One of the problems in our society is not the lack of compassion. Americans have compassion: for snail darters, blind cave fish, spotted owls, manatees, streams, rocks, trees, etc. There is great compassion for those under the sentence of death from the state and about anyone who does other terrible things, if they can get before the camera with watering eyes and a quivering lip. Many say, "OK, let's forget what they did." So you see, it is not a lack of compassion. Certainly we should forgive anyone who repents, but the ones I'm talking about do not afterwards change their lifestyle. Therefore they have not repented.

The problem is misguided compassion. What about compassion for the widow and the orphans of the peace officer slain in the line of duty and not for his killer? And the little child with the cigarette burns on his body and not his mother who had a bad day? And the family burned alive in highway wreckage and not the drunk driver who didn't mean any harm?

Several Scriptures tell us of the compassion of our Savior. What did His compassion cause Him to do? Hold a candle to stay an execution, carry a sign to save the cute animals, gather a crowd to speak on the subject of "Society is to Blame"? No! His compassion caused Him to speak out against sin, to speak about personal responsibility, self-control, and that it is never right to do wrong. His compassion caused Him to teach that the soul is more important that a happy life, things are unimportant, the soul is important, that the earth with its streams, animals, etc., are for the use of man and not the other way around.

Yes, I know most people don't care about what Jesus of Nazareth taught, felt, or believed. And that is the reason compassion is misunderstood, misapplied, misguided, misused, and abused!

- Good News, 11/8/1998