You ever think about whether things are OK just because they’re legal. I mean, if it’s the law it must be OK, right? Our all-knowing government officials wouldn’t introduce and pass legislation if it weren’t all on the up and up, would they?
Well, this is an interesting thing to contemplate. Let’s examine some of our nation’s previous laws. I can think of a good example for the purpose of this discussion. The first thing that came to mind when I was thinking about this topic was our history of segregation and civil rights. We had, for a number of years, laws that were meant to segregate and give rights to some, while denying rights to others based solely on a person’s race. These were commonly known as Jim Crow Laws. These laws became a major point of contention in the 1960’s when the Civil Rights movement was at its peak. Here’s an example of just a few of these laws:
Railroads: The conductor of each passenger train is authorized and required to assign each passenger to the car or the division of the car, when it is divided by a partition, designated for the race to which such passenger belongs. Alabama
Restaurants: It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment. Alabama
Education: Separate schools shall be maintained for the children of the white and colored races. Mississippi
Now, as we look back on these laws today it’s difficult to imagine a time where these were actually in-force legislation in the land in which we live. However, I think we all pretty much agree that these laws, while being legal, were certainly not moral. This is just one example, though. What else is there?
What about an example from today? What about our banking system? We recently had a financial crisis in 2008. If we look at some of the practices being implemented during this time we could easily make the case that immoral practices were in place. For example, banks were offering zero down mortgages. The reason that’s a bad idea is the borrower has no skin in the game. This is why many people walked away from their homes when the market took a downturn. Banks, in the process, were leveraging themselves to extreme degrees. In the case of the major banks, many were leveraged 30 times, or more. Not only that, but as banks were issuing mortgage-backed securities on the basis of these loans, a situation was created where an even minor downturn in the market could end up wiping them out. We can certainly debate about who were all complicit in this scenario. The point being, though, that the majority of these practices were all legal. You could certainly make the case, though, that they weren’t moral. At the very least they were reckless.
I guess the reason I bring this up is this: I believe many people, without a moral standard to guide them, will end up aligning their morality with legality. So, in the absence of any other standard I believe many will end up thinking, “If it’s legal, then it must be moral.” But as we can see this isn’t a very reliable plumb line, is it? I mean, our laws can change and be more flexible than a wet spaghetti noodle. So, how do we align our ideas of right and wrong?
There is a greater law than the laws of man here on this earth. God has a law by which we are all to live. The great thing that we, as believers, have is that we are no longer bound by sin. We have been made free from the law of sin and death. As it says in Romans 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Not only are we freed from sin but we are not under the law. Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” That sounds amazing, doesn’t it? How can we not be under the law? Aren’t we supposed to obey the law? Well, yes we are. But the interesting thing is that, as believers, we are not under the law. So, does that mean we ignore the law? Well, Romans 3:31 says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Interesting, huh? So, we establish the law. But how do we do this? Well, Hebrews 10:16 says, “This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;”
viagra prices in usa By routinely bringing one’s consciousness back to this area and coming out of the mind will strengthen the body/mind connection once again. The chair style toilets are designed in such a manner generic cialis on line where a person will opt sitting style to poop. This eventually leads to impotence to a viagra prescriptions online man as the blood itself does not pass ahead. ED Trial packs can come in many cialis without prescriptions sizes and combinations. So, there it is. We have the law already written in our hearts. It’s not that we no longer have a law to follow. We just have them already in us to do them. Not only that, we also have the Holy Spirit to help us to live this out in our daily lives. Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Also in Galatians 5:16 it says, “[This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” So, we are led by the Holy Spirit. If we yield to him, he will help us to live the right way. We have an inner witness. So, this is how we establish the law—by living out what God has put in our hearts.
This helps paint a complete picture for us of how we are to live our lives. We can always know what is right and wrong. This is a much more reliable plumb line for us to follow and God helps us through His Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Romans 6:14 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
Romans 3:31 says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
Hebrews 10:16 says, “This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;”
Romans 8:14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Galatians 5:16 it says, “[This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”