What Would Jesus Do?

All scripture is from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible

By H. J. Stephens Sacarello, BA, MA

A few days ago, after watching an update on the Linsay Clancy mistrial and a jurist being interviewd, my husband asked me, “What do you think Jesus would do?”  Being quite tired of hearing everything on the news regarding a mother killing her three babies, thinking about it made me sick.  “I don’t know,” I said. What I do know is that I’m happy I don’t live in Massachusetts and was not in that jury. 

      Then rethinking, what would a loving, forgiving Jesus’ decision be if He were on that jury? The following was my reply to my husband.  Jesus and God are loving, forgiving deities.  The Bible teaches that when we sin, if we’ve accepted Jesus as our Savior and go to Jesus asking forgiveness for our sins He will forgive us and that sin does not keep us from entering Heaven, but I believe we are still personally required to suffer our sin’s consequences. 

      Regarding Ms. Clancy, is she guilty of killing her three children?  Yes.  That’s a fact which she admits to, blaming it on voices in her head instructing her to do so.  Was she suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed her children?  Was she misdiagnosed and actually has schizophrenia? Was she weary regarding the responsibilities involved with rearing children?  Is she a Christian, and is she sane enough now to go to Jesus and ask forgiveness?

      Three children are dead through no fault of their own.  Should their mother suffer the consequence of her actions?  Yes. I believe she should be institutionalized in a mental institution with the condition that she never be released.  I’ll tell you why I added that she never be released.

      Many, many years ago in my hometown, a woman caught her husband with another woman.  She shot and killed the woman, but her husband escaped.  The woman went on trial pleading temporary insanity, was found guilty due to temporary insanity and was committed to a mental institution. That was before medication was invented that supposedly kept people sane as long as they took it, and mental institutions were closed.  After a year in the mental institution, she was diagnosed sane by her doctors, she and her husband reconciled and they, along with their children still at home, moved to a town in the same state but far away from my hometown.  They lived happily ever after (as far as I know) until they both died many years later.  However, the woman she killed was still dead and her family still grieved.

      So, what would Jesus do?  My answer is that IF SHE ASKED HIM for forgiveness, as all we Christians are required to do, He would forgive her but still require her to suffer the consequences of her actions.  Everyone has an opinion regarding this case, and that is mine.  (My opinion, take it or leave it.) 

Scripture:  Hebrews 12:6 – “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”