Do
not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the
great, but judge your neighbor fairly~
Leviticus 19:15
The game show Jeopardy has caused a firestorm of controversy. News reporters,
parents, and child welfare workers all have their underpants in a bunch because
the makers of a game have done the unspeakable: they have insisted that the contestants
follow the rules—even when those rules feel unfair to the majority.
Here are the details:
Last week was Teen Week on Jeopardy. One of the contestants, a twelve-year-old
boy, is very upset because he was penalized for giving the correct answer to a
question, but spelling it incorrectly. According to the producers of the show the
rules are clearly spelled out to all the competitors before they play: spelling
errors are counted against you if the spelling would change the pronunciation
of the word. Apparently, it did.
The decision to penalize
him brought out the self-appointed fairness police in full force and has gotten
all sorts of folks fired up. Here is a sampling of some of the more colorful Facebook
comments that were fit to print:
I hope the kid who won gets diabetes
You lost a long time fan on this one Jeopardy
Boycott Jeopardy
Shame on Jeopardy. The spelling mistake was minor and did not
interfere with the understanding of the correct answer. Very petty...
The Kid deserved credit!
Are you kidding me!
Alex, shame on you and the judges
The answer was right! That is what the point is here. No one
said that it had to be spelled perfect. He’s in grade 8 for heavens sakes. No
wonder I can’t stand jeopardy.
I will be honest. I
didn’t watch that episode of Jeopardy; in fact I can’t remember the last time I
watched any game show. I’m not really a
game show kind of person. This story captured my attention because it got me
thinking about the whole concept of fairness. Our culture is evolving in such a
way that many have come to believe that…
Personal fairness is
the highest value that there is
Fairness is defined
by feelings
Every rule should be
open for negotiation if a majority feels the rule is unfair
Before I go any
further I would like to clarify a few things, lest anyone think I am a monster:
I am not opposed to fairness as long as fairness is truly just. In my mind and
understanding of Scripture there is a huge difference between fighting for
justice and arguing for personal fairness.
Justice is about
stamping out oppression and tyranny. Scripture teaches that justice means
ensuring the oppressed and underrepresented are protected and cared for (James
1:27, Micah 6:8, Jeremiah 7:5-7). Christians should be the first to stand up
and fight for justice for the oppressed; the church should be at the forefront
of fighting poverty, abortion, racism, sexism, violence against women and
children and all other forms of injustice.
Admittedly, the line between personal fairness
and justice can be thin at times. One way to sort it all out is to remember
that fairness tends to be all about the individual. Fairness is about the
individual “feeling” good about their situation. People who are fixated on
personal fairness don’t always look at how fairness to one person might cause
injustice to another. If the producers of Jeopardy had bent the spelling rule
for the young man who had the right answer but the wrong spelling, they would
have ended up effectively penalizing the contestants who spelled their answers
correctly.
The value of personal
fairness has made its way into the church. Many Christians cry foul when they
are asked to sacrifice a “right” for any reason. Giving up a personal right for
the benefit of another, like the right to dress any way you want, eat or drink
whatever you like, or go into any establishment you choose may feel personally
unfair. But, the Apostle Paul teaches in 1st Corinthians 8 that sacrificing
personal fairness for the benefit of others is one way to demonstrate love to
weaker brothers and sisters. Biblical justice is achieved when the weaker among
us are protected from their personal weaknesses and immaturity.
Today I want to share
three ways we can tell the difference between fighting for justice and
demanding personal fairness.
Fairness has a hard time
seeing other people in the bigger picture~
Fairness wants what
it wants and is often unwilling to acknowledge how a right to fairness may
affect someone else’s liberty. Abortion is an issue that is often presented in
terms of fairness. Pro-choice people will say that it is not fair for a woman
to be penalized with the responsibility of a child just because she had sex.
They forget that, in the vast majority of cases, the woman chose to have sex (5% of all rapes result in pregnancy) and when a
woman who chose to have sex chooses not to be pregnant her choice ends another
person’s right to be alive and pursue happiness.
Fairness is about
feelings rather than facts~
Fairness is all about
what feels good; it’s rarely, if ever, about facts and evidence. Justice looks
at facts and examines situations from every angle. When a person, movement, or
mob is obsessed with fairness, they are seldom willing to let anyone bring up
pesky facts or statistics that might possibly interfere with what feels fair.
If “it feels right” is the strongest case that can be made for going forward
with a ruling or plan, I’m willing to bet it’s a bad plan.
Justice wants what is best for future
generations~
Justice is all about
making the world a better place for future generations; fairness is all about getting
what feels good right now. Fairness rarely thinks about how a choice or ruling
today will affect the world tomorrow. The
greatest leaders and movements in history have all been focused on making the
world a better place for future generations, often at the expense of the
leaders’ present comfort. Selfish movements and people demand personal rights
and think little about how the exercise of those rights will affect society as
a whole.
Many situations and causes
in our culture are presented in terms of fairness. It is up to individual
believers to apply discernment to all things and figure out if these emotional
appeals are really matters of justice or simply the masses’ idea of what is
fair and feels good. God promises that if His people seek justice, He will sort
out the fairness issues in His time and His way (Hebrews 10:30).
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