Biblical Compassion

A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver, and cars zoom by as he lies motionless on the busy city street. Pedestrians gawk, but do nothing. One driver stops briefly, but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away. The story and scene caught on tape has outraged Hartford's police chief and is causing some to question the humanity of Connecticut's capital city.

"At the end of the day, we've got to look at ourselves and understand that our moral values have now changed." Police Chief Daryl Roberts said after releasing the video in hopes of making an arrest. "We have no regard for each other."

The video shocked the city. The Hartford Courant blared "So inhumane" in a front-page headline, and debate about the bystanders' callousness dominated radio talk shows.

The video shows the victim, Angel Arce Torres, being struck by a dark Honda that was chasing a tan Toyota. Several cars pass, as a few people stare from the sidewalk. Some approach Torres, but most stay put until a police cruiser responding to an unrelated call arrives on the scene. Torres was hospitalized in critical condition.

"They hit a man, drive away and people walk by like nothing happened," Roberts (a police officer) said. "It's incredible how people could be so inhumane."

Roberts said he still isn't sure that anyone called 911. A patrol car heading east on Park Street came upon Angel Arce Torres as the officer was responding to another call.

One bystander said, "It was as if he was a dog left in the street to die."

"Everybody knew him, but nobody helped," said another man. "I guess everybody is different. Some people are just out for themselves."

Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

⁹ Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
¹⁰ Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
¹¹ Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
¹² Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
¹³ Distributing to the necessity of Saints; given to hospitality.
¹⁴ Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
¹⁵ Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
¹⁶ Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
¹⁷ Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
¹⁸ If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
¹⁹ Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
²⁰ Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
²¹ Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

²⁷ But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
²⁸ Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
²⁹ And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
³⁰ Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
³¹ And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
³² For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
³³ And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
³⁴ And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
³⁵ But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
³⁶ Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
³⁷ Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
³⁸ Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

There was a boy who felt the same way. He cried out for help in his poetry, writing and anyone who would listen, but nobody did. He finally shut down. He did something about it. He killed 33 people at Virginia Tech, including himself, on April 16, 2007. Here are some comments left about him:

Cho, of Centreville, the son of immigrants who run a dry cleaning business and the brother of a State Department contractor who graduated from Princeton, was described by those who encountered him over the years as at times being angry, menacing, disturbed and so depressed that he seemed near tears.

He often spoke in a whisper, if at all, refused to open up to teachers and classmates, and kept himself locked behind a facade of a hat, sunglasses and silence.

"I don't want to be accusatory or blaming other people," Roy (a teacher) said. "I do just want to say, though, it's such a shame if people don't listen very carefully and if the law constricts them so that they can't do what is best for the student."

Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

²⁵ That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
²⁶ And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

A man and woman fall in love and finally have a child. She is the most beautiful, precious child anyone has seen. They spend as much as time as they can with her teaching her everything. They know she is going to be smart. She is lively, energetic, and full of spirit. You can't help but smile around her. Her laughter is so contagious.

One day, the dad went outside to work in the yard. They lived on a farm. Preparing to do some shoveling, he got on one of the machines they owned that had a huge shovel on the end on it. When working, it dug down 2 feet underground with ease.

Out of excitement and curiosity the little girl followed the dad outside and started playing under the machine. The dad, not knowing the little girl was even outside, turned on the machine. Under the pressure of the shovel, the little girl was beaten and torn.

The dad never heard her screaming, until he finished and turned the machine off.

Under the machine, the little girl's bloody body was crying out for her dad. He rushed her to her hospital, listening to her pleas of help the entire ride.

"Daddy help. Daddy I don't feel good." Cries of pain echoed the entire way.

When they arrived at the hospital, the little girl died.

Hearing the little girl's precious voice calling out HIS name for help. Dreaming every single night of her and her bloody body. Having flashbacks all day long of the vision he saw. Blaming himself for what happened, not hearing the girl, not knowing where she is, blaming the wife for not keeping the daughter in the house, blaming God for taking away his innocent child.

I want you to take a minute to try and FEEL what he must be going through.

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares.

³¹ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
³² And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
³³ And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
³⁴ Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
³⁵ For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
³⁶ Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
³⁷ Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
³⁸ When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
³⁹ Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
⁴⁰ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
⁴¹ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
⁴² For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
⁴³ I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
⁴⁴ Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
⁴⁵ Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
⁴⁶ And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.