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Law: Poweless, Weak



For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, (Romans 8:3a)
 

       Is there anything so clearly true in our day as that law is powerless an weakened by sinful nature? The people who are supposed to be the authorities are shown to be corrupt. The structures that are supposed to make life better either never worked at all or they are crumbling. Even if we make this purely personal, how are those new year's resolutions doing? James Madison put it well in Federalist Paper #51. "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. " Unfortunately, even at our best, we break the law and the law really can't do anything about it. It can't make us good. Punishment doesn't actually change people for the better, though sometimes, those who are punished may change themselves for the better.

         This is the reason that passing laws until we are restricted in how many breathes we take or how many thoughts may go through our minds in a minute will not work. It doesn't matter if we agree with the laws. It goes against our fallen human nature to obey them all and it goes against the nature of law to let us pick and choose. It is also in the nature of law that  there are consequences for both keeping and breaking a law.

     The consequence of breaking the law is death. Little by little, as the broken laws pile up, a person loses his humanity, his love, his compassion...all the things that make him alive. Though he may seem very much alive to us, he is more zombie than person. We see this most clearly in people like terrorists and serial killers, but it's true of all sins. Consider the glutton, whose existence revolves around food, or the alcoholic whose focus is on getting another drink, or the sexual sinner's obsession with sexual freedoms. They cease to live. Their sin animates them. Is it any wonder they fight so fiercely to hold on to their sins? Those sins make them feel alive. The law is powerless to do that.
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