Why are we SO interested in law and order?
Especially, since it is often Christians who seem to lead this charge (though the Christian element less and less looks like what we thought it did). Americans, in general, are armed to the teeth now. Is that why you can almost smell the fear involved in this preoccupation? Are we afraid and therefore armed, or armed and therefore afraid?
I’m not saying that law and order is not important or has no benefits — certainly it does, especially socially. But, the obsession with it, especially when promoted by certain groups of people, is conspicuous and reveals a real lack of something — like a false belief that if we could just have it or maintain it, we would be fine.
And, clearly, that is not true. There is still a huge gap between conformity (and even obedience) and...love.
There are very significant reasons why there is so much in the biblical Old Testament after the Pentateuch (law). God was interested in far more than compliance, even noting (at length sometimes) that God really wants something more than the mere offering of sacrifices, which again we tend to see primarily as the 'orderly' payment of penalties.
But, it is true that this something more IS much more difficult to manage or control. So, perhaps this is why we prefer the simplicity of even rudimentary collective calls for law-and-order (or, we could just shoot them...you know, the disorderly).
Really, though, where is the ideology (if not the expression) of love these days?
...finish here.
