Morality or Faith
Excerpted and Adapted from my website (ChangingPerspectives2023.com)
"A completely unfree society (i.e., one that cannot function except by strict rules of 'conformity' in everything ) will, in its behavior, be unable to solve certain problems. That could jeopardize its ability to survive through difficult situations. A similar remark would also apply to individual human beings." (Gödel, 1961)
How many Laws are Enough?
Every year, legislators and administrators at the state and federal levels add new laws, rules, and regulations they believe will coerce and control U.S. citizens better than the previous set had. According to “Law Database Coverage Details,” as of September 2021, there were nearly 3.5 million laws in the United States at the federal and state levels. Government legislators add thousands of new ones each year. That fact should be sufficient evidence to cause Christians, if not everyone, to conclude that our culture and our sense of morality are going in the wrong direction. "
Why do we create so many laws? Do we need more? Can we maintain our culture with fewer of them? How will we know when we have enough of them?
According to Matthew (22:36), a lawyer posed a similar question to Jesus when he asked which of the laws was (the most) important.
Below is the response Jesus gave.
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Jesus answered. Then He said, "This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
"Christ" Paul wrote, "is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Romans 10:4). In Romans 13:8, Paul also wrote, "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law." Galatians 5:14 reinforces the point "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"
How many laws are enough? It turns out that those who have accepted Christ's salvation, who are born of the Spirit, and who therefore trust the resurrected Christ as their Lord, need only one!"
The Relationship between the Number of Laws and Society's Health
Laws of a society codify a subset of moral standards and establish expectations for the moral behavior of members of that society. The laws and the morality the laws promote and enforce have little or no relationship with developing faith in God and, concomitantly, His word. Compliance with laws reduces risk and stress and improves one's reputation, but compliance cannot transform mankind nor fulfill our deepest desires. The purpose of the law, as Paul wrote, is to function (only) as a "tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." (Galatians 3:2) It brings us to Christ by revealing its futility to everyone; especially to the obedient. (See the story of the rich, young ruler told in Mark 10:17-27 and in Luke 19:16-22.)
People whose love is selfless and unconditional need no rules, incentives, nor continual prompts to do the things they should do for those whom they love. (Those things develop naturally.) On the other hand, people whose love is conditional and self-serving need those things to cajole or coerce them do the things they should do to maintain a civil society. )
I propose that, as the health of a group of people improves, the number of laws they need to live peacefully together decreases. In other words, the need for laws should continually diminish as Christians become more Christ-like.
Some Implications for Educators in Christian Schools
Educators who teach in Christian schools should, therefore, operate with fewer laws, rules, and regulations and use different techniques than their peers who teach in public schools. Students who attend Christian schools should be more likely than their peers who attend public schools to love others selflessly and exhibit faith in God. Among other attributes, these should indicate the development of Christ-like love in Christian schools and distinguish them accordingly.
To make that a reality, I propose educators, parents, and pastors need to acknowledge (a) there is a difference between being moral and being faithful to God and (b) there is no overlap between being moral and being in God's will. In other words stop promoting morality as a means to become a Christian or as a measure of whether someone is a Christian. Unfortunately, that proposal is difficult to communicate because our parents, teachers, and pastors have led us to believe that morality and Christianity are (roughly) equivalent. Yet, the Bible is full of examples of people who viewed those who were faithful to God's word (and will) as immoral or amoral.
