Justice

            When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. (Proverbs 21:15)

           Conversely, when injustice is done, it brings joy to the unrighteous but terror to good-doers.  Either side can claim this verse, saying that the negative response of the other is proof that “they” are the ones doing evil. We see this often, people declaring that another group is evil because the other group is trying to control and enslave everyone else, while the people who are upset are trying to control and enslave everyone else.

This is part of why we need an external, objective perspective. When left to ourselves, we’ll believe we’re on the righteous side even if it involves killing people or denying them personhood. The Bible offers an external, objective perspective that no other book can match. Its authorship involves 40 individual writers covering 1500 years. The central texts of most other faiths involve a single prominent writer (such as Mohammed or Buddha) and were written during their lifetimes.

But if you seek justice and bring terror to evildoers, you’d better be prepared for reprisals. They won't like it. If you claim to seek justice, but your focus is on producing terror. You’re not seeking justice.