In Scripture we are told to not seek vengeance:

"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”- Romans 12:19

Many will use that verse to condemn the seeking of justice against those who have done criminal things against us(e.g. Seeking the death penalty for your brother's murderer, ect...). Are we allowed to/is it possible to pursue justice being done to someone who has personally hurt us, without "vengeance"? Where would the line be drawn?

venge·ance /ˈvɛndʒəns/
–noun
1. infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person; violent revenge: But have you the right to vengeance?
2. an act or opportunity of inflicting such trouble: to take one's vengeance.
3. the desire for revenge: a man full of vengeance.
4. Obsolete. hurt; injury.
5. Obsolete. curse; imprecation.

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Ian Kemmerer
Covenant Presbetyrian Church,Reading,PA
Fleetwood,PA

"Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart, And all is darkened in the vale of tears, Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart, Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears. Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay From His own fullness all He takes away."

Seeking the death penalty for a murder is utterly appropriate - or did God err in writing the Law? It isn't vengeance that one is seeking but the Biblically-defined penalty that the state is empowered to enact. One boundary have to be careful to respect, though, is that the solutions sought by us in legal proceedings for any crime do not go BEYOND the Law's prescribed restitution.

Quite honestly, I believe life imprisonment is far worse than the death penalty, in capital cases, and is not a biblical penalty. Imprisonment in general is problematic, in that it is simply detention - and restitution is very rarely actually made to the victims (e.g. as might be if the prisoners were required to work and the 'pay' for that work be made to an account for the restitution of the object in question).

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Todd K. Pedlar
member, First Congregational Church, (CCCC) Cresco, IA
http://semperubi.rtrc.net

"Many men, after a long conversion, see more of the workings of sin in their hearts than ever they did before or at their first conversion. Now, such men have not an increase of sin, but an increase of illumination and light" (Christopher Love)

God disapproves of vigilante vengeance. God doesn't disapprove of civil magistrate vengeance. In fact, in the OT, God places the land under a curse of murder goes unpunished.

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J. B. Atken
John Knox PCA
Layman, M.A. student at Louisiana College

Yes,Like this;Numbers35

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Anthony D'Arienzo
Sunday School Teacher
Hope Reformed Baptist Church:
Medford, N.Y.

Good response, I would just clarify that exacting lawful Justice is an aspect of God's vengeance. The civil magistrate is the ordained institution that bears the sword against evil doers and is the temporal means of God's vengeance.

As Todd correctly pointed out imprisonment is a grave injustice to all parties, God, the victim, society and the criminal himself. Failing to enact penal sanctions within the general equity of God's law is an exercise of juridical atheism and violates both the establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the United State's Constitution.

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Thomas Weddle
Member, Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church
Evansville, Indiana

If the government fails to punish the wrongdoer, such as in a muslim country where a radical can get away with outright murder, would it be wrong to seek justice on one's own?

As has already been noted, if one "seeks justice" on one's own, it's not justice that has been found when all is said and done, but wicked self-satisfaction.

There is a Hank Williams Jr song called "I got Rights" where he deals with that. Awesome, if scary song.

In a Muslim country you, a non-Muslim, are forbidden to bring charges against a Muslim because you are an infidel mongrel Christian dog and your word is about as good as such.

Now back to the Hank song, you could sort of place the murderer in a situation where you would be forced to fight in self-defense. Running on ethical ice, but it's not really vigilantism either.

Unfortunately that ice of which you speak is sitting at a happy temperature of 50 degrees F, so running on it is out of the question.

To put a potential murderer in a position in which you would be forced to fight in self defense is to provoke a neighbor to sin, and to act in such a way as you think will likely cause him to stumble headlong into it. This is explicitly forbidden in Scripture and no less wicked than direct vigilantism.

Let's say he wants to kill me (and he has made it clear). Let's also say that I have a concealed carry license. Let's say I take a walk at night time.

John Calvin, Institutes, 4.20.31:

Whenever I think of vigilantes, this verse comes to mind:

Ecc. 7:7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad;

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach