Biblical Principles to Guide Final Court of Appeal Decision
Dear Editor,
The choice by our Jamaican parliament of which court should be our final Court of Appeal, should be based on the following Biblical principles:
1. Since God is our creator, ruler and judge, government, whether it be the executive, legislative or judicial, should not make any adjustment to the constitution or to the laws of the land, that may make lawful, what God has said is unlawful.
All scripture readings are taken from the Good News Translation:
Deuteronomy 17:18-20
“When he becomes king, he is to have a copy of the book of God’s and teachings made from the original copy kept by the Levitical priests. He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honour the Lord and to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it. This will keep him from thinking that he is better than his fellow Israelites and from disobeying the Lord’s commands in any way. Then he will reign for many years, and his descendants will rule Israel for many generations.”
Deuteronomy 16:18-20
“Appoint judges and other officials in every town that the Lord your God gives you. These men are to judge the people impartially. They are not to be unjust or show partiality in their judgements; and they are not to accept bribes, for gifts blind the eyes even of wise and honest men, and cause them to give wrong decisions. Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you and will continue to live there.”
2. When governments make laws, that make lawful, what God has said is unlawful, which the nations, under their rule, are expected to obey, it causes both the governments and the nations to sin against God.
1st Kings 12:28-30
“After thinking it over, he made two bull calves of gold and said to his people, ‘You have been going long enough to Jerusalem to worship. People of Israel, here are your god who brought you out of Egypt!’ He placed one of the gold bull calves in Bethel and the other in Dan. And so the people sinned, going to worship in Bethel and in Dan.”
3. Whenever governments sin and cause the nations, which they rule, to sin against God, He will call them to repentance.
2nd Kings 17:13
“The Lord had sent his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and Judah: ‘Abandon your evil ways and obey my commands, which are contained in the law I gave to your ancestors and which I handed on to you through my servants the prophets.’”
Mark 6:17-18
“Herod himself had ordered John’s arrest, and he had him chained and put in prison. Herod did this because of Herodias, whom he had married, even though she was the wife of his brother Philip. John the Baptist kept telling Herod, ‘It isn’t right for you to be married to your brother’s wife!’”
Acts 24:25
“But as Paul went on discussing about goodness, self-control, and the coming day of judgement, Felix was afraid, and said, ‘You may leave now. I will call you again when I get the chance.’”
4. If governments and nations repent and return to God, He will not punish them.
Jeremiah 18:7-8
“If at any time I say that I am going to uproot, break down, or destroy any nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns from its evil, I will not do what I said I would.”
Jonah 3:4-10
“Jonah started through the city, after walking a whole day, he proclaimed, ‘In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!’ The people of Nineveh believed God’s message. So they decided that everyone should fast, and all the people, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth to show that they had repented. When the king of Nineveh heard about it, he got up from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. He sent out a proclamation to the people of Nineveh: ‘This is an order from the king and his officials: no one is to eat anything; all persons, cattle, and sheep are forbidden to eat or drink. All persons and animals must wear sackcloth. Everyone must pray earnestly to God and must give up his wicked behaviour and his evil actions. Perhaps God will change his mind; perhaps he will stop being angry, and we will not die!’ God saw what they did; he saw that they had given up their wicked behaviour. So he changed his mind and did not punish them as he had said he would.”
5. If governments and nations refuse to repent and return to God, He will punish them.
Jeremiah 25:15-26
God’s Judgement on the Nations
“The Lord, the God of Israel, said to me, ‘Here is a wine cup filled with my anger. Take it to all the nations to whom I send you, and make them drink from it. When they drink from it, they will stagger and go out of their minds because of the war I am sending against them.’ So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, gave it to all the nations to whom the Lord had sent me, and made them drink from it. Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah, together with its kings and leaders, were made to drink from it, so that they would become a desert, a terrible and shocking sight, and so that people would use their name as a curse—as they still do. Here is the list of all the others who had to drink from the cup: the king of Egypt, his officials and leaders; all the Egyptians and all the foreigners in Egypt; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the kings of the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod; all the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; all the kings of the Mediterranean lands; the cities of Dedan, Tema, and Buz; all the people who cut their hair short; all the kings of Arabia; all the kings of the desert tribes; all the kings of Zimri, Elam, and Media; all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another. Every nation on the face of the earth had to drink from it. Last of all, the king of Babylonia will drink from it.”
Psalm 9:17
“Death is the destiny of all the wicked, of all those who reject God.”
I am,
Joseph Buckland.