Sermon Illustrations on Lawsuits

Background

Be Slow to Sue

Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia argues how Christians ought to resolve conflict based on 1 Corinthians 6:

I think this passage [1 Cor. 6:1–8] has something to say about the proper Christian attitude toward civil litigation. Paul is making two points: first, he says that the mediation of a mutual friend, such as the parish priest, should be sought before parties run off to the law courts. . . . I think we are too ready today to seek vindication or vengeance through adversary proceedings rather than peace through mediation. . . . Good Christians, just as they are slow to anger, should be slow to sue.

Justice Antonin Scalia, “Teaching About the Law,” Quarterly 7, no. 4 (Christian Legal Society, Fall 1987)

Stories

The Death of Veggie Tales

You may not have heard of Phil Vischer, but you have heard his voice. He is the creator of the wildly successful Veggie Tales and provided the voice of Bob the Tomato. Veggie Tales was massively successful, selling more than fifty million videos and grossing hundreds of millions of dollars. It all ended with one lawsuit, which bankrupted the company. As Mark Batterson tells the story, a single sermon changed Vischer’s outlook:

If God gives you a dream, and the dream comes to life and God shows up in it, and then the dream dies, it may be that God wants to see what is more important to you—the dream or him. [1]

A dream, even a God-given one, can become the end rather than God. Batterson concludes, “God-ordained dreams aren’t just born. They are reborn. If they become more important to you than God, you have to sacrifice them for the sake of your soul.” [1]

    1. Mark Batterson, All In: You are one decision away from a totally different life, Zondervan, 2013.

William Rowley

Studies

America’s Habit for Litigation

We love to sue people don’t we?

And just to prove this point, I want to point out just how many lawyers live in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world.

Listen to this, according to census data, the US’ population is a little under 4 ½ percent of the world’s population.

Now I’d like you to guess what percentage of the world’s laywers reside in the U.S.

Remember, 4 % of the world’s population live in the u.s. so what percentage of the world’s laywers live here? It should be, all things equal, around 4 % right, now, you take into consideration that a lot of the world’s population lives in poorer countries than our own, so it should be a bit higher…

So what do you think? Can I get a guess? The answer is 70%. 70% of the world’s lawyers live in our country.

That comes out to 1,300,705 licensed lawyers in our country. And basic principles of economics tells us, that we have that many lawyers because there is demand for them. And that means…we love to sue each other!

Stuart Strachan Jr.

Humor

America’s Habit for Litigation

We love to sue people don’t we?

And just to prove this point, I want to point out just how many lawyers live in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world.

Listen to this, according to census data, the US’ population is a little under 4 ½ percent of the world’s population.

Now I’d like you to guess what percentage of the world’s laywers reside in the U.S.

Remember, 4 % of the world’s population live in the u.s. so what percentage of the world’s laywers live here? It should be, all things equal, around 4 % right, now, you take into consideration that a lot of the world’s population lives in poorer countries than our own, so it should be a bit higher…

So what do you think? Can I get a guess? The answer is 70%. 70% of the world’s lawyers live in our country.

That comes out to 1,300,705 licensed lawyers in our country. And basic principles of economics tells us, that we have that many lawyers because there is demand for them. And that means…we love to sue each other!

Stuart Strachan Jr.

More Resources

Related Themes

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Justice

 Laws

Lawyers

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