I sometimes appreciate Catholicism more than my own Evangelical background, and I think some of it comes down to this very interesting and often overlooked verse from the Bible:
Whoever says to the guilty, "You are innocent," will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations. Proverbs 24:24. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a rich blessing will come on them.
I think that in churches and in our country sometimes, there is an important and warranted emphasis of Christ’s forgiveness, who died for people “while we were yet sinners.” But the whole point of his forgiveness is that he had the authority to forgive because of his own righteousness that was so great he had enough to share. I think this issue is related to the difference between Catholic priests and Protestant Pastors, though most people who do what they are supposed to try to achieve some form of complete dependence on God’s mercy and complete obedience to him in gratitude or in expectation. But I think also people can get carried away with one or the other, or neglectful, and it is reflected in our whole culture, as people get away with stuff that they should not be getting away with. Is the problem rooted in a pronouncement of some kind? I do not know. I think there could be some scapegoats who aren’t supposed to be the scapegoats, and some people who aren’t getting the punishment they deserve in a society that should and would reflect God’s true and fulfilled mercy if people were really doing and saying what they were supposed to. I sometimes do not do well when I survey the whole country and culture and try to say a final word about it. But to me this verse might serve that purpose that has not been achieved by many people who were trusted with that responsibility.
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