Crime Doesn’t Pay

Notice: google is changing the blogger formatting soon. There might be a disruption in my weekly blog as I try to navigate the more cumbersome formatting and adjust my settings. If I can not adjust them easily I may have to change the blog company from google to something else. I hope that won't be necessary as that would mean a change of address and disruption to what I do. I will keep you posted. This will occur at the end of September or beginning of October. My blog layout may seem off in the meantime as google changes things which are beyond my control. Be patient and hang in there while I try to learn the system.

How does anyone get to the point where they are committing crime and hurting friends and family with their behavior? Does it happen all at once or is a slow process? This week, I pondered these questions based on my thoughts about news reports, a book that I am reading and, a television series that I just watched. The book is entitled, "The Rose Man of Sing Sing (A true tale of life, murder, and redemption in the age of yellow journalism)" by James McGrath Morris. It is the perfect book for a Westchester Christian Housewife to read since it tells a story that starts and ends in New York. It starts in upstate New York and ends in a famous prison right here in Westchester County, New York. 

Add to that book, an award-winning television series about a daring escape from Dannemora prison and you can see why I am caught in the philosophical contemplation of criminal activity. Oh, and the woman convicted of aiding and abetting in that prison break just got out of another Westchester prison over in the village of Bedford. Evil men understand not judgement, but they that seek the Lord understand all things.-Proverbs 28:5

Of course, these reflections fit seamlessly into the current lawless environment that we find ourselves in. Did you hear about that college student arrested in New York City for looting and rioting? The one whose father is a professor of psychiatry at Colombia University and whose mother is an architect. Apparently, she is quoting Stalin and talking about throwing rocks off buildings. She grew up with all the advantages that money could buy. Not so for Charles Chapin, the central character of James McGrath Morris' book. His father was a n'er do well who abandoned his family and forced Charles to enter the work force at a young age. Nor, was it true for the two male inmates or the woman, Joyce Mitchell who were involved in the prison escape re-enacted in the television series.* 

So, we have men and women from all walks of life reaching the same decision and choosing to go against the laws of God and man. In all three cases many things had to happen and come together to explain all of their desperate actions. I believe perpetrating a crime very seldom happens without a number of things going wrong in a persons life. At any moment we must choose to pay attention to what is going on around us and use all opportunities to speak godly truths into peoples lives, before terrible things occur. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned:if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.-Ezekiel 33:6

After any major crime many people seem surprised and even incredulous that they could have known someone who committed a heinous act. "I can't believe he did that, he was such a nice neighbor," or "this is not like her, she must have just snapped." While we are all sinners, nevertheless most people don't kill their wives as Charles Chapin did, or smuggle in chisels and hacksaws to help killers escape from prison as Joyce Mitchell did. I have driven by Dannemora Prison a number of times. It looks scary and impenetrable. What was this prison seamstress thinking? Even those of us who felt passionate about a cause enough to attend a rally or protest would not want to break windows, loot and steal that which is not ours. Let alone decide to drop rocks from buildings to fight off the police and seriously hurt someone. 

In the three stories above we find seemingly ordinary people. Charles Chapin was a city newspaper editor, Joyce Mitchell was a seamstress who worked in factories and then as an instructor at a maximum security prison. Finally, we have a twenty-first century New York City Upper East Side student. These individuals represent a snapshot or a cross-section of society. So, how did they all end up going afoul of the law? For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.-Romans 3:23

You can't read very far in the Bible before you read ripped from the headline stories of crime. As soon as man is created, crime happens. In fact, the Bible never lets up in its' scathing coverage of real crime stories from the beginning of the book until the end. What is the Bible trying to tell us about crime? The Bible definition of crime focuses on transgressions against God, others and ourselves. There are so many words used in the Bible to describe crime. Spoiler alert: it is pretty clear why we need a Savior! 

Here are some of the words used to indicate crime in the Bible: judgment, verdict, heinous crime, guilt, case, cause, fault, charge, iniquity, injury and of course sin. There are many more descriptive terms concerning breaching the law.....I feel another blog post coming on! In my Christian journey, it took me a long time to connect what I was seeing in the world around me, and reconcile that with what I was learning in the Bible. 

I think I was a victim of worldly thinking. I did not originate from a family of centered Christians. Luckily, for us who are lost and orphaned, our Father in Heaven reaches down and connects with His creation. He directs and guides us through His book the Bible. But, for a long-time I struggled to understand how Moses who received the commandments on Mount Sinai could have killed a man. How King David,"a man after God's own heart" could have had an affair, and arranged for that woman’s husband's murder to cover up his deeds. 

What I have learned is that crime is a part of human nature. Moses and King David are no different from Charles Chapin, the prisoners at that upstate jail or that Upper East Side college student. The Bible goes into great details regarding our many crimes and transgressions. Crime is wrong before God and there will be an eternal consequence. We as humans fail when we think that crime is the answer but we are no different from the men and women of old who went down this same road. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.- Genesis 6:5

The Bible prepares us for real life. It tells us that crime will be with us until the end of this age and God’s return. It tells us that we should avoid it and to follow God instead. It tells us the difference between right and wrong and tells us that we should go to God and say we are sorry for the misdeeds that we have done so that we can be washed clean from the wrong. In short, the Bible teaches us that Crime Doesn’t Pay. We should heed that advice. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.-Proverbs 28: 13

* alert: the television series "Escape from Dannemora" showed simulated sex scenes that allegedly took place between the prison seamstress and her inmates. I chose to avert my eyes during those scenes because there was some important messages about our lives and our world. However, approach with caution if these scenes would cause you to struggle with sin. 

FYI: It cost the tax payers of New York State 23 million dollars for the manhunt and recapturing of these escaped prisoners. Money that we could use now as the state copes with Covid-19.