Biblical Principles in the Political World

We, as church members, have been able to go up to the Feast of Tabernacles once again in 2018. It is a time characterized by humility, service, patience, cooperation, giving, thoughtfulness, and sacrifice. Above all the truth of God’s soon coming Kingdom has been expounded. We have been reminded by the speakers of the righteous reign of Jesus Christ on earth and all of the wonderful things that will flow from God’s rule.

In returning home, if we tuned in to the news, in whatever format, we find strife, conflict, and a complete lack of civility in all too many situations. It is hurtful to see people raging at one another over things that could be settled peacefully if God and His word prevailed.

Let’s imagine God and His word being the foundational principle on which we decided who would be a justice of the Supreme Court.

The strife that unfolded in the selection process of a judge to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Anthony Kennedy was based upon a false premise. The false premise is that the right to have an abortion is a court ruling that must be defended no matter how down and dirty the opponents of the nominee have to go to defeat him.

If all parties accepted God and His word as the final arbiter, then the abortion issue would not be an issue at all. They would be led to see that life begins at conception. The miraculous cell splitting process that begins to unfold in the womb is the beginning of a human life. From God’s standpoint all human beings are precious because they all have the potential to be part of the family of God (Hebrew 2:10). From God’s point of view the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13) would be the guiding principle.

A couple of other biblical principles which would have been helpful in sorting out the nomination process:

• The 9th Commandment, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Sadly, we don’t see the application of biblical principles in the political world. As a result, we will continue to see strife and conflict on regular display.

The good news is that we are nearing the end of the time when raw, carnal nature will be on display on the nightly news. We have been reminded by going up to the Feast that Christ will return to this earth and judge in righteousness and equity for all.

Rejoice this Sabbath in the rest that is sure to come through the return of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:11).

Gary Smith

Ignorance Of The Law Is No Excuse

Most of us have heard the phrase “ignorance of the law is no
excuse” at one time or another. I never really thought about
the phrase much until I began reading, “By The People” by
Charles Murray. In light of what Mr. Murray has to say on
this subject, I would like to share some considerations in this
Sabbath Thought.

Mr. Murray writes, “For centuries, common law recognized
two requirements for a criminal act: a guilty act and a guilty
mind…. You not only had to do something wrong, you had to
be aware you were doing something wrong. But the law also
held that ignorance of the law is no defense. How could these
two principles be reconciled? Because there weren’t many
laws. Most of the laws that did exist prohibited acts that were
obviously wrong in themselves, such as murder, rape, and
theft. Other laws prohibited things the state decided to prohibit
that were not wrong in themselves (for example, sumptuary
laws), but these were of a manageable number and were part
of daily life” (pp. 32-33).

Mr. Murray is saying in essence there was a time in America
where the laws were so few in number that “ignorance of the
law was (truly) no excuse.”

Today, we often are unaware we have broken a law. He points
out, “Through the first half of the nineteenth century, virtually
all criminal law was defined and prosecuted by the states with
fewer than a score of crimes defined by the federal
government (for example, treason or bribery of federal
officials). By World War 1, the number of federal laws had
reached the 500s. As of the most recent count, in 2007, the
federal code numbered about 4,450 crimes. We have seen an
increase of about 50 percent just since 1980” (p. 33).

Consider that “the tax code, as of 2013 consisted of four
million words—about five times the length of the King James
Bible. It is riddled with ambiguities and special provisions.
The IRS can almost always find something wrong if agents
look hard enough, no matter what tax preparation software
you used and no matter how faithfully you tried to do the right
thing” (p. 38).

The problem is that we are overwhelmed with thousands of
laws and if someone wanted to push the matter, we are in
violation on a number of fronts and don’t even know of our
non-compliance.

We have reached the point in time where ignorance of the law
is all too common. There are just too many laws to keep up
with.

The good news is that there are laws on the books that were
established by a mind far beyond that of human beings. God in
His wisdom established a law code of Ten Commandments.
His laws were applicable in the Garden of Eden and will be
applicable to the end of time.

The Bible, as a whole, is an expansion on the meaning and
application of the Ten Commandments.

God put His law in one book making it a ready resource for all
mankind.

How good it will be when man realizes the futility of trying to
put more and more laws into effect and accepts the simple
approach to law given by God. We get an inkling of what is to
come in Isaiah 2:3, "Many people shall come and say, "Come,
and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall
walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

As the Bible becomes the standard for the entire earth, then it
can truly be said, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

Gary Smith