PUNISHMENT

A lawyer was defending a man accused of housebreaking & said to the court:

"Your Honor, I submit that my client did not break into the house at all. He found the parlor window open & merely inserted his right arm & removed a few trifling articles. Now, my client's arm is not himself & I fail to see how you can punish the whole individual for an offense committed by only one of his limbs."

"That argument," said the judge "is very well put. Following it logically, I sentence the defendant's arm to one year's imprisonment. He can accompany it or not, as he chooses."

The defendant smiled & with his lawyer's assistance unscrewed his cork arm & leaving it in the dock, walked out.

- (moreillustrations.com)

Mat 18:8 (ERV): “If your hand or your foot makes you sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose part of your body and have eternal life than to have two hands and two feet and be thrown into the fire that burns forever.”

Barnes’ commentary on the above verse: “It is not meant, by this, that when the body shall be raised it will be maimed and disfigured in this manner. It will be perfect. The meaning is, it is better to go to heaven without enjoying the things that caused us to sin, than to enjoy them here and then be lost.”