Civil-Justice in the Real World #4
To start this series on Law, click here The Tension of the Text. At the bottom of each post you can click the Next button to work your way through. Or look at the articles listed below after this one—to see the most recent.
One purpose of the Civil-Justice code is to teach principles of justice leading to a just society. One of the lessons, illustrated yesterday, is that statutes can change over time to steer a society in a righteous direction. Justice sometimes has to take stock in what is possible rather than the end goal. What is impossible in one generation is possible in the next, but a step must be taken first.
We in the church today need to understand this.
Imagine an enlightened Israelite in 1440 BC who correctly knows that the LORD never wanted people to own one another. He speaks for abolition and is ridiculed. He is speaking to people-slave and free-who accept it with no question. They do not know what a slave free society would even look like. BUT-when he sees the new statute about freeing a fellow Israelite after 6 years—he rejects it as morally repugnant. He will not compromise his principles. He will accept nothing less than full abolition—and so he does not support this new step. He believes it is the only option.
If he prevails against the statute, how many men would remain in bondage rather than freed?
Justice sometimes requires goals and steps.
In all the decades of the pro-life advocates, many have resisted abortion regulations that fall short of complete abolition. They fear that accepting compromise is a moral failure and that they cannot be stained with something less. But what is possible today? Are not some broad restrictions viable and with formulating and implementing them move the nation in the right direction.
Justice requires meditation, thought, planning, vision, and confidence. We saw yesterday that the LORD, Himself, spoke a change in one generation and a fuller change in the next. How do we shift the nation, one step at a time, to a place where, like slavery, abortion is never thought of?
We can regulate against late term abortion. We can create statutes that reveal and provide justice to women devastated by the abortions they have had. We can begin to rebuild the value of having children. We can take advantage of the US birth rate falling below replacement level—and push for benefits for having children.
What thoughts do you have? Once we understand that it is OK to work for the next small step, we can seek the LORD for the wisdom and understanding that we need to effect permanent change.
Tomorrow-the failure of the heart again.