FENTON, MI – Have you noticed lately that there has been a great deal of discussion concerning the laws of our land? With a new president creating new regulations and removing others on a daily basis, I thought I would comment on the nature of laws that presently exist in our great nation and in others as well.
For the most part, the laws of the land are in place to protect and be a benefit to inhabitants of a country. Duly elected officials, who to the best of their abilities, are trying to represent the desires and wishes of their respective constituencies, have enacted the vast majority of these directives. Even though this may be the intention of our leaders, it is obvious that they do not always carry out that representation in a fashion that reflects the people's desires and in some cases prove to be just the opposite.
At other times laws have been passed that apparently do not represent the thinking of any rational person. In fact, they seem to be created without any forethought or intellectual reasoning. But then again, I have been told that there is something released into the atmosphere of all of our state capitols and that of the U. S. Government that fogs the thinking of any intelligent person. (grin) Well, if you don’t believe that then tell me what turns some of our good, rational, discerning, intelligent, wise, witty and duly elected officials into blithering idiots?
Let me just share with you a few laws that have been enacted in some of our sister countries and states.
No one may enter a Canadian aircraft in flight. Also, no one may leave a Canadian aircraft while in flight, except by parachute. (You wouldn’t need a jail to hold the law breaker, just a bucket)
You can be fined $500 for setting off a nuclear warhead in the city limits of Chico, California. (Who would be left to make him pay?)
Trucks in Great Britain are forbidden by law from driving under bridges too low for them to drive under. (Duh!)
A Texas representative introduced a bill requiring criminals to notify their victims 24 hours in advance, and to notify them of their right to use deadly force. (I know all of Texas is waiting with baited breath for the phone call from their next perpetrator)
Baths may not be taken between the months of October and March. (Indiana)
Spitting on a sea gull is not tolerated. (Norfolk, VA)
Mustaches are illegal if the bearer has a tendency to habitually kiss other humans. (Indiana)
Women who sit on men’s laps on buses or trains without placing a pillow between them face an automatic six-month jail term. (Seattle, WA)
The State Constitution of Alabama makes it illegal for any “idiots or insane” people to vote. (We would be better off it that was a national law!) (grin)
These are just a few of the hundreds of laws that make no sense whatsoever and for sure can and will never be enforced. The laws of a land are for the protection of the good citizens of that country and for the punishment of the evil ones. On the other hand, the laws of God were not only to protect and correct, but to also show us that it is humanly impossible to keep them all. We are all lawbreakers and guilty before God. Aren’t you glad that our Loving Father made a way for our guilt and lawlessness to be forgiven and that we are made right with Him, not by keeping laws, but by Grace?
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and
not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
(Galatians 2:16 KJV)
So may I encourage you in these seemingly crazy days of laws, rules and regulations not to despair? These laws will never make us righteous, and we cannot keep them all. Besides, some of them and their creators are just a few french fries short of a Happy Meal. Rest in Him who justifies by His Grace.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tim Patterson is Executive Director/Treasurer of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. Elected unanimously in May of 2015, Patterson formerly served for 9 years as pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla. He also served as trustee chair and national mobilizer for the North American Mission Board.