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We hear much these days about law—of which in our culture no one is above! Law is the bedrock of civilization. Law directs government. Law says yes or no. Law protects civilization from chaos. But law is not natural.

 Laws don’t just suddenly appear. They rise up from a blur of recognized and unrecognized beliefs and assumptions that begin to fill the mind even before birth and continue until the final darkness, and from those of which we are aware and decide to mutually support, we derive laws which shape and guide and protect our lives.  Laws are the glue of civilization. For various reasons and causes we identify certain behaviors, gather words to describe them, decide to enforce them, prescribe penalties when people do not behave accordingly, and, lo, we have laws. And we say that laws are for everybody. No one is above the law. 

We have, then, a government of law, but there are many dangers. Two related present grave threats to our system of laws and penalties are (1) The intentional disregard of the law for political and financial gain by those who are in a position to do so, and (2) the widespread acceptance of moral relativity, the belief that morality and ethics depend on the situation, that each one decides for themselves what is right or wrong, and that sincerity is the greatest virtue. Regrettably, (2) encourages (1).

Note: Those who do not obey the law are called criminals, although on the American frontier those who did not follow the law were more often called outlaws rather than criminals! Interesting.