This morning, I saw on Facebook, a post and image about  “…paying back evil with evil…”,  in referring to authorities working to address the “civil” unrest occurring after the death of George Floyd.

In this image, we note advice against repaying evil with more evil, along with an encouragement to, “… conquer evil… “.

From verses 17 through 21, the passage is bracketed, and underlined. Somehow, many  miss what follows “don’t repay evil with more evil…” We don’t often ‘see’ the advice  to always try to “act …honorably, while working to…live in peace…”

We, also, can see the start of the next Chapter in this image and it notes something vital for all of us.   Those two chapters create a vital contextual accounting of behavior for both We The People, and OUR Government!

“Respect Authority… submit to governing authority… Live in peace…” – After all, is this not what We the People have chosen? “..Live in peace, with a Governing Authority We, The People, have Chosen, right?

Governing Authority, acting as a singular entity, must also submit to our corporate will, as ‘We the People’, are also essential to our governments existence’.   It’s a, delicate system, of checks and balances, that We the People inherited from our forefathers. It cannot stand, though, without vigilant attention to its health!

The peaceful existence that we, as an Independent Republic desire, also depends on the governing body WE choose! We, the People choose, through voting, who governs us, who represents us, and  who defends our rights as citizens. We, the People, choose who represents us. WE. CHOOSE!

We the People are like a gardener; we carry the tools for the garden. We choose, (along with our own selected  governing authority) what grows in the garden, and what does not!

This nation is like a garden, and this garden is something our forefathers helped create; our forefathers left us a wonderful inheritance in this  garden; the peace we enjoy, our citizens rights, the rule of law which give us order, the incredible balance brought about through a government ruled By the people and For the people, the Liberty AND Justice we normally expect to see!

Failing to weed a garden after we’ve spent tremendous effort to till the soil, set the rows, and plant and allow the seeds to germinate & begin flourishing, will cause our precious garden to fail .    “Weeds”, if allowed to grow, will destroy the garden!

• Corrupt government Officials (Governors, Mayors Police Chiefs, Senators & Representatives) who choose to negate what WE have voted for, are like bad weeds.
• Corrupt Judges who decide to make/create Laws for us that We, the People, did NOT choose are like bad weeds.
• Corrupt Law Enforcement Officers who act as thugs and mini-warlords are like bad weeds.

At great cost and with an enormous effort, our forefathers gave this country a chance at peace and wonderful freedoms.

• IF we allow lawlessness and injustice OF ANY KIND, to begin to rule our lives…
• IF we allow police to become ‘thugs’, bullies, and ‘mini-warlords’…
• IF the police themselves allow their ‘brothers’ to get away with mayhem…
• IF we allow peaceful demonstration to become out-of-control rioting, looting and burning…
• IF we fail to protect our Law Enforcement personnel AND Citizenry from Intimidation, and unjust practices, then we are allowing our precious ‘garden of freedom’ to become a place corrupted by “weeds” of evil and anarchy!

DEFENDING ourselves, our family, or our fellow citizens, with justifiable appropriate (including lethal) force,  is not, “…paying back evil with more evil…” It’s simply defending AGAINST more evil.

• IF we allow evil to grow, we lose our ‘peace’…   Allowing our governing authority to defend us from evil IS appropriate. Respecting their Authority to do so, within the boundaries We the People have established, is appropriate!
• If we prevent them from doing their duty, we lose our ‘peace’…
• IF We, the People, don’t allow our governing authorities to do their jobs, we lose our ‘peace’; we allow ‘weeds of lawlessness’ to begin to flourish… and we will not see justice!

That good book (Dt 16:20, Is 1:17, Lev 19:15, Zec 7:9)    clearly advises us to “…SEEK JUSTICE…” and we can infer from those words, that we give seeking Justice a High priority! Within the covers of that good book is also a hearty recommendation for us to “Break, or lose the  “…chains of Injustice” (Is 58:6)!

What happened to George Floyd is gross injustice!
Allowing Looters, and Lawless, unchecked, violence, is gross injustice!

Many of us, who spent time in the Middle-Eastern world, understand the mind-set of “…Participation in murder, either by committing the act, OR BY protecting the murderer, (keeping him safe in ones house, for example), commits the household to ‘sharing’ in the consequences! YES, that seems extreme, but at the same time, there is a real, effective common sense in it – Bringing Officer Chauvin (who killed George Floyd), and his partners, to justice, would be a good example of the aforementioned thought process; The officer, who was allowed by his partners, to commit a murder, while they prohibited citizens from stopping the murder are all culpable, and subject to consequences up to and including in sharing in charges of murder! Bringing those despicable persons to justice, while, at the same time using lawful (even lethal) force to stop lawless acts is NOT repaying evil with evil! It is, in fact, “…conquering evil”!

IF we allow lawless looting and rioting to grow unchecked, then WE, The PEOPLE, allow ourselves to be subjugated by Anarchy; we will have NO effective government and VIOLENCE will Rule our lives. We must  allow Government and Law-abiding officials to EFFECTIVELY enforce a “JUST RULE of LAW”, while WE also must  hold government accountable and subject to OUR will!

If we seek justice first for George Floyd’s murder, then we begin to “loosen the …chains of injustice”!

If we support Law-enforcement Authorities  in shutting down lawless rioters & Looters, we defend ourselves from lawless tyranny, which enables us to “…live in peace”!

A final thought:

My older brother, Skeete, wrote in a collection of writings he dubbed as “The Learning Curve” something I find oddly appropriate for some Governing Authorities choices for handling Lawless Looting, Rioting, and Burning  –  “I’ve learned That shortcuts in life can be real expensive!”  

What say you, people?