legislating morality

The original intent of the concept "You cannot legislate morality" was to convey the idea that passing a law prohibiting a particular kind of activity would not necessarily eliminate such activity. The point of the phrase was that laws do not ipso facto produce obedience to those laws. In fact, on some occasions the legal prohibition of certain practices has incited only greater violation of established law. "Prohibition" is an example.

The contemporary interpretation of legislating morality differs from the original intent. Instead of saying the government cannot legislate morality, it says the government may not legislate morality...

If we take this kind of thinking to its logical conclusion, we leave the government with little to do. If the government may not legislate morality, its activity will be restricted to determining the colours of the state flag, the state flower, and perhaps the state bird. (But even questions of flowers and birds may be deemed "moral" as they touch on ecological issues, which are ultimately moral in character.)

The vast majority of matters that concern legislation are, in fact, of a decidedly moral character. The regulation of murder, theft, and civil rights are moral matters. How a person operates his automobile on the highway is a moral issue since it touches on the well-being of fellow travellers.

- R. C. Sproul, How Can I Know God's Will?

of course, what should or should not be legal is a separate issue altogether.

the question is not whether the government can legislate morality. the government not only can legislate morality, but does legislate morality. rather, the question is how the government should legislate morality.

the justification debate

A Christianity Today Primer

links: thoughts on the justification debate (1 jul 09), justification and relationships (2 jul 09)

even more on calvinism and middle knowledge

in a previous post, more on calvinism and middle knowledge, i wrote that:

1. according to molinism, man is libertarianly free in God's middle knowledge and libertarianly free in God's free knowledge.

2. according to classical calvinism, man is compatibilistically free in God's middle knowledge and compatibilistically free in God's free knowledge.

3. according to moderate calvinism, man is libertarianly free in God's middle knowledge and compatibilistically free in God's free knowledge.

looking back, i realise that the terms 'libertarianly free' and 'compatibilistically free' are misleading because they carry excess philosophical baggage.

[to be 'libertarianly free' is to be free from internal and external causal determination, while to be 'compatibilistically free' is to be free from external (but not internal) causal determination.]

to this end, i would like to revise my position on molinism, classical calvinism and moderate calvinism.

i now hold that:

1. according to molinism, man is libertarianly free in God's middle knowledge and libertarianly free in God's free knowledge.

- able to resist God's will of command in God's middle knowledge
- able to resist God's will of decree in God's middle knowledge
- able to resist God's will of command in God's free knowledge
- able to resist God's will of decree in God's free knowledge ('open theism')

[God's will of command is what He commands us to do, while God's will of decree is what He decrees we will do in the best possible world. for example, God did not command man to eat the forbidden fruit - just the opposite! at the same time, God decreed that the best possible world is one in which man will freely eat the forbidden fruit.

of course, i don't know why the best possible world is one in which man will freely eat the forbidden fruit. but i know that the best possible world is one in which man will freely eat the forbidden fruit. if it were not so, then God would not have created this particular world in which man will freely eat the forbidden fruit.]

however, it is logically impossible for man to be able to resist God's will of decree in God's free knowledge.

2. according to classical calvinism, man is compatibilistically free in God's middle knowledge and compatibilistically free in God's free knowledge.

- able to resist God's will of command in God's middle knowledge
- unable to resist God's will of decree in God's middle knowledge ('irresistible grace')
- able to resist God's will of command in God's free knowledge
- unable to resist God's will of decree in God's free knowledge

however, the whole point of Scripture presupposing that God has middle knowledge is to affirm that man is able to resist God's will of decree in God's middle knowledge. indeed, man is able to resist God's will of decree in God's middle knowledge precisely because God's middle knowledge - by definition - is not knowledge of what WILL be, but knowledge of what WOULD be.

3. according to moderate calvinism, man is libertarianly free in God's middle knowledge and compatibilistically free in God's free knowledge.

- able to resist God's will of command in God's middle knowledge
- able to resist God's will of decree in God's middle knowledge ('resistible grace')
- able to resist God's will of command in God's free knowledge
- unable to resist God's will of decree in God's free knowledge

again, man is utterly responsible for good and evil (in God's middle knowledge) and God is utterly responsible for creating the best possible world (from His perspective and in His free knowledge), working good and evil 'for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV).

links: calvinism and middle knowledge (12 oct 08), more on calvinism and middle knowledge (7 jun 09)

wisdom literature

"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. For what is man's lot from God above, his heritage from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Does he not see my ways and count my every step?" - Job 31:1-4 (NIV)

"The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face." - Psalm 11:4-7 (NIV)

"For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly." - Proverbs 5:21-23 (NIV)

"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NIV)

"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." - Song of Songs 2:7 (NIV)

"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." - Song of Songs 3:5 (NIV)

"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." - Song of Songs 8:4 (NIV)

one move at a time

(click to enlarge)

Confined to a wheelchair since he was 12, national chess player Timothy Chan suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

It is one of the most severe forms of the genetic muscular disorder in which the body is unable to maintain healthy muscles.

Sitting up for long periods is exhausting for him. And because he is unable to lift his arms, the 19-year-old has difficulties doing things that most of us take for granted, such as scratching an itchy back or greeting others with a handshake.

But what his illness has taken from him, Timothy makes up for with his cheerful, optimistic demeanour and sheer grit.

Having won the 2009 National Disability League last month, Timothy will take part in the fifth Asean Para Games in Kuala Lumpur in August. He is Singapore's lone chess representative.

"It's an honour and I'm proud to be able to represent Singapore. But, at the same time, I definitely feel the pressure as I'll be playing on an international level for the first time," said Timothy, who learnt how to play chess from his elder brother, then began playing the game competitively when he was 13.

The rules in chess are the same for disabled players. The only difference, said Timothy, is that some players get help from assistants to move the pieces.

At the competitive level, an average chess game may take up to four hours. Having to concentrate for long hours can be strenuous and Timothy's medical condition makes concentrating especially difficult.

To prepare for the tournament, Timothy sits through a four-hour training session every week with the National Junior Youth Squad at the Singapore Chess Federation's headquarters in Bishan. In addition, he gets private chess training at home.

Even though he's one of the top chess players in Singapore, Timothy - who is currently waiting to enter university - doesn't think he's smarter than most.

"Many people think chess is a game for geeks and that you need to be very intelligent to play it. It's actually quite simple to learn," he said.

What he loves about chess is that it's a "game of possibilities". He particularly loves the rush of adrenalin that comes with getting into a winning position.

More importantly, Timothy said, the game allows him to pit his wits against those of other players - able-bodied or not.

"Chess is a mind sport that I can compete on an equal level with everyone else," he said. "That's very exciting for me!"

For more information on the Singapore Chess Federation, visit http://www.singaporechess.org.sg/.

don't waste your life

For me as a boy, one of the most gripping illustrations my fiery father used was the story of a man converted in old age. The church had prayed for this man for decades. He was hard and resistant. But this time, for some reason, he showed up when my father was preaching. At the end of the service, during a hymn, to everyone's amazement he came and took my father's hand. They sat down together on the front pew of the church as the people were dismissed. God opened his heart to the Gospel of Christ, and he was saved from his sins and given eternal life. But that did not stop him from sobbing and saying, as the tears ran down his wrinkled face - and what an impact it made on me to hear my father say this through his own tears - "I've wasted it! I've wasted it!"

This was the story that gripped me more than all the stories of young people who died in car wrecks before they were converted - the story of an old man weeping that he had wasted his life. In those early years God awakened in me a fear and a passion not to waste my life. The thought of coming to my old age and saying through tears, "I've wasted it! I've wasted it!" was a fearful and horrible thought to me.

- John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

as i approach my 23rd birthday, my biggest regret is not becoming a Christian earlier in my life. although i can't point to the exact moment when i became a Christian, i don't think i became a Christian until i was nearly 20 (sometime before i got baptised in apr 06). looking back, it feels like i've wasted the first 20 years of my life.

at the same time, i thank God that regardless of my regret, this particular world is the best possible world (from His perspective and in His free knowledge), and that despite my best efforts to waste the first 20 years of my life, 'there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death' (Romans 8:1-2, NIV).

i don't know why the past has turned out the way it has. i don't know why the present is the way it is. i don't even know what the future holds. but going mysteriously forward, i know that 'in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV).

*****

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." - Acts 17:24-27 (NIV)

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near." - Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)

"As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation." - 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 (NIV)

Time is very precious, because when it is past, it cannot be recovered. There are many things which men possess, which if they part with, they can obtain them again. If a man have parted with something which he had, not knowing the worth of it, or the need he should have of it; he often can regain it, at least with pains and cost. If a man have been overseen in a bargain, and have bartered away or sold something, and afterwards repents of it, he may often obtain a release, and recover what he had parted with.

But it is not so with respect to time. When once that is gone, it is gone forever; no pains, no cost will recover it. Though we repent ever so much that we let it pass, and did not improve it while we had it, it will be to no purpose. Every part of it is successively offered to us, that we may choose whether we will make it our own, or not. But there is no delay. It will not wait upon us to see whether or not we will comply with the offer. But if we refuse, it is immediately taken away, and never offered more. As to that part of time which is gone, however we have neglected to improve it, it is out of our possession and out of our reach.

- Jonathan Edwards, The Preciousness of Time and the Importance of Redeeming It

my soul thirsts for the living God

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God." - Psalm 42:5-6a (NIV)

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
Why do you doubt, O my soul?
Place your hope in God, O my soul
For I will be glad

My soul thirsts for the living God
My soul thirsts for You alone
My soul thirsts for the living God alone

My soul thirsts for the living God
My soul thirsts for You alone
My soul thirsts for the living God alone

Praise, praise
I lift my voice and raise, praise
I sing of Your amazing grace
To the living God
To You my living God

My heart longs for the living God
My heart longs for You alone
My heart longs for the living God alone

I cry out to the living God
I cry out to You alone
I cry out to the living God alone

Praise, praise
I lift my voice and raise, praise
I sing of Your amazing grace
To the living God
To You my living God

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

Praise, praise
I lift my voice and raise, praise
I sing of Your amazing grace
To the living God
To You my living God

Praise, praise
I lift my voice and raise, praise
I sing of Your amazing grace
To the living God
To You my living God
To You my living God
To You my living God

even more on common grace and saving grace

"I [Jesus] have spoken to you [Nicodemus] of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" - John 3:12 (NIV)

believing in earthly things is a necessary but not sufficient condition for believing in heavenly things. it is possible to believe in earthly things without believing in heavenly things, but it is not possible to believe in heavenly things without believing in earthly things.

those who do not believe in earthly things not only do not, but CANNOT believe in heavenly things.

links: common grace and saving grace (27 aug 08), more on common grace and saving grace (18 may 09)

reasonable faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

the opposite of faith is not reason. indeed, reason is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for faith. rather, the opposite of faith is sight.

"We live by faith, not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)

comparisons

If I set the sun beside the moon,
And if I set the land beside the sea,
And if I set the town beside the country,
And if I set the man beside the woman,
I suppose some fool would talk about one being better.

- G. K. Chesterton