Page 84 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 7

COMMUNITY
individuals – known as law-
yers – are so highly skilled and
knowledgeable as to be able to
find loopholes within the law to
allow even those who have con-
travened it to escape from the
consequences of their actions
either partially or entirely. It is
also possible for those who did
not actually do anything to be
found guilty of something, using
police, lawyers and that same
law. These individuals are then
forced to face punishments they
absolutely do not deserve.
Just like any other tool, the law
can be used for the purposes of
the betterment or the destruc-
tion of society. The law was
probably initially intended as
an instrument of justice, social
protection and cohesion, but,
regardless of country, it has
often been found terribly lacking
and has even been employed to
serve evil and unjust persons,
corporations and governments,
who are seeking their own end,
which is the exact opposite of
what the law is said to exist for.
Some say that the law origi-
nated in ancient Greece and
Rome, others say it originated
with God on Mt. Sinai, when He
gave the Ten Commandments
and the law, others may sug-
gest that it began in the Garden
in Eden with the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. For
what is the law of man, except
for a delineation of behavior
along the lines of what is good
and what is evil and the map-
ping out of the consequences
of choosing one over the other?
These consequences then be-
come the tool of control used to
deter such behavior in the rest
of the population and thereby
maintain ‘law and order’ through
the use of the threat of the
stick. If you’re ‘good’ you live in
fear of being found to be ‘bad’
84 | heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika
somehow - according to the law
- and if you’re bad you wait for
your proverbial 40 days to end.
God help us!
I want to suggest two things to
you for consideration:
1. The Law was not made by
God, but rather is solely a cre- Anyway, the Israelites decided
ation of man; and
2. God has spent eons trying
to rescue man from the foolish-
ness of the law.
To paint this picture, let’s head
back to the beginning of all
things and take a brief but
reflective stroll through time;
“In the beginning, God..” did
not make the law and He gave
Adam only 1 do and 1 do not:
freely eat alllll of this but do not
eat that one thing, “for in the
day that you eat of it you shall
surely die.” But isn’t that a law?
No. That is faith, Hebrews 11.
Enter the serpent, the eating
of that which was forbidden
happened and man’s eyes were
opened to know what is good
and what is evil. Dichotomy
entered between God and man,
and man’s true nature, died.
Which is fine, it was needful, so
don’t be too hard on Adam or
Eve. With the death of the true
man, the increase of the knowl-
edge of good and evil created
a need to govern relationships
not on the basis of love, but on
the basis of laid down steps and
procedures. Law = laid down,
fixed or set (etymonline.com).
Did you notice that even then
God did not produce any rules
governing their existence? He
simply removed them from the
Garden, for their own protec-
tion, and then He finally ex-
pressed His standard of living
in writing about two thousand
years later through the Ten
Commandments and the law
that He gave the people of Isra- act of condemning the innocent
el. Even then this standard was
to show them just how much
they needed Mercy and Grace
instead of the judgment of the
law, because of the high, high
quality of His standard that they
could in no way ever hope to
attain by themselves.
they wanted the impossible
standard, instead of just being
humble and admitting to them-
selves and Him that there was
no way they could hack it. The
law that God gave was IM-
POSSIBLE to follow, it was the
equivalent of a trick question,
but these guys instead chose
what Adam and Eve chose after
they chopped that fruit, they
chose the knowledge of good
and evil, the dichotomy, the laid
down rules and procedures.
Keep in mind they broke these
with regularity, but God kept
using their disobedience to
illustrate His Mercy and Good-
ness. The people didn’t get it
though and continued to live
like animals, requiring an eye
for an eye, choosing to live by
the sword, choosing to punish
‘evil doers’ even while being evil
themselves, eventually nailing
the Word that came to fulfill
the law that they claimed they
followed to the Cross. Blind as
bats. They did and still do just
like every other nation did and
still does to date i.e. create a
set of rules and regulations
to live by that often make no
sense, break all of them, punish
the ones who are too weak to
challenge the laws (financially
or whatever) and proceed as
if they are not living a major
contradiction, lie and betrayal or
that there are no consequences
that await.
Many times, the Israelites were
comfortable with the idea and
and sparing the guilty. Some-
HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY