The Nugget:
John 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? (KJV)
Joh 7:51 “Our Law doesn’t let us condemn people before we hear what they have to say. We cannot judge them before we know what they have done.” (Contemporary English Version)
My Comment:
When we go by the “rule of law” rather than by the “rule of men” or biased political parties, we adhere to the principle that a person is presumed innocent when faced by charges made by any accuser. We commonly say that a person is “innocent until proven guilty.”
We have lately seen, here in America, two gross perversions of law and justice in the scurrilous attacks upon the character of two great men, Judge Roy Moore and Judge Bret Kavanaugh.
Those who make accusations bear the burden of proof. Accusations must be backed up with credible evidence. An accuser’s account or story of what happened must be consistent with all the facts in the case. One witness must not be permitted to single-handedly condemn the innocence of the person they would accuse.
In the recent case that occupied the news cycle for nearly three full weeks (while other very important news items failed to make the news at all–a very handy cover-up procedure that is frequently employed), the emotional story of the accuser, Dr. Ford, failed to set forth verifiable facts to support her charges against Judge Kavanaugh. By her own testimony, she could not specify precisely where the alleged event took place. She did not know how she got there. She could not tell how she got home. None of the alleged witnesses were able or willing to verify her story. Dr. Ford was not able to produce any contemporary evidence in the form of testimony of persons to whom she told her story at the time. And in any case, there is no contemporaneous written testimony to back her story.
The sign on the security office door at the high school where I was a teacher says it best:
“If it is not written, it did not happen.”
The Bible has much to say about this issue. To find the places in the Bible that speak to the problems of properly hearing the charges of an accuser, of evaluating those charges, and of honoring the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty, read the Bible texts that are pointed out by the cross references given for John 7:51.
John 7:51
our law. Exo 23:1, Deut 1:17; +*Deut 13:14; Deut 17:6; Deut 17:8, 9, 10, 11; Deut 19:15, 16, 17, 18, 19, Prov 18:13, Zec 7:9, Acts 23:3.
before it hear him. FS184C, +Mat 4:9, +*Joh 7:24, Deut 1:16; *Deut 13:14; *Deut 17:4, **Jos 22:10; **Jos 22:11; **Jos 22:12 note, Jos 22:21 note, Jos 22:30, 1Sa 20:32, Ezr 10:16, +*Job 29:16, Psa 94:16, Prov 17:15; +*Prov 18:13; *Prov 31:8, Act 26:1, +**1Ti 5:19 note.
and know what he doeth. +*Deut 13:14, Acts 25:16; Acts 25:27.