Recently a friend of mine, who is a long-time Believer, had a crime committed against him. He had something valuable stolen, something that the crook might resell or just keep for him/herself. When I asked if the crime was reported, my friend said that he didn’t report it, but has prayed for this person and hopes that if they keep the item that they get joy from having it, and that the item is a reminder, so to speak, of the crime and will lead that person to repentance.
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My position is that the crime should be reported, if for no other reason, that the crook might be caught, preventing anyone else from having to be a victim. In fact, I feel so strongly about this that I will go as far as to say if someone is a victim of a crime- any crime, from petty theft to sexual attack- and they fail to report it, then they are an accomplice before the fact to any crimes committed by that person from that point forward!
Now, there is nothing wrong, whatsoever, with praying for the criminal, as my friend has done. We are not asked to forgive: the fact is that we are required to forgive.
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that we are forgiven as we forgive others, so if you think, for even a second, that your lack of forgiveness on earth will not come back on your own head at Judgement Day, then you have a really bad surprise coming to you.
But is praying enough? Doesn’t God say to be holy as he is holy? So, if we are to emulate God, we should do as he does, so does God allow those who sin to go unpunished?
Forgiveness is not a Get Out of Jail Free card- forgiveness is not something that will affect us on earth, at least, not from God’s perspective. God’s forgiveness doesn’t save us from suffering the consequences of our sins while we are alive-NO! It saves us from eternal damnation.
Look to the Torah- God has set up a penal system where he gives us appropriate punishment for a crime, indicating absolutely that criminals should not go unpunished. We are told not to take vengeance, or to return evil for evil, yes, but that doesn’t mean to not report a crime. To try to stop someone from doing evil is not vengeance, it is being a responsible citizen.
One of the Big Ten is not to bear false witness, well…have you considered that failing to report a true witness is no different than reporting a false witness? Either way, a sin that has been committed goes unpunished.
Of course, no sin goes unnoticed by God, and the ones who sin against others without repenting will have to face the consequences of that sin on an eternal plane, but in the meantime, while praying that the sinner repents is a righteous thing to do, not taking action to prevent that sin from reoccurring is wrong.
What do you think?
If someone stole something from you, would you pray for that person and leave it at that, hoping that God will intercede some way or that the person will come to repentance one day? Or will you pray for the person (which is always right to do), but at the same time report the crime and do what you can to prevent that person from getting away with their sin, hopefully preventing them from doing the same to someone else?
As for me and my house, we will report the crime and do everything we can to put that sucker behind bars.
Thank you for being here and please don’t hesitate to comment, and share this message with everyone you know.
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
