I grew up believing laws were a good thing.
I was taught to obey the law, respect the police who enforced it, and harbor a certain amount of disdain for those who intentionally violated laws.
Mandela, Gandhi, and King were all criminals. All three great men spent time in jail. In the worldview of my childhood, that made them a bit less honorable.
Confusing, huh?
As I reflect on Mandela’s passing, I’m reminded of the limitations of childish worldviews. We need laws. They, and the people who enforce them, must be respected. But we’d do well to remember that what’s legal often has little to do with right and wrong.
In a democracy, laws ideally reflect majority opinion. In the simplest sense, if most folks want to do something we pass a law and make it legal. We hope that free debate will bring the best ideas to the top. When we implement a dumb law, we live with its consequences until it’s changed.
Of course it doesn’t work ideally, because lawmaking is a political process. Favors, money, and pressure enter the equation—what’s legal rarely reflects true majority ideas.
And even if it did, majority opinion changes with the wind on many issues. Sometimes, that’s okay. We can debate the proper speed limit and whether side air bags should be required in new cars.
But sometimes the majority’s wrong—objectively, eternally wrong.
Right now, in some places, laws protect those who own slaves, many of them young children, under the guise of indentured servitude. Laws shield abusers of women and children.
Some things are right and some are wrong—absolutely and eternally. They’re not subject to debate or majority vote.
It’s right to love; it’s wrong to hate.
It’s right to forgive; it’s wrong to seek vengeance.
It’s right to respect and advance freedom; it’s wrong to deny freedom.
It’s right to create equal opportunity; it’s wrong to restrict opportunity for any reason.
These things are right and wrong everywhere, in every time, because God says so.
Nations can pass laws that violate these eternal truths. Those laws make certain behaviors legal, but can never make them right.
I’m curious when those who follow Jesus appeal to human laws (like the U.S. Constitution) to justify their behavior. To me it seems they’re placing their rights ahead of what’s right.
Mandela, Gandhi, and King understood that we’re accountable to an eternal notion of what’s right. They were willing to go to jail for their principles. That made them criminals.
It didn’t make them wrong.
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