From Vaughn J. Featherstone and his book “The Millennial Generation”:
Under the title: “Leading Today’s Youth into the Future”:
The way of man is narrow, but it lieth in a strait course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and He employeth no servant there; and there is none other way save it be by the gate; for He cannot be deceived, for the Lord God is his name” (2 Nephi 9:41).
We need to teach youth who have been victims of rape, incest, sexual abuse, and similar tragedy that there is no transgression or wrongdoing on their part. No one can forcibly take our virtue of character. They may violate us, but in the eyes of God there is no loss of virtue, no loss of chastity, no loss of character. The only way we can lose our virtue is by our own free will and volition.
This is an important principle for our youth to remember. Such victims need no repentance because there was no transgression on their part. The perpetrator is the violator and must unavoidably suffer the demands of justice. But the innocent are without blemish no matter what act is forced upon them.
I have come to love justice equally as much as mercy. As I have traversed the earth I have met multitudes of Saints who have suffered innocently when seemingly the perpetrator went on his or her way without a particle of remorse. Justice is “according to the supreme goodness of God.” Justice is the very essence of mercy. Mercy could never be justified in claiming the unrepentant and the wicked without the proper administration of justice. And justice must be satisfied when the full demands of the law are met. Thus, justice is mercy and mercy is justice.
When the perpetrator receives the penalty required by justice, this also extends mercy to the innocent victim. The knowledge that some sort of suffering is required of the perpetrator to fulfill the demands of justice is an exquisite extension of mercy to the one violated. He or she can have full confidence that justice will be demanded by a perfect Judge, who will know the depths of repentance suffered by the guilty party, as well as the guilt of those who come before Him unrepentant.
Thus, our youth may be assured that as they forgive those who have violated them, as they then make mistakes themselves, the same God of mercy and justice will forgive them if they too repent.
I recently received a letter from a good Latter-day Saint brother. He stated that he had served as a soldier during a war. As they were clearing an area of the enemy, he kicked down the door of a house, while another soldier sprang inside and opened fire with a spray of bullets around the room. Our friend ran upstairs, kicked down a bedroom door, heard a muffled sound behind a closet door, and sprayed the closest with gunfire. He opened the closet door to find three small children lay lifeless. This experience tormented him through the years.
Years later his own preteen daughter was living in the home of his best friend. Now the daughter is grown up, has married, and has children of her own. She recently told her father that during the time she lived in his best friend’s home, the friend violated here many times. On learning this her father was livid with anger and wanted revenge. The daughter said, “I dared not tell you when I was young; I was fearful you would have killed him!” This man wrote to me in agony, for he had heard me discuss justice “according to the supreme justice of God.” How could he ever forgive his former best friend? As I read the letter and felt the anger and hurt over what his former best friend had done, I thought about his own tragedy of taking the lives of three innocent children.
The Lord said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy: (Matthew 5:7). We must forgive others their trespasses if we would be forgiven ourselves. Justice demands that things be not left undone. Mercy would make certain that justice would do that, for the sake of the innocent.
All of us, including our youth, should seek a deep and abiding understanding of justice. The youth will come to love it and appreciate its purpose. Most understand the need for mercy, but when we come to know the condescension of God, we will express gratitude in beautiful and everlasting praise for the provision. He has made in the great plan of happiness for justice and mercy to abide. ~Vaughn J. Featherstone (deceased), The Millennial Generation–Leading Today’s Youth Into the Future (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999, p.24-26
