Diane and I have been watching Ken Burns' new miniseries on prohibition with great interest. That failed social experiment offers a teachable spiritual moment.
Laws and the threat of punishment can do some good. We might not pay our taxes were it not for threats of the law. But law can't change the heart. St. Paul says, "The good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice." (Romans 7:19). What's more, laws can create even more evil. Again, St. Paul, "Sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead." (Romans 7:8).
Jesus says, "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him, but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man." (Mark 7:15).
Not laws, not threats but the Spirit of God changes people. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."(Romans 12:2)"
Monday night an unnamed prohibition era clergyman was quoted:"Very little good has ever been done by the absolute 'shall.'"
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