What do you believe about punishment? I had the chance to learn from a friend in my seminary class who is from Uganda. As he described the situation going on in northern Uganda in which the Acholi people are caught in the middle of violence between the government and the rebels, I realized that we have something to learn from them. The Acholi people do not believe in punishment. They believe in restoration. They have cultural rituals in place to restore people, because in their view, if somebody does something to hurt you, it's not their fault, it's everyone's fault. The society is a community. Therefore, when you are hurt, you have to stand strong to avoid losing your humanity so that you can pick the other person back up.
So now there is a situation where the children of the Acholi tribe are being kidnapped at a young age and brainwashed into soldiers. What are the Acholi to do? You cannot punish the rebel soldiers - not only are they your brothers and children, but it is not really their fault. They were themselves the victims! Therefore the rebels need to be restored and rehabilitated, not punished.
I believe that we have a similar situation as Christians. While Christians often have an instinct to treat those who are not Christian like enemies, that is very far from what Jesus taught. The Jews wanted Jesus to stand up and punish the Romans, but Jesus knew that the Romans were not the enemy, they were in fact victims of the same enemy that we all have. Therefore, the Romans do not need to be fought against, they need to be liberated and restored just the same as the Jews did.
Are there any people in our lives whom we are treating as enemies when they are actually victims?
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