When we seek justice, is the results truthful? Does the truth always win? This is the assumption of the average person. Such a person representing herself in court often does not know the proper legal procedures. She often does not know how to conduct herself in court. Her focus is that she went for justice and she expects that the system will give it to her. It will bring out the truth. Her faith is in the integrity of the system. This is very much like most of us who pray. Our faith is that our prayers will be answered. We know that God is faithful and able to deliver. We are confident that He will give us what we ask for. Just as we are sure that in our legal system, the truth will come out.
But what is this truth? The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy [2nd ed] says that truth corresponds to the facts (Robert Audi [editor], 929). This definition doesn’t sit well with the losing party in a court matter. Does it mean that she was wrong? She doesn’t think so and thus she begins to lose faith in the justice system. Similarly, when the average person’s prayer isn’t answered the way she expected, she begins to lose faith and sometimes even quit praying. That’s extreme. But where is God when it hurts and when injustice strikes?
Neither the justice system nor God was there for her, as we saw above. Society teaches that we have rights and we are all entitled to be treated fairly under the law. The Bible says that too. For God is fair (Romans 2:11). One prophet says, “as for me, I will look to the Lord [and] …my God will hear me,” (Micah 7:7). But life experience has shown us that often the outcomes from court cases and prayer do not always go in the claimant’s favour. Many persons took their matters to courts and lost; just as many knelt in prayer and didn’t get the answers they hoped for.
What then is the confusion here? Shouldn’t justice bring out the truth? Aren’t our prayers supposed to be answered? The Pocket Dictionary of Canadian Law [4th ed] says, “Justice is the principle of giving every person his or her due” (Daphne Dukelow, 264). This “due” The Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary [11th ed] says refers to “what we are owed.” And the Bible teaches that “whatever [we] ask in prayer, believe that [we] have it, and it will be [ours],” (Mark 11:24). Yet we lose cases and our prayers are sometimes unanswered.
Where is justice then? Who will ensure that the truth thrives? Many go to the courts with a whisper in their hearts that: “the truth will come out. I will have my justice.” They sit with the assumption and confidence that they are on the side of the truth. So when they lose, they don’t only feel ashamed; but disappointed. So too are the prayer warriors. But due to lack of understanding of court procedures, many lose. They may not speak, answer, or provide the relevant proofs needed to support their points as they were unaware of the importance of relevance to the issue at hand in a legal motion.
Though they may have the truth and speak the truth which is unchanging, the facts or information they present in court must always be related to the questions asked. So too with our praying. No matter how sincere and devoted we are when we pray, if our life is not in harmony with Christ and his will for us, our prayers wouldn’t be answered as we desire. We need to abide in Christ and live according to His words (John 15:7). Thus relevance is the key to justice, while ‘the correspondence with facts,’ to the truth.