“Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t”

“Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t” Maybe you have heard this phrase, and it was awhile back since those days when I still watched primetime cartoons. At that time, I am a Simpsons fanatic. Well of course the main reason why I watch it is because it make me laugh, and learn some lessons in the end, which they removed and wondered why since. Anyway, as far as I could remember, Bart first blurted out these words when he was asked a question about the meaning of paradox, and he has to give an example. Actually, it was funny (but serious), on why he came to that class of nerds anyway because he cheated on their exams by replacing his exams paper with a genius (Now, are we learning something?). Then, every nerds’ eyes were on him curious of what he would answer, and you guessed right; what came out from his mouth are the only words he knows-“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” So, let’s go to reality.

This is the same dilemma that my friend is facing nowadays. Whether to do legal actions against a firm that wronged him, or just let it be and forgive. He asked some people’s advice regarding this and different answers hounded him. As a Christian, we are taught to be loving, and forgiving because in the scriptures, it teaches us how to rely on God, and if we trust in Him, we believe He will decide justly. The important word here is “justly.” Even we are oppressed, even we are accused falsely, and tried immorally, we Christians should always be patient and enduring like Christ was when He was crucified on the cross for doing nothing wrong, in short, he was sinless, unblemished, and yet he faced the most cruel and painful death; he was mocked, thrown with every hurting words a man could take, even after doing what is good, and yet he said not even a word. Definitely, a lamb surrounded by pack of wolves waiting to be slaughtered!

What about the bible talking about doing what is just? Isn’t making a legal action against the people who mistreated you just? If you look at the meaning of the word just in the dictionary, it says, ‘reasonable,’ ‘morally or legally right,’ ‘correct or proper,’ ‘deserved.’ So, is doing that reasonable? Is it morally or legally right? Is it correct or proper? Is it deserving? If it is, then it is just. Doing what is just in human sense is different on what is just in God’s eyes. You might see that putting them in jail or putting their work out of business is just, then it is just only in your eyes. Yes, they must deserve it for the evil that they’ve done, but you don’t know what is really they deserve. We must remember that God does not forget all the things we have done evil or good, and God doesn’t just sleep on these things and take it so lightly. He is the God of Good and hates any kind of evil. Moreover, we are also guilty of sinning; no one is innocent. All sins are equal. You may have murdered someone or just told a lie, it is still sin and is punishable by death. You may say that this is not just, well are you God? It is God who makes the rules, not us, and we should submit to these rules like our lives depend on it. Therefore, my dear brethrens, we must learn to forgive and be patient like God is with us. Payback evil with good, and then we will learn the most valuable lessons of true love.