killed or imprisoned. <BR/><BR/>Why not? Because both actions preclude his chance for redemption. And it is in the hope that Saruman will find his own redemption that Gandalf turns him loose. <BR/><BR/>Sadly, Saruman is beyond redemption. He can only make one choice: the will to power. he moves on to Hobbiton, takes over, and wrecks the place. Should Gandalf, employing a harsher justice, have stopped him? <BR/><BR/>The answer lies with Saruman. When Frodo and Co. meet Saruman on the road, Saruman claims "one bad turn deserves another." This is justice as defined by Hamurabi, and it would seem to rationalize Saruman's destruction of the Shire. However, such justice locks us into an endless round of vengeful reprisals. Gandalf's version, on the other hand, errs on the side of hope. In so doing, it also reifies free will. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps this is what mercy means: not blind forgiveness (which would indeed be foolish), but a deliberate risk, limiting the tendency of justice to become vengeance, protecting the value of free will, and humbly recognizing that "even the very wise cannot see all ends."AaronHerschelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08886387346974535323noreply@blogger.com