Monday, October 11, 2010

Rules....Who NEEDS Them?

Was talkin' w/ a friend the other day about her family's orchard - such an incredibly beautiful corner of creation.  I was sad to learn of so many new rules & regulations the Department of Health has instituted that drastically affect how business is done on this family farm &  who knows how many others like it. Things like...

- No jackets can be hung on the trees. (Go figure!...there's really a law on the books for that?!)

- No one not employed on the farm is allowed to even walk thru' it. (But this is private property)

- Wild animal feces must be monitored. (Every time the person in charge of this fun job finds something, it is to be written in a book. We're talkin' acres and acres of land here! ...& when you think about it, it's really fertilizer of the most natural/organic kind.)

And she told me how the laws in our state work. If her father hires an employee & said employee does something out of anger - say he throws a bucket & it hits someone - her father could be held responsible bc he hired him in the first place - tho' he's not even allowed to do a CORY/background check  bc that's "discriminatory" - so he'd have no way of knowing if someone even had "anger management issues" to begin with. (On a side note - churches are required to do CORY checks on anyone who works w/ children...)

Laws like these - & countless others - are what's gonna put family businesses out of business! Seems every time there's an issue they make a new law to "protect society" with little regard for how it will impact those who are least likely to be found guilty of related infractions to begin with. So let me ask you - who is really being punished here?   

I shared about all the rules at the high school. Virtually every minute of every day is scheduled - & montitored (security cameras everywhere) & the long list of things the kids "can't do" causes the "can do list" to pale in comparison (does this sound like prison to anyone?)  -- but evenso, you should see what kids get away with!! Playmaker isn't attending there now - & one of her old teachers recently said to her something to the effect that it must be nice for her not to have all those silly rules to follow  ...  and the truth is that one of the things she enjoys most about taking her classes at the university is ... her newfound freedom!  


We like to think we live in a "free society" where all are presumed innocent until proven guilty - but with each new rule of law, the innocent & conscientious pay penalties  & suffer consequences that were never intended to apply to them. Before we know it .... their hands are tied - and the offenders  (the guy who threw the bucket!) aren't even held responsible for their own actions.

There's something very wrong with this picture. For starters, it's upside down & backwards! When I look at God's perfect law and read of things as they should be, it all makes much more sense. Here, take a peek... 


46Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather,
through the law we become conscious of sin.

13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other,
watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.


18The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.


25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.



1 comment:

The 4 Bushel Farmgal said...

We ELECT these people and PAY them to look after our best interests. Instead, it looks like they are putting shackles on us.
Luke 11:46 really caught my attention. Very appropriate.