Caught in contempt

The day a journalist was charged with contempt of court, he had done and said something against a judge.

I looked for the meaning of “contempt of court” and found the following:  First: “Contempt of court may be said to be any conduct that tends to bring the authority and administration of the law into disrepute. It is an offence against a court of justice or a person to whom the judicial functions of the sovereignty have been delegated.”

Second: “Contempt of court is an act of disrespect or disobedience toward a court or interference with its orderly process.  

Examples include disrupting court proceedings, interfering with attempts to obtain evidence, destroying evidence, disobeying a court order and intimidating witnesses.”

Contempt is punishable

Whatever the definition that entangles the person charged with contempt, the punishment for such misdemeanour includes serving a term of imprisonment or a fine or both.

In other words, nobody should desire to be caught in contempt of court, unless their ego misleads them about their status and the consequences of being so caught.

Contempt against God

Now, if we are so careful about our conduct towards human courts and judges, so as not to be caught in contempt, how come some people care less about their contemptible conduct towards the court of Almighty God?

Often, we hear some dreadful things some people say about God, the Lord Jesus Christ, about the Holy Spirit with such reckless abandon!
In Jesus’ time on earth, the Pharisees were often caught in contempt of God with impunity.  For example, when the Lord was busily healing the people, they said he healed them with the power of Satan! 

That was a serious insult.  Those who said this ought to be arraigned before the court of God charged with contempt.

In fact, they were; for Jesus said, Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin  (Mark 3:28–30).

Disrespect is contemptuous

Here is another biblical example of contempt against God.  The sons of Eli, the priest of Israel, who were expected to be Godfearing, were caught in contempt of God when they confiscated meat from those who had come to offer sacrifices to the Lord. 

This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt (1 Samuel 2:17).  I’m just wondering if we are not treating our offerings in church with contempt by the way we offer them, receive them, or use them.

Make a disreputable remark about the Supreme Court of our land and you are in trouble.  But people make contemptible remarks about the person, deity and supremacy of Christ and go free!

If it is about Christ, they go free; but if it is about some other persons, they would be held accountable on the spot, including being executed.  
A friend told me how adherents of a religious movement accosted him with deadly threats because he spoke ill about the founder of their religion. 

It is disrespectful to speak harshly about any religious leader, let alone about God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, and about Jesus his Son.  

In your pride, you may want to take a supreme court judge to court!  But how dare you say you want to take God to court — as we hear people say?  

Another example

One more example of contempt is the case of an official of the king of Judah who said with contempt that even if the windows of heaven were to open, Elisha’s prophecy about the besieged city could not be fulfilled.  

He did not believe in the prophecy, but instead of keeping quiet, he uttered that contemptible statement.  Well, the prophecy was fulfilled and the official paid the price of his contempt with his life (2 King 7:1-2).

To say, “Even if you bring in God, this can never happen” is to undermine God’s power and authority, and that is contemptible. The grace of God and his mercy towards mankind should elicit from us reverence and praise, not disrespect.  

But if you will not exercise that respect, it is better to be quiet than to allow anger and pride to cause you to say something negative against the Almighty.  The consequences could be more serious than when a judge issues a contempt case against you.

Unpardonable!

While a court may pardon a person because their contempt is light and pardonable, there are weightier contempt that cannot be pardoned, and some offenders are behind bars for their misconduct.

Similarly, our loving God has overlooked people’s ignorance about contempt and disrespect towards him in the past; but now he calls everyone to show appropriate reverence to him for his majesty and supremacy.

The writer is a publisher, author, writer-trainer and CEO of Step Publishers.
E-mail: lawrence.darmani@gmail.com