Another senseless (is there an acceptable one) murder

It's Sunday morning. I'm reading yesterday's papers. I got home late last night and didn't have time to read them because we are at the Home and Garden show in the big city yesterday. Enough about my weekend.

The headline cries out "Justice for Stefanie" after a "teen" is convected of first degree murder. Because the murderer was a "teen" at the time of the death, her name or her co-accused cannot be named because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

So here we go again, a jealous girl over what appears to be a prolonged period of time uses the withholding of sex from her boyfriend until he agrees to kill their target of the girls jealousy.

The cry for Justice should not be the question.

Why should be the question. What did this girl believe in that she determined that it was acceptable to force someone else to kill someone whom she clearly hated or was threatened by? This apparently "normal" kid with a 90% average in school somehow determined that this "rival" should be eliminated. What brings us to the place where the ending of the life of someone else is acceptable? More and more I see the stories of killing, brother against brother, nation against nation and wonder when God is going to step in?

There's the rub. I want God to step in, which by its very assumption means that I know better than God himself. Trust me, I do not and do not even mean to convey that I know better. My frail and very human heart and mind want it to stop. I think I know enough of the heart of God that He wants it to stop too.

God in His wisdom will set a timeline when all of this will end, and in the meantime, we are called to love Him and our neighbours with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. That would suggest that forgiveness rather than justice is required here.