Lessons from "The Punisher"

The other day I was watching the newest "Punisher" movie and while it is filled with a lot of violence and gore it did have a message there. You just have to look for it.

For those who don't know "The Punisher" is a Marvel Comics anti-hero. Frank Castle witnessed his family gunned down by the mob and after this event he took on the mantle of "The Punisher" to exact revenge against all those who break the law, only his brand of justice is usually in the form of death to the bad guys.

Anyway there is a scene in the movie before the climactic final battle where Punisher is in a church talking to his priest friend. His friend quotes Matthew 7:2 "The standard you use for judging is the standard by which you will be judged" (NLT) and the Punisher simply says "I can live with that."

Now I have been thinking about this a lot since then because so many times I am quick to judge others for various reasons. Also, I see it all to often where we as the human race are quick with our judgments without knowing the whole story or we judge based on our prejudices.

Knowing that God will judge me in the same way I judge others can I say with the Punisher "I can live with that?" Unfortunately I cannot. I do not want God to judge me based on the things I have done or the things I have said. I don't want God to judge on the basis of my skin color or how well I speak English. I don't want to be judged by God on my appearance or how wealthy or poor I am. I cannot live with being judged in that manner, especially by God.

Sometimes we are so quick to judge others based on so many things, I think we would be wise to remember that we will be judged in the same way we judge others.

Of course this leads into whole other topics of discussion like loving one another and being good Samaritans and such but I will leave those for another day. So, in the meantime, for those that didn't think comics had anything to teach us, think again.