Our Task

Our Task

    A constant refrain which has played in the background throughout much of our generation is the now-familiar chorus "You can't legislate morality."  Like a pervasive advertising jingle, this statement, in one form or another, has bounced through our minds so often that we are unlikely even to question it, yet like Goebbels' "big lie" it is accepted only because it has been so often, and so loudly, repeated.  It is impossible to legislate the will, of course -- neither court, nor congress, nor constitution can alter the convictions, right or wrong, of the individual citizen -- but in fact, a standard of morality is precisely and only what IS legislated.

    "Morality" is defined as "(1) The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct; (2) A system of ideas of right and wrong conduct: religious morality; Christian morality; (3) Virtuous conduct."  Each of these refers to or implies a model or standard of behavior which is accepted as universally true, whether that behavior is the speed at which one drives through a residential neighborhood or the way in which two people may settle property issues.  We consider these standards "universal" at least in the sense that, for example, the speed limit does not vary to accommodate those from other areas where speed limits might be different.  Nor do we -- or at least did we -- adopt these models of behavior arbitrarily; rather, it has been our practice, especially in democracies, to choose and define our standards very carefully, very seriously -- to debate, then legislate.  The result is laws which impose such standards of behavior only on those who are not already predisposed to behave in the manner those laws define.  The person who recognizes as a matter of common sense that driving fast on a shadowed residential street is irresponsible does not need a posted speed limit to restrain him; the law exists as a model, a standard, for those who might, if left to themselves, act otherwise.

    It is the source of those standards which must especially concern us as Christians in the world, but we must likewise train ourselves and our children how to deal with the standards of behavior the world would impose upon us, for they could very well, as in the past they often did, force us to wrestle with the decision faced by the apostles in Acts 5:29 -- "But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.""  All of the apostles were persecuted and imprisoned for living according to that decision, that standard of behavior -- and almost all were killed for doing so.  This has been the pattern for believers since before the time of Enoch, who "... prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."" [Jude 14b, 15]

    This is the purpose of the efforts we must make toward renewal as Christians -- not ultimately to change the way we behave in church, but how we behave AS Church, as members of Christ's Body.  As Christians it is not our duty merely to sit on the sidelines and comment among ourselves about society -- as we have too often done in the past -- but first of all to act and live according to God's model of behavior regardless of the whims of secular society; and second to do all we are able, as individual citizens, to influence that society according to God's perfect model, His law.  Where Christians in Europe and North America have neglected this duty, having failed to hold back the wind, it is now more vital than ever to equip the next generation to face the whirlwind.  And yet we have this comfort -- "that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, [God] also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him." [Catechism Ans. 1]

"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." [Romans 12:2]

===========
Gary Fisher