No to Shortcuts

Life is precious. It is the greatest gift of all because it symbolizes the great love of God to man. He even laid down His own life so people, do-gooders and sinners alike may live with Him in the eternal life.

The recent spate of killings across the country, either state-sanctioned or vigilante-imposed, certainly violates God's law "thou shall not kill." This law is condition-less. Meaning to say, even in the midst of some justifying circumstances as the law enforcer's life is in danger while hunting down a suspect, choosing life remains the moral option.

The life of the "guiltiest among the guiltiest" or the "most sinned among the worst sinners" is just equally worth-preserving as the righteous and the saintliest of all.

Take the case of Apostle Saint Paul. He was a murderer, worst persecutor of the early Christians, yet, his life ended in God's grace. Had he been killed early on, we would not be reading today great epistles in the Bible that continue to enlighten people living in darkness.

Isn't it that whenever we visit prison cells, very often we would see used-to-be hardened criminals now having in their hands the Bible, preaching and doing God's will. And, how much do they now tightly embrace that newfound life-changing light and how much now do they hate darkness.

Yes, it is God's grace. It is God's forgiveness. That kind of forgiveness that He can easily give, that men sometimes find so hard to extend to his fellow.

Killing does not only mean physical death.. It can be moral. It can be spiritual. False imputations against any person leading to damaged character and reputation is killing in itself. Giving false and misleading thoughts to people is killing, too. Taking drugs is also a form of killing. Drugs kill humanity, even generations.

And so, we ask, is killing or taking revenge the way to go?

Is changing the entire societal structure the most appropriate thing to do?

And, by the way, where does the root of the problem lie?

Have not our life's choices been formed by how we were raised by our parents, by the school and by the church?

Certainly, there is now a repressed cry from the depth recesses of our collective conscience as to what we have done to the institutions where we belong.  Isn't it that it is only when the family, the school, and the church do their duties can we build a much better and most peaceful country? Building such society will not happen in three or six years, it will be built by lifetimes and generations.

Sometimes the best way is the longest and hardest journey.

No shortcuts, please.