What happens when law is left up to popular opinion?
Compare the alternative in this week’s Truth in Two (2 min vid + text)
#12 in our Summer 2024 series, “With What Will You Replace It When It’s Gone?”
Dr. Mark Eckel is Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration at Liberty University. Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website) and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video).
Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
In last week’s Truth in Two I showed the difference between the American Declaration of Independence and the French document The Declaration of the Rights of Man. The American document clearly premised its view of human life and authority on a Transcendent standard, a law outside of human government. The French document gave authority over human life to government, controlled by people. The result of the French Revolution was a system of law based on the popular opinion at any given moment.
The idea of what is popular, current, in-vogue, or culturally relevant in changing times is what some call “relativism.” What may be right or wrong, good or bad is decided by authorities who based their standards on the opinion of the populace. The alternative to relativism is having an absolute standard by which to judge ideas and action. In our summer series, “What will you replace it with when it’s gone?” we need to consider the importance of maintaining a consistent, dependable, universal basis for law. In the book of Proverbs, the word “law” meant the eternal law of God, coming out of the Mosaic law of the Hebrews. God’s authority is clear. We should not base law on the arbitrary whim of public opinion or what may be convenient for a given time.
Accordingly Proverbs 28:7 states, “The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding.” To “keep” something meant to guard and protect it, to preserve it for generations to come. As we come toward the end of our series, it is imperative to say, that the question I have raised is a call to preserve the good ideas that have been given to us. We should not place our trust in what is popular but in what is permanent. For the Comenius Institute, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, Executive Director of the Center for Biblical Integration at Liberty University, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.