I Wonder…

On New Year’s Eve I read a warning from the Governor in the paper regarding drinking and driving during the holiday season. He warned that police would be on patrol and that should party goers drink alcoholic beverages, they should not drive. On January 9, 2009 results were presented for Holiday patrols (16,000 checkpoints statewide) indicating that for the time period between December 1, 2008 and January 4, 2009 citations were issued for 4,430 DWI’s across the state. In fact, over 155,000 traffic and criminal violations were recorded at these checkpoints. After a quick read I thought to myself, “Why do we even have laws?”. That passing thought turned into several weeks of deliberation over several related questions: What is the purpose of a law? What do we hope to accomplish by passing laws?

Laws are rules of conduct established and enforced by the authority, legislation, or custom of a given community, state or other group. We know of International laws, Federal laws, State laws, local laws and even rules and regulations we agree to for the purchases we make, the business we transact, the sports we play and even the software we download. Rules and regulations are present in every arena of our lives. A quick review of our state government website reveals that legislators passed 229 laws in 2008. In fact, in the last ten years, there have been over 3,700 bills presented for new laws or clarifications or amendments to old laws that have passed through multiple houses and have been either signed or accepted through no response by the Governor. After the passage of 229 laws in one year’s time, we should have much less criminal activity, right? Well, statistics from the 2008 report for late November through the first of January at 13,000 checkpoints reported almost identical data: 4,367 DWI’s and 155,194 total traffic and criminal violations.

Are the laws truly not working? There is fundamental flaw in the question because when we ask it, we begin with the assumption that laws bring about a change in behavior. This is an incorrect assumption. Laws only serve to expose wrongdoing; they do not change wrong behavior. Laws are like fences that are put up to keep individuals within the boundaries of civil action as it is deemed appropriate by those in authority. We pass more laws to erect more and more fences in an effort to keep citizens from moving into unacceptable areas. So the laws are in fact working by doing the job of exposing wrong behavior. That leads to another pertinent question. If laws do not bring about change in behavior, what does? Punishment? Community service? Information, education or awareness? Campaigns?

I would submit that the answer lies within the pages of the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. During His earthly ministry, Jesus was asked by an expert in the law which of the commandments was the greatest. A fascinating question because He could have taken that opportunity to say they were all equal. He could have said every law passed by man is equal. Instead He responded by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” When asked which was the greatest commandment Jesus went to the heart and spoke of love. This is because intent is always prior to content. We can pass law after law, increase the severity of punishment, institute more programs, increase awareness, develop more sophisticated counseling techniques and litter the streets with patrols for enforcement. All these efforts are meaningful exercises, but are ultimately ineffective if in our hearts we still desire to take part in sinful or unlawful practices. Faith in Christ brings about a change of heart through relationship. Galatians 4:4 says “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.”

I wonder what would happen if we all loved the Lord with all our hearts so that we desired nothing more than to please Him. I wonder what would happen if we realized that God first loved us so much that He sacrificed His only son so that he could offer us the full rights of a son. I wonder what would happen if we loved those around us as much as we loved ourselves so that we were ready to think of others first and sacrifice for someone else. I wonder how many arrests would be made at 2009 checkpoints if these truths changed our hearts and therefore our intentions and ultimately our actions…I wonder.