Casey Anthony...heaven or hell?

I hope Casey Anthony can find  peace and forgiveness that only God can give her, and that I'll see her in heaven reunited with her daughter and experiencing the love of our Saviour for eternity. 

I hope Casey Anthony suffers the rest of her life in complete misery and torment, and that she dies a rotten, lonely, painful death and burns in hell for eternity. 

I'll be honest, both versions of those thoughts have run through my mind a bit in the recent days since the verdict.  In case you didn't pick up on it, these thoughts are in conflict with each other.  They are opposite in nature and tone.  They are in stark contrast with one another. Polar opposites.  (you get the picture)  I'm not even going to get into the legal aspect of things...because truthfully I may have had to make the same decision as those jurors did.  What a terrible choice to make.  And I always go back to the fact that even though I may feel very strongly about her guilt or innocence, I can not be 100% sure.

If your'e reading this and you aren't a follower of Jesus, or you don't believe what I believe about who He is, and what that means, then you might think this post is a bunch of hooey.  That's ok with me.  You are allowed to have your own views for sure...but since this is my blog  I get to share it from my perspective. And my perspective starts and ends with Jesus.

Despite what people may say, Casey Anthony hasn't "gotten away" with anything if you ask me.  Sure, she may have avoided the judicial form of punishment, and possible death penalty, and that's no small thing.  But I don't think a person can go through all that she has and just get away with it.  Let's say, for the sake of argument she was totally innocent of all charges...she will still suffer with the scars and trauma of all that's taken place.  If she did murder Caylee, then I'm certain her life is and will be filled with deep suffering, guilt, shame, and destruction.  I don't care if she parties, and seems like she is "fine". She's not.  The mere fact that she could react that way says she's not "fine". On so many levels Casey Anthony is not "fine".  And that's where Jesus comes in. 

I may not have killed my daughter.  I haven't even done anything remotely close.  But guess what?  I'm not "fine" either.  I cannot, nor will ever be fine without the beautiful saving grace of Jesus.  I'm not going to post scripture here today...but everything I'm saying is in the Bible...I'm just paraphrasing.  (I'll give you verses if you want them, just leave me a comment)  Long ago man decided in the garden to do his own thing, to make his own decisions, and in so doing rejected having a relationship with God.  In essence we didn't think God, the very one who created us, knew what was best,  so we said "thanks, but no thanks".  But that creator, oh how He loved His creation...and no matter what we did He STILL wanted to have a relationship with us.  And so through His Son Jesus, and His death and resurrection we again can be in relationship with our creator.  God provided the ultimate sacrifice so we could be "fine" once again. More than fine...we get to experience life with God and life in relationship with Him.

 Yes, God is very saddened by the death of Caylee Anthony.  Afterall she is His handiwork.  He knitted her together in the womb and knew her before she was born.  Of course He grieves her death.  God is also just, and the righteous judge of sin, any sin.   But here's the thing...we were NEVER created to be judged.  We were not meant to be children of God's wrath.  He never intended for us to experience His judgement.  We decided to go our own way....we chose that judgement.  That's why He sent Jesus...Jesus came into the world NOT to condemn us...but to save us!  Save us from what?  From the judgement of God that we were never intended to receive...but so rightly deserve when we're in rebellion and dead in our sin.  It's the best news I've ever heard, and the longer I live the more I realize just what Jesus has done.  He came to set the captives free...FREE from God's judgement. Free from our sinful rebellion, our misery, our prideful, know it all ways, and yes even our murders.   He came so that Casey Anthony can be fine once again.  (SIDE NOTE: It doesn't mean there are no consequences.  Forgiveness and consequence are two seperate things.  She will always have consequences, whether legal, emotional, or relational. But God does not want her consequences to destroy her) 

So I'm purposing to line up my thinking with the first statement I made at the beginning of this post.   How can I who was once dead in my sins....and who was also going to experience the judgement of God, now wish that upon someone else?  How can I wish an eternity of torment and seperation from God upon someone?  How dare I is the better question.  How dare I think that the wrath of God is what is best for her... when Jesus came to save her, and all of us from that?  It's a slap in His face when I decide that His sacrifice wasn't enough to save Casey Anthony. How can I decide that hell is her deserved destiny, when Jesus says her destiny can be in Him?  He wants her to repent, to come to Him so He can forgive her. He longs to make his home inside her messed up, sin filled,  wounded, heart and make her new.  Just like He did for me.   How dare I not want that for Casey Anthony?  Really, how dare I?