God and Casey Anthony

"She'll have to answer to God for what she did."

"She may be innocent in the courts, but if God is just, she'll be burning in hell for what she did."

"She may have dodged a bullet, but she won't dodge God."

Those are just a few comments I either read or heard in the days following the verdict in the Casey Anthony murder case.  I can understand the sentiment even if I don't agree with it.  Emotions run high in these kinds of cases, especially in cases involving the murder of a small child.  We all have a God-given sense of justice in us, so we find it frustrating when it seems like justice is absent.  So if I may, I would like to offer a more balanced perspective of the idea of justice and judgment. 

Ok, first I have to address my fellow Christ-followers when I say this: Knock it off, you should know better.  It's okay to be angry at the perceived lack of justice in this trial, but I'm pretty sure we're called to love everyone.  By proclaiming that Casey Anthony will burn in hell for her crimes (of which she was found innocent keep in mind), you are showing your own heart. 

You are showing that you really have no love in your heart at all.  If we can't love our enemies (I define that as anyone we find disagreeable in any way), then we can't love anyone.  Assigning someone to hell isn't love.  There is a murderer in all of us, and when we spit venom and anger at our enemies, that murderer is on full display (Matthew 5:21-22). 

So where does God fit into all of this?  1 John 4:16 states very simply, "God is love."  It doesn't say that God is loving, it says that he is love.  It is his essence.  It is who and what he is.  Everything that we think we know about him (which probably isn't a whole lot) must be filtered through this very point.  That includes his judgment.

Do I believe that God judges?  Of course I do.  I'm not comfortable (and neither are you, I would imagine) with a God who thinks that rape, abuse, or the murder of a child is ok.  However, I think the problem lies in our approach.  In every argument I've ever heard about balancing of God's love with his judgment, we always start with his judgment and work our way back to his love.  But if God is love, then we must start there and work toward judgment.

That may not sound like much of a difference, but it is as different as night and day.  If we start with God being judgment, then we inevitably end up with an angry and irrational God who occasionally loves us as he hurls the lightning bolts.  If we start with God being love, we end up with a God who has spoken a giant "Yes" over humanity (2 Corintians 1:18-20), an end-game goal of fully alive, fully human, and whole people.  Within this gigantic "YES!" for humanity, there are smaller "no's" that rob us of life, that rob us of the ability to be fully alive as God intends.  This is his judgment. 

I have a very defined idea of the kind of people I want my children to be.  I have a "yes," a goal for how they will be as adults.  I want them to be loving, generous, and compassionate people when they grow up.  This is my "yes" for their lives.  Inside of that "yes" I have defined "no's" that I feel will keep them from that greater "yes" when they are older.  It's no different with God.  But God also has thrown a curveball. 

Injected into all of this is Jesus.  Jesus is proof that God is the most unjust Judge in the universe, because what kind of Judge takes all of the punishment for crimes on himself?  He forever tips the scales in the direction of the defendant and decides to stop prosecuting altogether.  Jesus is God's biggest "Yes" over us.  His judgment looks an awful lot like free forgiveness for everyone human who has ever lived.  We're free to do with it what we will.  We can accept it and live accordingly, or we can deny it and continue to bring all sorts of hell to earth.

Which brings us back to Casey Anthony.  Whether she did it or not, she's forgiven.  She was forgiven (fore-given) before any crime may or may not have taken place.  In the same way, our hatred for her is forgiven.  God allows our choices.  We can either bring heaven to earth by living in the way of Jesus by being compassionate and loving people, or we can bring hell by murdering, abusing, hating, and destroying those around us. 

The murder of that young child was a tragedy.  It was a tragedy that I believe grieved the heart of God as it did to so many of us.  But we must remember that though this "no" was done to this young girl, the person who did it is still under the greater "Yes" of God, and we must pray that the person responsible (Casey Anthony or otherwise) finds life.  Let's get out of the judgment game, because God took care of it already when he decided to love us to death.