I'm amazed and astounded, by what I do not understand...
Let me write to clarify my thoughts...
I'm deeply saddened by this whole issue that is in the papers.
Let me outline the case...I'll be objective...
A girl, 17 years of age at the time, 19 now...
Living the life of a high end prostitute...
By all accounts, she was not an innocent party, but a willing one,
because the last 4 men who were charged, contacted her directly, circumventing the pimp...
Now, there are 48 people charged and named in the papers,
of these, 44 were named along with the pimp,
and 4 without, because they contacted the girl directly.
A point of contentious legality now is...
the girl is not named because of a gag order...
but every one of the men were named so far.
Thus leading them to be judged by the public already.
This is a legally complex case, however, the law of the land makes no sense to me...at all, let me bring out the points that strike me hard...
1) The law states, sex below the age of 16 is a crime, regardless of consent.
But for prostitution (which is legal) the prostitute needs to be at least 18.
The reason all of these men are being publicly named as they are charged is because this girl was 17.
BUT, it's only a crime if she is a prostitute...so we can imply that the courts have already judged her to be that, a prostitute. Most likely because cash transactions were present in every case.
However, consider the other, scarier scenario, if this girl were not a "prostitute", there would have been nothing wrong with her sleeping with 48 men. Really? Is that what our society, our law is saying?
2) The 48 men were named as they were charged, BUT they are not judged yet (No legal punishment given)...yet by virtue of their names and faces being splashed across the newspapers and the net, they have already been judged in the court of public opinion. But...note the difference...the 17 (now 19 year old girl) is NOT named, her name is under a gag order, thereby being protected by the government.
BUT, didn't they already judge her to be a prostitute? (otherwise they could not charge the men)
Isn't she the criminal because she did not disclose her age...& in this case aren't the men, the victims?
And let me bring out another salient point...
By not naming the girl and attempting to protect her identity...
There is a secondary crisis, because people are speculating and names are being thrown around,
Alot of other girls have been named, thereby dragging them through the mud also.
Fair? Not at all...not to these innocent parties.
My point, morally...
Prostitution is wrong, it cheapens a person, whether a person is 16, 18, 21 or whatever age, the law of the land here does nothing to protect...it is of no help at all really...we do not label prostitution as illegal or wrong, and in this case we're protecting it with the law, this just complicate matters further.
*Addition* The other thing I find galling, is that...there is no sanctity of marriage. In the eyes of the law, sex is just that sex...not a product of love, just an animal instinct. Therefore, instead of outlawing sex, the law exists just to protect minors (by the above definition, those below the age of 16) We are truly a secular society. Morality is losing it's grip. I believe in the sanctity of marriage, and that union should end in mutual matrimonial bliss.
With such a view, it is no wonder that our secular society does not consider adultery a crime either. It relegates it to the realm of a domestic dispute. Somehow, that doesn't sit well with me. ...sigh...
At the end of the day, let me say this...
I think the girl is NOT innocent, and neither are the guys, none of them are clean. All should be punished. That is why this whole debacle is so distressing...
Yet, in this whole thing, I also see the inadequacy of the Law to protect, or to punish.
It is at best...a blunt instrument, and it is wielded by imperfect men.
That's why I'm thankful that while there is a law...
there is also the Divine Lawgiver, and God is the best & fairest judge.
By the Law, ALL of us are condemned...
Men...displayed in this case, for the lustfulness of their nature.
Women...for their desires of power, control, materialism...
All of that, just a small smattering of our list of offences against God.
But God the all-knowing Judge while He HATES sin with a vengence, also Loves us.
So much, that He gave us Jesus Christ on that Cross to die for our sins.
Christ paid the price, and it has washed us clean...
If ever the point was uncertain, it is clear now...
It was the UNFAIREST exchange, the most UNDESERVED punishment,
but it was done out of the greatest LOVE for the most UNREPENTANT.
In a place without God,
There is only place for sadness,
because apart from Him...
what ever seems good (our laws), can turn out to be, really, bad.
Let me write to clarify my thoughts...
I'm deeply saddened by this whole issue that is in the papers.
Let me outline the case...I'll be objective...
A girl, 17 years of age at the time, 19 now...
Living the life of a high end prostitute...
By all accounts, she was not an innocent party, but a willing one,
because the last 4 men who were charged, contacted her directly, circumventing the pimp...
Now, there are 48 people charged and named in the papers,
of these, 44 were named along with the pimp,
and 4 without, because they contacted the girl directly.
A point of contentious legality now is...
the girl is not named because of a gag order...
but every one of the men were named so far.
Thus leading them to be judged by the public already.
This is a legally complex case, however, the law of the land makes no sense to me...at all, let me bring out the points that strike me hard...
1) The law states, sex below the age of 16 is a crime, regardless of consent.
But for prostitution (which is legal) the prostitute needs to be at least 18.
The reason all of these men are being publicly named as they are charged is because this girl was 17.
BUT, it's only a crime if she is a prostitute...so we can imply that the courts have already judged her to be that, a prostitute. Most likely because cash transactions were present in every case.
However, consider the other, scarier scenario, if this girl were not a "prostitute", there would have been nothing wrong with her sleeping with 48 men. Really? Is that what our society, our law is saying?
2) The 48 men were named as they were charged, BUT they are not judged yet (No legal punishment given)...yet by virtue of their names and faces being splashed across the newspapers and the net, they have already been judged in the court of public opinion. But...note the difference...the 17 (now 19 year old girl) is NOT named, her name is under a gag order, thereby being protected by the government.
BUT, didn't they already judge her to be a prostitute? (otherwise they could not charge the men)
Isn't she the criminal because she did not disclose her age...& in this case aren't the men, the victims?
And let me bring out another salient point...
By not naming the girl and attempting to protect her identity...
There is a secondary crisis, because people are speculating and names are being thrown around,
Alot of other girls have been named, thereby dragging them through the mud also.
Fair? Not at all...not to these innocent parties.
My point, morally...
Prostitution is wrong, it cheapens a person, whether a person is 16, 18, 21 or whatever age, the law of the land here does nothing to protect...it is of no help at all really...we do not label prostitution as illegal or wrong, and in this case we're protecting it with the law, this just complicate matters further.
*Addition* The other thing I find galling, is that...there is no sanctity of marriage. In the eyes of the law, sex is just that sex...not a product of love, just an animal instinct. Therefore, instead of outlawing sex, the law exists just to protect minors (by the above definition, those below the age of 16) We are truly a secular society. Morality is losing it's grip. I believe in the sanctity of marriage, and that union should end in mutual matrimonial bliss.
With such a view, it is no wonder that our secular society does not consider adultery a crime either. It relegates it to the realm of a domestic dispute. Somehow, that doesn't sit well with me. ...sigh...
At the end of the day, let me say this...
I think the girl is NOT innocent, and neither are the guys, none of them are clean. All should be punished. That is why this whole debacle is so distressing...
Yet, in this whole thing, I also see the inadequacy of the Law to protect, or to punish.
It is at best...a blunt instrument, and it is wielded by imperfect men.
That's why I'm thankful that while there is a law...
there is also the Divine Lawgiver, and God is the best & fairest judge.
By the Law, ALL of us are condemned...
Men...displayed in this case, for the lustfulness of their nature.
Women...for their desires of power, control, materialism...
All of that, just a small smattering of our list of offences against God.
But God the all-knowing Judge while He HATES sin with a vengence, also Loves us.
So much, that He gave us Jesus Christ on that Cross to die for our sins.
Christ paid the price, and it has washed us clean...
If ever the point was uncertain, it is clear now...
It was the UNFAIREST exchange, the most UNDESERVED punishment,
but it was done out of the greatest LOVE for the most UNREPENTANT.
In a place without God,
There is only place for sadness,
because apart from Him...
what ever seems good (our laws), can turn out to be, really, bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment