We assume too much
In Canada, the issue of drugs has been an interesting
topic. People are looking for the political leaders to make it legal, safe, and
accessible. We’re asking those we are leery of to play ball our way. These same
leaders want to tax small business and say it’s fair. These leaders are the
rich. They are the educated. This generation wants stuff. They are the era of
the entitled. The leaders know that if they give people what they want, they
will have their vote and trust. The problem is that public leaders have not
changed.
Public leaders say things to get votes. They promise
stuff to gain trust. What they are is glorified car sales men. There are always
hidden costs. There are always unsaid glitches. There is always a hidden agenda
and price to pay. That is the political world. Yet, this new generation is
listening. They are not asking questions. They are saying we are the entitled,
so give us what we want like spoiled children. Our political leaders are all
too eager to do it too.
As I grew up, good parents did not let us run amuck. Good
leaders and the police did not let society do what they wanted. Sure, we lost a
little freedom, but we gained a little trust of those protecting us. Society
behaved more or less. It seems that somewhere along the way we wanted all the
freedom. The police have become the bad guys. To be fair, the political leaders
treated this change of attitude as candy. Law was meant for good, but our view
has changed. Law restricts. Law prohibits. We are now entitled to our freedom.
That is bad for the police but awesome for the political.
What does God have to say about law? 1 John 3:4 says “Everyone
who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.”
Oh brother, why bring up that corny word sin? To me it’s the key to the word law.
Sin is practically anything we do that harms another intentionally. Patrick I
don’t harm people? I’m sure you don’t. Yet, people drink too much, do drugs too
much, are lazy, lie, and pollute. We all do something in our own interest. Time
after time it ends up harming ourselves.
The trouble with sin is its intention. It’s all about us
in regards to sin. We want drugs to be free. We want freedom to do whatever we
desire. We are the entitled. The problem is that one person’s entitlement might
impede another person’s view. Another person’s freedom. How do we find harmony
when to people want opposing freedoms? That is where law comes in. Law makes a
common truth. A common understanding. This understanding is that we might lose
a little freedom but gain community.
The police are considered the protectors and upholders of
the law. I get it that there are bad cops. Yet, most police are fine. But, they
are protecting the one thing we are beginning to hate: the law. So, one by one
we are busting the laws of the past. It’s not about evolving, but destroying
law. Prostitution laws fall. Drug laws fall. Alcohol laws fall. In the courts
murder is becoming subjective. Personal rights are trumping community
wellbeing.
So where does that leave us? I see community, society,
and possibly a country falling. If we value sin more than law then what were
left with is lawlessness. In the end of the book of Judges it says “In those
days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own
sight.” This is where Israel began its fall. At the end of the Old Bible the
nation was gone. That fall began with people doing what they wanted in their
own eyes. Welcome to the 21st century.
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