Category: Impeachment

Just Be Just

We are currently mid-way or so in the US Senate’s impeachment trial. If you asked, “What impeachment?”, your name must be Rip Van Winkle*, and you’ve been asleep since November 2016. The House managers (the prosecutors) finished presenting their case, and yesterday the president’s lawyers (the defense team) began their presentation. There are at least two days of arguments ahead before we know exactly what will happen.

While watching the defenders reacting to the prosecutors’ assertions, I remembered the words of one of the sayings from the Bible’s book of Proverbs: “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17). How true it is, for if you only heard one side of the story, during the impeachment or during any other trial or debate, you could easily be swayed to believe that version. Not until the other side has spoken can you better decide who is right.

I once served on a jury that heard a felony case about a man charged with tethering and abusing his dogs. The prosecutor, an assistant district attorney, showed pictures and presented testimony from two animal control officers. Then came the animal shelter veterinarian who showed and described the dogs’ injuries. When the prosecutor finished, it would have been easy to conclude the defendant was guilty. But then the defense attorney got up and shredded the prosecutor’s case. Not only did the animal officers’ testimony disagree with the physical evidence and photos, the vet testified that apart from the superficial wounds (caused by the dogs when they attacked each other) the animals’ conditions showed they were properly nourished and cared for. Our verdict: not guilty.

It’s interesting that the Bible, and other ancient Jewish writings, hold a lot of wisdom about trials and other legal remedies, such as the admonition in Proverbs that a person hear both sides of a story before deciding what is true.  I’m sure a biblical scholar could write a book about all the lessons, but for now, consider the following few examples of “biblical jurisprudence:”

1. Justice is blind. If you see modern courthouses and statues representing justice, you often see a blindfolded figure holding a scale in one hand. The figure is weighing evidence and testimonies to determine the truth, in order that justice be done. The blindfold is to show that “justice is blind,” meaning that non-relevant factors (such as who is at trial or what they look like) do not play a part in the decision. Of course, this is an ideal; it’s very difficult for people to remain completely non-biased in their verdicts. You would have to have a perfect judge to render a perfect verdict; which we have fortunately in the perfect Judge of the universe. Isaiah 11:3-4 says this about the LORD: “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.” God is not swayed in his judgments by the earthly factors that might prejudice our opinions. This truth is reiterated in Acts 10:24 by the Apostle Peter, who declares, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality [no respecter of persons].”

2. Don’t let witnesses collaborate. There is a reason witnesses are kept from hearing other witnesses’ testimonies before they speak: it’s too easy to let their testimony be swayed or to conspire in a lie. Suspects are questioned separately, as well. There is a story found in the Apocrypha, a collection of non-canonical books and stories written between the testaments. The story is called Susanna or Susanna and the Elders, and tells of a married woman named Susanna who is observed bathing by two elders. Inflamed by lust, they demand she have sex with them, but the righteous woman refuses. Rebuffed, the elders concoct a story that they saw her commit adultery with a young man; Susanna is arrested and sentenced to death until Daniel intervenes and says the witnesses should be questioned separately. When this is done, the two elders give conflicting accounts of where the event took place. When their lies are exposed, Susanna is freed and the elders are put to death instead. Perjury has consequences!

3. Capital crimes require two or more eyewitnesses. Crimes which are punishable by death require two or more witnesses to the act, to prevent anyone charging someone else with such serious crimes just out of spite. The specific text in the Bible is Deuteronomy 17:6, “On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.” The writers of the US Constitution included this requirement in the one capital crime they included: treason. Article 3, Section 3 states: “No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.” When the stakes are so high, the corroboration of eyewitnesses is vital for the accused to receive justice.

4. Tell the truth. In today’s courtrooms,witnesses swear or affirm to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” They used to swear to do so, “so help you God,” placing their hand on a Bible. When people looked to God as their judge, they feared God’s judgment on them should they lie under oath. Leviticus 19: 12 says, “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.” While I’m sad to see such a statement disappear as a sign of the decreasing relevance of faith and religion in our society, according to the Bible we should tell the truth whether under oath or not.  James 5:12 says, “But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” The commandment to not bear false witness against our neighbor (Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20) is always applicable, even in daily speech; we don’t have to be under oath to be forced to tell the truth. Note that the admonition against false witness is not just about lying in general, but especially about harming someone by false accusations. God sets the standard (“God is not a man that he should lie” – Numbers 23:19) and expects us to be truthful as well. As believers on Christ and witnesses to him as our Lord and Savior, people must know that we speak truthfully, that our testimony be believed and trusted. Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD,” so don’t lie!

5. God hates those who pervert justice for their own sake. God’s word speaks warning against those who pervert justice and use the law to rob others, especially those least able to defend themselves. Consider the following:

Proverbs 11:1 – A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight.

Proverbs 17:15 – He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

Isaiah 10:1-2 – Woe to those who enact evil statutes And to those who constantly record unjust decisions, So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans.

Deuteronomy 16:19 – You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

Amos 5:11-12 – Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor And exact a tribute of grain from them, Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, Yet you will not live in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine. For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate.

There are other condemnations of injustice throughout the Bible, but you get the idea. Our desire for justice, for being treated fairly and for having our case rightly heard align us with God himself, who desires that we not only receive justice but dispense it fairly as well.

In this fallen and sinful world, we will not always receive the justice we want, but God’s word promises us that one day, all will be set right. those who pervert justice will be punished, and those whom they mistreated will be justified. While we wait for that day, let us exhibit in our dealing the same high standards of justice and mercy which God has shown to us and demands from us. In other words, just be just.

And let us pray along with the Senate chaplain, Rev. Barry Black, that God’s will be done in the impeachment proceedings, for God’s thoughts are above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways, even as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Susanna and the Elders (available online or in the Catholic version of Daniel, chapter 13); Deuteronomy 19:15-21; and Amos 5:21-24.

*Old timer’s reference to the 1819 short story of the same name by Washington Irving, in which Rip fell asleep for 20 years.

Unimpeachable

Impeachment. That word has been spoken, written, and debated more during this past month than it was in the previous twenty years put together. The reason, of course, is the attempt by one political party to remove the current President of the United States from office, or at least to discredit and damage him politically. This process was established in the US Constitution as a check and balance on the Executive Branch of the federal government, to remove a president (or other civil officer) in case of treason, bribery, or other “high crimes and misdemeanors.” As I’m sure you’re well aware, this has happened only three times before, against presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and William Clinton. None of them was actually removed by the established process, though Nixon resigned before the House could actually vote on his impeachment. Where the current attempt goes, or what its merits might be, I will leave to others to decide.

As I heard various reporters and office-holders talking about impeachment, I thought about the word itself, and what it means, besides referring to the current political scene. I knew, for example, that the word is used in other contexts, such as referring in court to a solid witness’s testimony as being “unimpeachable.” To “impeach” is by definition, to call into question the integrity or validity of someone or something. Synonyms are: to discredit, to charge, and to accuse. Therefore, if the above-mentioned witness were to give questionable evidence, the opposing attorney would certainly try to impeach what he or she had to say. Testimony which is “unimpeachable,” therefore, is rock-solid and truthful beyond a doubt: what people used to call, “the Gospel truth.”

The Gospel truth. I like the sound of that. Something that you can believe without a doubt, that is trustworthy, that you can hang your hat on, that you can take to the bank (plus any other old-timey sayings I can come up with). The saying that something is the Gospel truth came about because people believed that the Gospel is true; it was a testimony that what the Bible says about God and his Christ is absolutely trustworthy, as the Church has believed over the centuries. It was the highest designation of truth one could give, because God’s Word was, well, unimpeachable.

Unfortunately, that “old-timey” view of Scripture has become less and less prevalent today. Powerful forces are at work in the world, and in our own society, to impeach the written Word. There are the relativists, who deny objective truth, and might say your Bible may be true for you, but not for them.  There are the so-called “social justice warriors” who charge the Bible with being patriarchal propaganda that has kept (name the group) in submission. There are the atheists, who view the Bible as the human creation of creative writers who were scientifically ignorant. And there are many people who just want to be masters of their own lives, and will try to discredit anything that would impose moral restrictions on their activities and lifestyles. Even more unfortunately, there are many in the Church, even respected leaders, who compromise with these anti-Christian attitudes for the sake of cultural relevancy and acceptance.

But God’s Word cannot be impeached. It is the Gospel truth. It is the one standard by which all other truth is to be measured. It is the sure foundation of life itself, both now and forever. It is the source of hope, the mirror of our lives, and the revelation of our Creator and Redeemer. It is the unchanging truth that we need in a changing and fickle world. It is, as the Church as often declared, “the only norm of faith and life.”

Scripture declares this about itself. Isaiah 40:8 proclaims, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” 1st Peter 1:24 repeats this verse, adding, “And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” Paul wrote, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). He praised the church in Thessalonica: “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans for checking the scriptures to see if what Paul was preaching to them was true. And Paul reminded Timothy that he had grown up with the Scriptures which were able to make him wise to salvation through Christ (2 Timothy 3:15). Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” There are many other scriptures which proclaim the truth and power of God’s written Word, but we’ll look at just one more, a testimony by Jesus himself: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). There’s no way anyone can take the Bible seriously and claim it is just a human writing.

Of course, non-believers might argue, “Of course the Bible claims it’s true. But if you compare it with what we know about history and science, it falls short.” Fortunately the Bible can stand on its own in spite of such charges. Even though the Bible is neither a history book nor a scientific treatise, what is says in those areas is true, and has been proven to be true time and time again in spite of Herculean efforts by skeptics to discredit it. There are entire books written to defend the veracity of the Scriptures, but let me share just a couple right now, as examples of “the Gospel truth.”

1. People used to charge that biblical references to the “Hittites” were fictional, because no such people were known in history. Then the archaeologists discovered the capital city of the Hittites, along with thousands of written records of their history, which meshed with the biblical accounts.

2. Others charged the Bible with ancient beliefs in a flat earth, but Job, Isaiah, and the Psalms speak of the circle of the earth, and nowhere does it claim a flat earth. Likewise, the Church has believed and taught a round earth as did most people even of ancient times; it eas only in the late 1800s that two skeptics, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White, charged the Church with teaching a flat earth, and too many people have uncritically accepted their criticism.

3. Daniel 5 describes a feast in Babylon thrown by King Balshazzar, during which a hand is seen writing a message on the wall. The king becomes terrified, and calls on the aged Daniel to come interpret the vision. Daniel does, and proclaims the message is from God, saying that the king has been weighed and found wanting, and will lose his kingdom that very night. The king offers Daniel the 3rd highest place in the kingdom as a reward. The chapter closes with the terse statement, “That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom” (Daniel 5:30-31). But the critics have tried to impeach that account, claiming that the last king of Babylon was not Belshazzar, but Nabonidas, and that supernatural handwriting shows it was a fanciful story. But archaeology has shown that King Nabonidas did not like living in Babylon, so he moved out to a city named Tema, leaving his son, Belshazzar, as king in the city. In fact, an inscription from Nabonidas to his son has been found. And then there’s the account of the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, which told how the Medes and Persians conquered the city of Babylon during the night while a great feast was taking place. As in so many other cases, what was thought to be an error in Scripture has been shown to be true once all the facts are in.

4. One more example of biblical validation. During World War I, a British general named Allenby was leading troops against the Turkish army that was holding Palestine. He came to a pass which was heavily defended by the Turks, which would be very costly to assault head-on. But as he thought about the name of the location, he remembered something he had read in the Bible. That night, he took out his Bible and read the account in 1 Samuel 14 about how King Saul’s son, Jonathan, had defeated the Philistines at the same place by going around and flanking them. The next day, Allenby’s men found the path around the Turks, and likewise flanked and defeated them.

The Bible is unimpeachable, not just for its archaeological, historical, or scientific accuracy, but more importantly, for what it says about God and about us. Its spiritual lessons are helpful, even for those who just view it as a moral or ethical system. But for those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and trust that he truly rose from the dead after bearing our sins to the cross, the Bible’s truths are life-changing and life-giving (Romans 10:9 – “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”).

It takes faith to believe in an ancient book as the key to life, especially when so many forces are arrayed against it. But faith is what God desires from us. For when we believe, we become his children, and as children, inheritors of eternal life and all the joys and riches of heaven. As the Apostle John said in his Gospel: “but these [things] are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). And that life which God gives you will be unending, unimaginable, and . . . unimpeachable.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Daniel 5, Matthew 5:18, 2 Timothy 3, Revelation 22:18-19