Justice

I love happy endings!  And for me, part of a happy ending is the "bad guy" getting absolutely DEMOLISHED!  I cheered when, at the end of Deep Blue Sea, the crazy scientist woman got eaten by one of her super-sharks.  I totally agreed with Evelyn in The Mummy when she told Beni, "You know, nasty little fellows such as yourself always get their comeuppance."  I was watching a particular TV show that I enjoy last night, and the "bad guy" was suddenly being protected by one of the "good guys" without any change in attitude or behavior.  As much as I enjoy seeing the bad guy demolished, I like it even better when he/she is repentant and forgiven.  But this flip-flop that happens in so many stories now just plain FRUSTRATES me! =P

Now, in theological terms, I am one of the bad guys.  In fact, I could often agree with Paul that, I am the foremost of sinners.  So I am thankful that God is both Just, and Merciful.  If He weren't, I'd be getting demolished according to my own definition of a "happy ending".
 
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:20-26