Personally Accountable
Both the Koran and the Holy Bible state that the person who committed a crime should be punished for the crime, and no one else. Personal responsibility is an important principle. It is often ignored in our present culture. Everyone seems to want to blame others or some thing, for their misdeeds, omissions or errors. Harry Truman had a saying on his desk, “the buck stops here.” It seems that America as a people and our politicians and representatives have lost this sense of responsibility or accountability.
I remember the night Katrina struck New Orleans. About 2:00 AM I was driving out of Oregon, Ohio in my truck listening to the Coast-to-Coast Radio Show. George Nory, the show’s host, said that a hurricane of Biblical proportions was bearing down on New Orleans. He asked those listeners who believed in God to pray for the city. Myself and others listening to that broadcast prayed for the city. Later I heard that the storm had dropped from a Category 5 to a Category 4 Hurricane and did not directly hit the city.
For five days the storm had been in the Gulf of Mexico and the federal government warned the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans to take emergency action. The Governor and the Mayor were slow in taking any actions on behalf of the citizens. Then the Democrat politicians blamed the President and the federal government for not doing anything. Some said the storm was President Bush’s fault for rejecting the Kyoto Agreement. The hurricane did stop a homosexual celebration set to be held in New Orleans, perhaps one of the few good things to come out of the terrible tragedy.
THE KORANIC ACCOUNT
“If they disbelieve you, say: My deeds are mine and your deeds are yours. You are not accountable for my actions, nor am I accountable for what you do (1).”
“Your Lord will surely reward all men according to their deeds. He has knowledge of all their actions. Follow the straight path as you are bidden, together with those who have repented with you, and do not transgress. He is watching all your actions (2)?”
COMMENTARY ON THE KORAN ACCOUNT
When the god of Islam judges people after they are resurrected from the dead, they will be judged on their own actions and not on someone else’s actions. In the same way at the present time on earth, people are to be judged for their own conduct, and not someone else’s conduct.
During the Persian Gulf War, Saudi Arabia received military support in the way of troops and equipment to stop the expansion of Iraq under Sadom Hussein. Having non-Islamic military on Islamic soil angered Osama Bin Laden. He subsequently helped get 19 men to fly jets into buildings in an attack on the United States. America did good to Saudi Arabia and was rewarded with evil from that action.
Under Sharia Law there is a provision called honor-killing. If a couple has a sexual relationship before marriage, then a relative of the woman often kills the woman. I have never heard of anything happening to the man.
THE BIBICAL ACCOUNT
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the fathers, so also the soul of the son is mine! The soul that sinneth it shall die (3).”
“The soul that sinneth it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him (4).”
“The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers, Every man shall be put to death for his own sin (5).”
“And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was confirmed in his (Anaziah, King of Judah) hand, that he slew his servants which had slain the king his father. But the children of the murders he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the Lord commanded, saying, the father shall not be put to death for the children nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin (6).”
COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT
God is saying, in the passages quoted above, that each individual will bear the punishment for their own actions and not someone else’s. This goes for the judgments at the end of time and for judgment at this time.
Those who oppose the right to bear arms in the United States will sue the manufacturer of the weapon used in a crime.
Laws have been enacted in some cities holding the parents responsible for the actions of their children and punishing the parents. Yet, laws are passed which prohibit parents from punishing their children to make them obey.
CONCLUSION
You will bear the punishment or reward for your own conduct. “Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reep. For he that soweth to his flesh shall reap CORRUPTION; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap LIFE EVERLASTING (7).”
REFERENCES
1. The Koran, Page 151 Paragraph 10:41
2. The Koran, Page 164, 165 Paragraph 11:12
3. The Holy Bible, Ezekiel 18:4
4. The Holy Bible, Deuteronomy 24:16
5. The Holy Bible, 2 Kings 14:5,6, 2 Chronicles 24:3,4
6. The Holy Bible, II Peter 3:10-13
7. The Holy Bible, Galatians 6:7,8
