Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. Oh! That my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Then I shall not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments .-  Psalm 119:4-6.                                                                                                                            

At the outset, let me state that, yes, I realize there are unjust, punitive laws established in favor of one segment of society. (e.g. Jewish laws in Nazi Germany, Sharia law, Apartheid laws in South Africa and Jim Crow laws in the southern United States.) That is not my focus here.

The point of this exercise is to discuss laws instituted for the benefit of society as a whole. Laws that take into consideration, women, children, minorities, the poor and disenfranchised. Laws that embody the spirit of “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

The reason for rules, regulations, and consequences -- men cannot be trusted to police themselves and do the right thing all the time. A law was not created in a vacuum.  The law exists because someone, at some time, acted in contradiction to the cultural norm, in a way that was detrimental to the society. Laws were not designed to make you unhappy but to keep you and everyone else safe. Think about traffic management laws, and the resulting chaos when someone disobeys the rules of the road.

 A man unsupervised and unrestrained is a risky, dangerous proposition.

We are so inclined to lawlessness that even God does not trust us to do the right thing. So he gave you the Bible, a book of laws, instructions, directions and guidance. Moreover, he sent prophets, pastors, teachers and evangelists, to warn us. Furthermore, he installed in our being a conscience, a spirit, all to keep us on track and stay on point.

We will wander off or go astray at the drop of a hat.

One of the most insane, ridiculous, impractical, intellectually pretentious statements I have ever heard was that proposed by Star Parker. She, a syndicated columnist, suggested in one of her columns, for the benefit of the country, to better the economy, all regulations  should be removed from businesses. Everything will improve if businesses can conduct themselves or proceed forward, unhindered, unfettered by onerous, burdensome regulations.

That, dear readers, is a prime example of short sighted thinking, of making a decision without considering all the angles or factors.

Keep that in mind as you continue reading.

All human beings are susceptible to go off the rails, lose their way, or fall off the deep end, without some control or restraint in their lives.

Intrinsically selfish, eminently unreliable, a man ungoverned and unregulated, will do anything to anyone at any time to satisfy his selfish desires.

Furthermore, when they act in such a cavalier, careless manner, they injure others beside themselves.

Therefore, as Ronald Reagan stated when dealing with foreign governments, everyone should, “Trust but verify.”

Sexual Conduct Unbridled

Aaron Dumas pens an advice column for the Jamaica Star of Kingston, Jamaica entitled, “Tell Me Pastor.” A reader posed the following situation to him, requesting his input:

I am 48 and my husband is 52. We have two children and we own our own home. We both have good job. I earn more than my husband but that does not cause any problems between us. I have never had any reason to suspect my husband of fooling around with the help, but recently I am beginning to feel uneasy and suspicious of his behavior with this new helper. He is particularly close to this young lady, so much so, that my kids remark that she is daddy’s second wife. I laughed about it.

 

One night I was not feeling well so I went to bed and left my husband in the living room watching television. Sometime later, I arose to make myself a cup of tea. The television was on but my husband was nowhere to be found. I looked into the bathroom and he was not there. I then tried the helper’s quarters but the door was locked and there was no answer when I called my husband. I returned to the living room and sat down.

 

After a while, my husband emerged from the helper’s room. I asked him why he was coming out of the helper’s room. He replied that he went in there to help her with something and then stretched himself across her bed and fell asleep.

 

I rushed to the helper’s room while my husband kept urging me to keep my voice down so as not to waken the children. The helper refused to answer my question whether she was having sex with my husband under my nose. She told me to ask my husband. I told her to pack her things and leave my house.

 

My husband told me that he had sex with her only once, but it turns out that it was more than once.  He had seduced the young lady to have sex regularly with him by offering extra money to her paycheck. Furthermore, he did not use a condom. From that time, my husband no longer sleeps in my bed. He sleeps on the floor.

 

At the dinner table I no longer converse with my husband, and the children realize there is something wrong, but they do not know the details. Before I left for work the next morning, the helper begged me for mercy. She told me her boyfriend would kill her if she lost her job because she had sex with her employer. I relented and told her that she could stay on.

 

I will leave you to contemplate on your reaction if faced with a similar situation.

Business and Industry Unbridled

• Volkswagen, the world’s largest car company is facing a financial and public relations disaster because of installing devices in their cars to cheat on EPA emissions test.

•  The Cadillac car company only admitted wrong doing with the malfunctioning ignition switch after a change of leadership and multiple deaths. Amazingly, the problem could have all been avoided and resolved by changing a $38 part at the very beginning of the fiasco.

• Recently in Houston, Texas, they dismantled a human smuggling ring. It was discovered they would charge exorbitant funds to smuggle poor desperate people from Mexico to the U.S. They would accept a down payment from the families in Mexico with the understanding that the balance would be paid within a certain time after arrival here in the U.S. If the agreement was not kept, their families left behind in Mexico would suffer the consequences.

• Iyanla Vanzant hosts a program on OWN, called “Iyanla Fix My Life.” One episode featured a Pastor who was secretly gay. He was married to a woman and preached against the evils of homosexual behavior in his sermons. It was revealed that all during the five-year marriage he was living on the “down low.” He had engaged in sexual relations with unknown men, whom he casually met through various sources, on five different occasions. No mention of condoms was made during the interview.

Men left alone and without oversight can be hazardous to your health and wellbeing.

The fallout from their actions can leave us with the uncertain feeling that everything we once believed is now a rickety house with a cracked foundation resting on shifting sands.

We muse to ourselves in deep regret and sorrow:

How long have they been doing it?

What else have they done?

Can I trust their word or anything they ever say again?

Obviously obeying a law in the first place is far less costly, heartbreaking and time-consuming than dealing with the consequence of disobedience and deception.

The Bible, the ultimate book on human behavior, warns us time and again, “thou shalt not sin,” for transgression will always get you into a heap of trouble.

Unbridled Lives in the Bible

Read again what happened with:

Samson who did not rein in his unconquerable, insatiable thirst for Philistine women

• David who did not control that unholy, reprehensible lust for Bathsheba, the wife of faithful Uriah, the Hittite.

• Life would have been so much easier if Adam and Eve had just obeyed the commandment to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

• Joshua was extremely astute in that he followed all the days of his life the, advice he received at the start of the conquest of the Promised Land.

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. Thou shalt mediate upon it day and night.

Seek to do everything written therein. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Then thou shalt make thine own way prosperous and thou shalt have good success.” - Joshua 1

No matter how difficult it may seem, no matter how much trouble you encounter, no matter how you feel, like Joseph and Daniel, doing things right will always land you right side up.

From this day forward, as you move onward with your life, do yourself a favor, save time, money and grief -be smart-follow all the instructions in the manual or handbook.

It will go well with thee.