Introduction
Rules, regulations, laws and norms which people follow vary because of culture and tradition and governance of state and belief in different countries. In some Muslim countries, when a person is caught of theft, a part of his body which he used for stealing will be cut off literally, while here in the Philippines, you may be imprisoned for a certain period of time, depending on the gravity of your sin.
Punishment may seem lighter here in our country unlike in other countries but there is one law I know which has the same equivalent result across every country and among all kinds of people who shall abide to it or forego with it.
Chapter One
ORIGIN OF LAW AND PUNISHMENT
Why is there a law? Why is there punishment to whoever breaks it?
Law is a rule made by the government of a town, state, country, etc. There is sin or offense which may be committed as there is law. There is punishment as there is sin.
We can all trace it back to the time when our first parents, Adam and Eve, ate the forbidden fruit that God ordered them not to eat in the Garden of Eden. That was the only commanded they should have followed. It was God’s only law that time but they sinned since they have failed to stand for it. Death was their punishment.
Many do not know the true meaning of this death punished by God to Adam and Eve. It was a spiritual death rather that is was a physical death. If it was the former, you may have thought, why there are people today. If God killed them both immediately, then their children may not have been born and their children’s children and so on.
The first people who lived were also given the rules and commandments. In the time of Moses, there were Ten Commandments. In the time of the apostles and in the time of Jesus Christ, the old commandments were replaced with new ones.
In Christian countries, the rules and laws commanded by the state are mostly based in the Bible. Some of these laws are related to the ten commandments of God during the time of Moses. However, punishment s in the time of Moses, is unlikely similar to the penalties being imposed by the state.
We were all given the will to choose from “Black and White” or “Good or Bad”. Whether you follow the rules or break the laws. God wants all of us to walk according to His plan, but He gave us freedom to choose, a choice. It is now us who shall be responsible for whatever we do. Sin is not passed through but is done by a person who chooses to do it. It follows that it is a person’s choice to sin and suffer the consequences.
Chapter Two
OFFENDERS
Offenders are those who transgress, violate a law or rule. They are those who cause difficulty, discomfort or injury to someone.
Nowadays, it troubles me to see and hear crimes as horribly done and as inhumanely executed by lawless people. But it troubles me more to know that most offenders are youths who were once called by our famous national hero, Dr. Rizal, as “Pag-asa ng Bayan”. The youths today are more of to be considered as our society’s problems. Not all, but most of our youths now are engaged in all sorts of illegalities, crimes and offenses.
I can see in the streets, those children, in their young age, sniffing solvent, snatching jewelries from unaware jeepney passengers, taking away bags and cellphones from pedestrians, and even threatening a life of an innocent victim. These scenarios always bother me and make me wonder why are these happening to them and why did they become those people.
