Some years ago, a friend and I were talking about our nation's problems and how they could or should be solved. He was thinking from a political world-view where new laws need to be created for every new situation, and I was thinking from a realistic world-view where multitudinous comprehensive laws had already been created. But Henry, knowing me but not understanding my view-point, blurted out, "You can't legislate morals."
Surprised, I asked what he meant. He said, "Outlawing alcohol -- you know, prohibition -- in the 1920s didn't work; outlawing gambling didn't work; and outlawing prostitution, drugs, and other activities isn't working. Therefore, they should all be legalized so the government can collect taxes on it all. You just can't legislate morals!"
He said a mouthful in those 43 words. But is he correct? No! Whether those activities remain illegal or are legalized, they have been legislated.
"Morals" is defined as: relating to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct; the distinction between right and wrong; concerned with the judgment of right or wrong human action and character. Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior.
Who or what made the distinction between right and wrong? Let's look into it.
What about taking a life? Homicide has commonly been called 1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree murder, and it's against the law in the U.S. to murder someone. What about theft? On the books we have petit larceny, then four degrees of grand larceny: also against the law. What about lying? Perjury is spelled out in the U.S. Code, Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 79, § 1621. You guessed it: illegal.
Let's see now -- "morals" is the distinction between right and wrong. And we just identified three moral activities which we have outlawed by legislation. And you might be interested to know that those three activities are prohibited in the 6th, 8th, and 9th of The 10 Commandments (Exodus 34). Our government does agree with Scripture -- sometimes.
Obviously we CAN and DO legislate morals! So the question is: what morals do we choose to legislate? The answer: more than you would believe!
Rev. Ravi Zacharias, who has a radio program titled "Let My People Think," said the non-Christian world politicizes morality while they moralize politics. He is correct. Many of our politicians seem to agree or disagree with the Bible depending on how many votes they can garner. What baffles me is that sometimes our government -- or even a single judge -- listens to a very small minority of the population and makes laws that override the desires and morals of the vast majority. What kind of logic is that for a Democracy?
Example: The U.S. Supreme Court just handed down its 5-4 ruling that homosexual marriages are constitutional. (This is only one of many instances where our government has politicized morality.) This ruling puzzles me for three reasons: 1) the ruling has nothing to do with the constitution, 2) most Americans are against same-sex marriages, and 3) according to the constitution, it is the Congress (state and federal) who is supposed to make laws, not the court.
But why is marriage a moral issue? The Bible clearly specifies that human marriage was created by God Himself; therefore God is the only One who has the right to decide how marriage is to be employed. God determined that marriage is between a man and a woman, but our politicians decided that Almighty God is wrong.
We also have a built-in dichotomy in our government. Some well-known government officials can commit crimes and lie about it, and we overlook it; while other well-known officials commit crimes and lie about it, and are prosecuted. The "morality" of the issue seems to depend on what side of the political fence the official is on. They moralize politics.
However if it's a "hate" crime, THAT is bad! Amazingly, this is a double-legislation of morals.
Friends, we legislate morals all the time. But we have a problem!
We are legislating OUT wholesome, healthy core values and morals, and legislating IN anti-Biblical values and morals which go against our national heritage, and weakens our nation both morally and politically.
Morals -- right versus wrong -- is a Biblical issue. Galatians 6:7 says, "Don't be misled. You can't ignore God and get away with it." Therefore, if we don't revert to using Scripture as our legislative standard as we formerly did, we are in trouble.
-- Gene Linzey is a speaker, author, and former pastor. Send comments and questions to [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Religion on 07/29/2015