A very hypothetical situation:
A tenant, named Jim, lives in an apartment. Jim is a good tenant, he does not cause trouble for the landlord, named Ted.
After 19 months, Jim decides to move out. Although he wanted to move out with only 30 days notice, he followed through with his contract and paid for the full 45 days the contract called for.
Jim caused minor damage to the apartment through normal use and assumed that the damages of about $100 would come out of his security deposit.
According to Jim and Ted’s contract, Ted, the landlord, had 60 days to return Jim’s security deposit of $850. According to Ohio state law, Ted only had 30 days to return the deposit.
After 80 days, Jim did not receive his security deposit or any type of assessment, so he called Ted. After nearly 90 days, Ted finally sent Jim a bill saying that he owed him $289 for water bills for which he forgot to bill him.
According to Jim and Ted’s contract, Ted was supposed to bill Jim for the water regularly with the rent.
At this point, Jim has an opportunity. Because his landlord, Ted, broke the law, he is entitled to double his deposit back, plus attorney’s fees plus interest on the high deposit. Jim could easily sue Ted for $2,000.
But Jim believes that he ought to live as Jesus instructed him to. He knows that Jesus said that he should forgive his neighbor, turn the other cheek and if someone wants to sue him and take his coat, he should give him his t-shirt too.
So what should Jim do?
Should he pay the landlord the $289 and forgive him?
Should he sue Ted, the landlord, in order to help the other poor and oppressed that Ted has taken advantage of?
Part of the problem is that Ted thinks that Jim owes him something. So if Jim just forgives him, it really won’t do much good as a witness to the love of Jesus because Ted doesn’t believe that he needs to be forgiven.
What should Jim do to demonstrate the love of Jesus?
Can you forgive someone that doesn’t believe they’ve done anything wrong? Do Jesus’ words mean that we should allow people to take advantage of us?
Please share your thoughts below. We would really love to hear them.
going by what people tell me about jesus, i imagine jesus cares about how your behavior reflects on your faith in him, rather than on him. since the landlords behavior doesn’t affect his other tenants spiritual wellbeing, jesus would likely not find that a compelling reason to pursue retaliation. the fact that the landlord is unrepentant should not deter you from forgiveness, but rather spur you on. It is easy to forgive when all parties agree a wrong has been committed, but it shows true faith in the message of forgiveness to pardon even those whom it is most difficult to forgive, whom it seems most senseless to forgive. why would the lord want to prevent people from “taking advantage” of you?there is no harm to your soul in being relieved of some of you possesions, it is but an opportunity to demonstrate you devotion to generosity, love, and forgiveness, and to affirm the immaterialism of the material. it seems to me the gospel is clear on this: forgiveness is the correct action. though if one were looking for a moral justification for a lawsuit, mosaic law might be a good place to look
. by my own haphazard code of ethics, it seems reasonable to try and recover your deposit, if awarded double the original deposit it would probably be best to donate the excess to charity, but i cant say i would do so myself.