Don't Judge Casey Anthony

On Tuesday, July 5, a jury in Orlando, Florida, found Casey Anthony not guilty of "first degree murder," "aggravated child abuse," and "aggravated manslaughter of a child" in the case of her daughter Caylee's murder back in 2008. Go to Courant.com to learn more.

Many of my Facebook friends found this outcome outrageous. They just knew Anthony was guilty and considered the trial a miscarriage of justice. Oddly, few of my friends mentioned the case on Facebook before July 5. I didn't know they'd been following it.

Unlike my friends, I didn't follow the Anthony case on TV, the Internet, or the newspapers -- even though I knew about it. I simply ignored it. The three-year media frenzy around this woman, her murdered daughter, and the trial was an entertainment circus. Maybe the outcome would have been different without cameras in the courtroom. Who knows?

What I've learned about the case in the last forty-eight hours: it was just circumstantial evidence. That may be real evidence in a court of law, yet how can anyone be convicted on it? I also think Anthony has been mentally or emotionally disturbed for a long time. Yet what is the cause? Did she crack because her daughter was missing and later found dead? Or did her unbalanced state lead her to murder her daughter? Was Anthony abusing a substance when this happened? Was she possessed? True Christians know that the devil and his angels (demons) are real. Demons can inhabit people's bodies and make them do horrible things.

I want to offer some guidelines on how Christians should see this case and Casey Anthony.

1. Whatever we think of her actual guilt or innocence, a jury of her peers found Anthony not guilty. We must respect their judgment.

2. Only God knows Anthony's heart and what happened to her daughter that day. "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV)

3. If Anthony is guilty, rest assured that God will punish her -- in this life or the next. "Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19, KJV).

4. If Anthony is not guilty, let us pray the true murderer is revealed and brought to justice.

5. Anthony is most likely not a Christian. She needs salvation, so we should pray for her soul. We cannot judge whom God should save and whom he shouldn't. God decides that. He's saved and cleaned up a lot of sorry people in the past. It's the arrogance of God to wait until 11:59pm, to take and clean up what's in the bottom of the barrel.