Shattered Justice Read Online Free PDF Page A

Instead, they settled on either side of him and Sarah and prepared to suffer through the movie.
    Of course, it only took a few scenes for them to be as engrossed in the story as Dan and Sarah. And when John Wayne finally saved his two sons and brought evil ol’ George Kennedy to justice, Aaron and Shannon were stomping and cheering as loud as either of their parents. Louder.
    “Man!” Shannon stretched, grinning at Dan as he flicked the TV off. “I’m glad that creep got dead.”
    “Oh, honey—”
    Sarah’s quiet reprimand was cut off by Aaron’s snort. “Bloodthirsty little critter, aren’t you?”
    Shannon planted her hands on her hips. “Well? Aren’t you?”
    “Sure.” Aaron stood. “But I’m a guy. Guys are supposed to be bloodthirsty. Right, Dad?”
    By now, Dan struggled to keep a burst of laughter trapped inside. He could tell from the chagrin on his wife’s features that laughter was not the proper response. He cleared his throat.“Well, I don’t think
bloodthirsty
is quite the right word, Aaron.”
    His son’s brows arched. “Okay. Then how about out for justice. I mean, isn’t that what your whole job is about? Justice? Making the bad guys pay?”
    “Justice is more than just making people pay, honey.” Sarah was looking at Aaron, but she nudged Dan as she spoke.
    He knew she wanted him to follow her lead. Problem was, he wasn’t sure he agreed with her. “Right …” Dan leaned forward. “Bad guys—” he inclined his head—“criminals, people who hurt others, need to be stopped.”
    “But shouldn’t they suffer some kind of … you know,
consequence
for hurting people?”
    Shannon joined in. “Yeah, like we get punished if we do something wrong.”
    “But real justice, God’s justice, is about grace as much as punishment.”
    The kids looked at their mother, and Dan could see their minds working on that one. Well, he couldn’t blame them. He was having a little trouble absorbing it, too.
    “What do you mean?”
    Dan wanted to echo Shannon’s question. Instead, he kept his features as clear of confusion as possible and waited for Sarah’s answer.
    “Okay. You know everyone sins, right?”
    Dan almost nodded along with the kids as they agreed. “Right.”
    “And you know, according to God’s law, we all deserve the same punishment for those sins.”
    Dan was all over this one. “Death. We all deserve death.”
    Sarah looked at him, a half smile on her face. “Right.”
    “But that’s why Jesus came.”
    Aaron flicked a glance at his sister. “Yeah, He came to die for all our sins. And when God brought Jesus back to life, we were set free.”
    “Exactly.” Sarah patted Aaron’s knee. “So Jesus’ bloodwashed away all our sins, past, present, and future.”
    Shannon frowned. “So we can do as much bad as we want now? And it’s all okay?”
    Dan could have told Sarah that question was coming. It only made sense. If grace covered everything, then why worry about being good? “Not quite, half-pint. God showed us grace by sending Jesus, but that’s for the eternity side of things. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection bring us eternal life. But it doesn’t take away the consequences, here and now, of our wrong actions.”
    Shannon pursed her lips. “But if we’re forgiven …”
    “We’re forgiven by God, honey.” Sarah leaned her elbows on her knees. “That’s the grace part of God’s justice. Someone had to pay the ultimate price for our sins.”
    “Death.” Dan grinned at Aaron. Like father, like son. They had that one down pat. “Right. But Jesus paying that price didn’t get rid of consequences. So if you do something wrong—”
    “Like force your kids to watch a gazillion John Wayne movies?”
    Dan flicked a finger at Shannon’s pert nose. “Funny kid. If you do something wrong, there are consequences. No escaping it. That’s where the punishment side of justice comes in. So justice is about grace
and
punishment.”
    Shannon