Lindsay Clancy Trial: Compassion Cannot Redefine Evil

The Lindsay Clancy case is unbearably tragic. Three children are dead. Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (8 mos.) did not deserve to die, and the one in the position that God has ordained to nurture and protect them, murdered them, then attempted to take her own life. Her defense argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and therefore was not criminally responsible for what she had done. Prosecutors argued that despite her mental-health struggles, she understood her actions. After weeks of testimony and several days of deliberations, the jury could not agree, and the judge has now declared it a mistrial (as of me writing this on Friday, September 4th). 

This saga will continue, it seems, for now, but one thing is for certain. Christians should be capable of looking at a case this horrifying without surrendering the truth. 

We are People of Truth, No Matter the Details

One of the primary struggles for people in this case is that by declaring the truth (she murdered her children and should be held responsible), that we are somehow being insensitive to those suffering severe mental illness. Yes, postpartum psychosis is real and many mothers struggle with postpartum depression. At the same time, no Christian should ever dismiss the sin of murder (especially of innocent children!) because a woman claims to not be in her right mind when she did it.

There is room for what we can do and what we can differ on. We can recognize that the human mind can become profoundly impaired, and we can acknowledge that courts must wrestle with questions of criminal responsibility. We can even recognize that courts and juries may deliver varying degrees of guilty verdicts depending upon a person's knowledge, capacity, and state of mind. 

But none of those things changes the moral nature of what happened! We are people of morality and truth according to God's standard, not according to the winds of this culture. 

Three innocent children were killed by their mother and in light of that we must declare, "God’s Word — not medicine, culture, or emotions — determine the truth!" 

Furthermore, we must resolve to say, "God’s Word — not medicine, culture, or emotions, or even the courts — defines good and evil."

The Word of God Is Our Authority

Isaiah pronounced a warning upon a culture that had begun reversing moral categories when he said, 

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness.” (Isaiah 5:20)

That warning was given long before the modern temptation deeply embedded in our culture of excusing evil because of human emotions or cultural pressures. 

Some experiences may be profoundly relevant to understanding a person. For example, a woman may have been abused, a man may have been bullied, a soldier may suffer from PTSD, or a mother may be wrestling through the agony of postpartum depression (or psychosis). But as one wise voice said, "Explanation is not exoneration." Some of these experiences may explain why someone is reacting violently or aggressively, but none of them exonerate them from sin or require us to deny the clear truth. 

Scripture never requires Christians to deny the complexities of human suffering (as some accuse us of doing!), but Scripture simply and plainly refuses to allow those complexities to overthrow God's moral categories. God has already spoken concerning the sanctity of human life, and that is final. Humanity bears His image (Genesis 1:27), murder is forbidden (Exodus 20:13), and the shedding of innocent blood is repeatedly condemned throughout Scripture (Proverbs 6:16–17).

Those truths don't fluctuate with public opinion. 

Legal Innocence Is Not the Same as Moral Innocence

As courts, judges, and juries go round and round, Christians do not have to get sucked into the spin cycle of confusion and moral wavering. A court operates within a particular legal framework. It must determine whether prosecutors have met a defined burden of proof and whether a defendant satisfies specific statutory standards for criminal responsibility. One can say that those are legitimate processes in the United States legal system.

But Christians should never confuse a legal verdict with God's final moral verdict. Whatever the outcome, you can know the truth. 

A mother can be legally acquitted and still have sinned by murdering her children. A mother can violate God's Law and be given a lesser sentence because culture capitulates or lawyers find loopholes. And of course, as we've seen with abortion, and numerous other issues, governments can allow what God hates. 

Can I remind you, brother and sister, that the United States courtroom is not the heavenly throne room? Your view on this case should be informed by the Word of God. And while Romans 13 teaches that civil authorities have a God-given responsibility to administer justice, they do not always do their job according to God's standard. That does not change our position on the truth! Christians don't outsource our consciences to juries, politicians, physicians, celebrities, or social-media consensus.

Our authority is Scripture. 

What's the Verdict According to Scripture?

In Mark 7:21, Jesus said, “For from within, out of people's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders…” (Mark 7:21). And that's where the verdict can easily be determined because the Bible locates the fundamental human problem within us as sin, and it comes from the heart. 

Therefore, Lindsay Clancy's murder of her children is not a "head" problem, it's a "heart" one. 

If every sin can ultimately be explained away by identifying psychological or external influences, eventually nobody is truly guilty of anything. And once guilt disappears, so does the meaning of forgiveness, and so does the need for the gospel. 

Christianity announces sin as our problem, endless excuse-making as rebellion, and Christ as the only hope for wicked sinners like Lindsay, and us. 

One of the main issues with Christians supporting Lindsay Clancy is that they don't understand the gospel. They think by condemning her sin, "we are not loving her like Jesus" (as one person remarked online). If you understand the gospel, you quickly realize that we hold the line of truth because we love people. We judge righteously (John 7:24). We want them saved, so we need to call them to repent of sin. In order to repent of sin, you need to actually call sin, "sin!" 

Christian Compassion Does Not Forget the Gospel

Perhaps the most helpful way to make sense of the debate over compassion, truth, and justice is to shift your gaze to the cross. The cross destroys the false dichotomy people have been making between truth and compassion. At Calvary, God did not minimize sin in order to demonstrate compassion and love for sinners. This is where so many people are confused right now. God demonstrated His love by dealing with sin, and in that we see the perfect picture of love. Love does not excuse, deny, or dismiss sin. Because God is both loving and just, He poured out His wrath on Christ to satisfy the requirement for sin. Christ bore our judgment so that justice would be satisfied. Because of this, mercy was extended. 

Christian compassion must never forget the cost that Jesus paid for the wicked and sinful rebellion of mankind. We don't make light of what nailed Christ to the cross. We don't lessen (in the name of "compassion") what brought about God's fury.  

Christian compassion calls sinners to repentance. We don't need to call darkness light in order to love people walking through darkness. We don't need to know precisely what was happening inside Lindsay Clancy's mind to say that the deaths of Cora, Dawson, and Callan were an unspeakable evil and that she is guilty of murder and deserving of the highest punishment possible. And we don't need a jury to tell us whether innocent human life is sacred. 

God already has.