CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
January 13, 2008
25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373
www.geocities.com/adon77373/cypresswoodbulletin.htm
www.cypresswoodchurchofchrist.com
LIFT UP IN PRAYER:
Our congregation Various friends, relatives and co-workers
Our nation, leaders and military The persecuted church
BLUE LAWS AND OTHERS
"Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body" (Ecclesiastes 12:12).
The Teacher in Jerusalem could have easily have said that the making of many laws there is no end. It seems that the more "advanced" or bigger a nation, a company, an institution becomes, the more laws it makes. Over the years, many of these laws are forgotten because of changes in culture. In the little town that I grew up in right outside a big city, it was illegal to hang out washed clothes, mow grass, and open a store on a Sunday. Of course, many of you are familiar with what are known as "blue laws." Every so often, someone lists laws that remain on the books that reflect a culture long gone.
I received a list like this from a bookseller in England. It is titled "The UK's Top 10 Most Ridiculous Laws."
1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image
upside-down.
3. It is illegal for a woman to be topless in Liverpool except as a clerk in a tropical fist store.
4. Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned.
5. If someone knocks on your door in Scotland and requires the use of your toilet, you are
required to let them enter.
6. In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a
policeman's helmet.
7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property
of the King, and the tail of the Queen
8. It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to
tell him information you do not mind him knowing.
9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour.
10. It is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls of York, but only if he is carrying
a bow and arrow.
We find humor in these and we do wonder what they were thinking. But it goes beyond that.
I have been told that every time one gets into a car and drives, he or she breaks a law of some kind, unintentionally. Now that says something. When we lived in Illinois, I visited the University of Illinois law library. I was amazed because it was in a building of its own, and if I remember correctly, it was three stories. I thought to myself just how many laws had the United States passed in a two hundred year history. Some laws are obscured that politicians and lawyers can argue over them for years and other so minute that the slightest difference can free a defendant.
Today, politicians make laws that suit them regardless of who they represent. Political correctness is the way of making laws so as not to offend anyone except those who can be safely offended. Hence some of the silliness surrounding the holidays with "holiday," "family," or "celebration" trees instead of Christmas tress. These could be greatly expanded. With federal, state, and local laws, one wonders if it ever will stop. Then there are the home owners associations and it just wants to make one scream, "will it ever stop?"
Dennis Prager talks about the loss of common sense in any number of areas, especially in the zero tolerance policies of school districts. Someone once said that when people lived by moral values and principles, one policeman could patrol a ten block square area but when those principles are not found, one policeman on every corner would not be enough. How true.
Jesus summed up the Law of Moses by answering the question, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" He answered:
"The most important one is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord
is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your
neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:28-31).
Love God and love our neighbor which would include everyone, brothers and sisters in Christ, neighbors, and enemies. Pretty simple, isn't it?
Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with Ten Commandments or principles of living in relationship with God and one another (1). Ten simple yet important commandments which really expand from the two Jesus mentions. The Law of Moses had a total of 613 laws, all of which in someway related to the Ten. That was how they were to live as God's holy people.
By the time we get to Jesus' day, the Law of Moses had been examined in a number of different directions and more laws developed so as not to violate the Law. Eating on the Sabbath, washing one's hands before eating, healing on the Sabbath, a Sabbath's day journey were all part of the traditions that had arose over several centuries. Partly it was a fear of violating the Law that lead to Babylonian Captivity and six hundred years of foreign control. For others it was a legalistic spirit that could control others, to show how "holy" a person could be, and to look down on commoners.
The early church was faced with people who wanted to make laws or enforce the Jewish traditional laws on Christians. Galatians is a response to this. The Jerusalem conference in Acts 15 decided that if the Gentile churches followed four ideas, then there would be peace among them (see verses 24-29). Well, we have gone through twenty centuries of church history and more laws. It just seems that humankind cannot live without creating more and more laws for people to live under, rather than the basics.
Do not think that we in churches of Christ have been immune from this. Every congregation has its traditions, which are fine. But when they become law, then problems develop. For some of us, it just seems silly, and we wonder about it all. One day, the brother in charge of the sound system decided to play an a cappella choir singing traditional songs from our song book, between Bible class and the assembly. He was accused of trying to introduced a choir into the assembly. This was an over reaction of one not thinking through what they were saying or what scripture had to say. In discussions about having a Wednesday night meal together so that families could attend Bible class, conflicts with work and school being a problem, it was stated that this would lead to dancing in the church, therefore was unlawful to do. I was not the only one who did not understand the reasoning behind this. One elder was determined to have pledge cards introduced so that he could know how much was being given, though he was told time and again that that information was available from the bookkeeper.
There are reasons for laws. Obviously there are law breakers. But the more laws the more law breakers. How far does it go before it become anarchy? Laws also mean power by those who make them and enforce them. Humility is in short supply in this country, and sadly, in the church. Violate an elder's traditional view, written or unwritten, and one will be on his bad side, and if one is on the payroll or in some position, one might find himself gone or not used.
We laugh at the blue laws because we see the silliness of some, the changes of culture for others, and ask the question, just what were they thinking, especially to modern ears. But the abuse of law or the use of law to abuse is not a laughing matter. We are tempted to make our way the only legal way, our traditions to become written in stone, and in the process to blind ourselves to the destructive nature we find developing in relationships.
I think that Jesus' summed it up best: love God and love our neighbor. If we can just live by those two laws, we will be doing well.
George B. Mearns
(1) Daniel Lapin links them to both a vertical and horizontal relationship by stating that on the two tablets, the first and sixth command relate, the second and seventh, the third and eighth, the fourth and ninth, and the fifth and tenth. Read them that way and see the links.