How does vengeance not manifest itself in the Christian community?
In most people’s minds there is a false “either-or” between vengeance and forgiveness. But that is a mistake. Forgiveness is not simply resignation or capitulation to evil. In vengeance we simply pommel the enemy to hurt them worse than we were hurt. Our motivation is neither the common good nor the upholding of justice and truth per se. We simply want to assuage our own pain by seeing our enemy in worse pain than we were. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is not ‘letting him off scot free’. Forgiveness is a means of giving up the hate and the desire for personal vengeance so that we can then pursue justice and maybe even reconciliation. I have personally found that I can’t really confront a wrong-doer effectively about his or her sin until I’ve forgiven it. Then I am sometimes able to help the person see their wrong, or at least I am able to wisely pursue justice and restitution. But if I keep my heart full of hate, I never get anything done except fuel the cycle of retaliation. When I
