Should humans be allowed to judge another human being for his actions? Does any one person have the right to determine another’s fate based on standards set by others and by his own? In other words applied law.
Laws are a compilation of what we as a society perceive to be ethically and morally right. But different people have different needs and desires, and what we perceive as right is largely determined by what a society needs or believes it needs at a given point in time.
If a society develops a perceived need to kill, will the law change accordingly, bending to what that society requires and is willing to justify? When the ends justify the means, does the law also bend to justify those means? If so, then the law is not fair and just, as it should be. Instead, it becomes situational and convenient.
Everything in this world is man-made from the idea of God to the making of another human being. Whether we were right or wrong in determining the existence of God is a topic for another day. But the concept of something divine and otherworldly is something humans created as a coping mechanism, a reaction to the life we are living. Over time, this concept evolved into something used to control other humans. Made by humans to manage one's own life, it was gradually repurposed to gain power over others. Thus, religion was born.
From religion we derive suffering, hurt, war, and other inhuman acts. But we also derive right and wrong, a way of life, peace, morality, and a hopeful outlook on the world. Like all man-made things, religion has positives and negatives. That is the very essence and nature of everything created by humans.
This is not a denial of God’s existence. Rather, it is the claim that the base idea of God was created by humans, then developed through changing thought and the natural evolution of our brains. The concept and idea became more refined over time, polished to the point of feeling right.
Humans also found a way to make other humans through reproduction. We created that process or rather, we figured it out. In a very real sense, humans can create other living, breathing human beings. And that is precisely why we are responsible for ourselves.
This has not denied God’s existence. Even if God exists, our idea of God is man-made, and therefore our laws, morals, and judgments are too. That makes us responsible for both the law and its bending.
So, do humans have the right to judge and determine another's fate for his actions?
No, but yes, not because we are gods, but because we are not. Judgment is the price of living together and we cannot avoid doing so. It is a cognitive and social necessity.
So the real question is not whether humans can judge, but whether we can judge well with humility, consistency, and the awareness that we, too, will be judged by those who come after.
what do you think?