Does the existence of laws indicate the failure of humanity to live in harmony?
Any type of law shows what to do and the opposite. The other
thing some law show is how a bad thing is done and prohibits it from being
done. From the Ten commandments, Sharia law to the laws and rules we follow in
our respective societies all reflects our failure to live in harmony. From
constitutions to civil laws and criminal laws, they all remind us our failure
to live in harmony.
In the book of Galatians 5:18, say’s ’But if you are led by
the Spirit, you are not under the law.’’[1]
For the believers, the spirit, I mean the holly one, tells believers to do
good. Initially if you do good as the holy spirit guides you to do so, you
don’t need the law.
Any society, or nation, says that they uphold law and order,
if things are otherwise, politicians use a common slogan of bringing back law
and order if things are shabby. And in times of peace the same people say that
they will keep and protect the law and order. It looks like law is coded in the
genetics of people. But why do we always fail to establish harmonious societies?
Since the Garden of Eden, man has rebelled against God. To
help free humanity from this propensity to sin and help each of us to lead our
best lives, God handed down the Ten Commandments as a code of moral laws for us
to live by. The Ten Commandments can be divided into two parts: The first four
Commandments deal with our relationship with God, and the last six Commandments
deal with our relationship with one another. [2]
The Sixth Commandment; “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13;
1 John 3:15; Romans 13:9). The word “murder” is operative here, as the
Commandment forbids the taking of another’s life unlawfully.
The Seventh Commandment; “You shall not commit adultery”
(Exodus 20:14; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 13:9). Starting with Adam and Eve,
the Bible teaches that once a man leaves his father and mother and is united to
his wife, they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24) joined together before God (Mark
10:7-9). Committing adultery adds a third person to the marriage and, thereby,
violates the sanctity of the holy union.
The Eighth Commandment; “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15;
Ephesians 4:28; Romans 13:9). This is a prohibition against taking something
that isn’t rightfully yours. The purpose behind this Commandment is not so much
to protect our possessions but to safeguard the stability of our society. When
theft goes unpunished, people become fearful and resort to potentially violent
means to secure and retrieve what belongs to them.
The Ninth Commandment; “You shall not give false testimony
against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16; Colossians 3:9-10; Revelation 21:8). To
give false testimony against a neighbor is to knowingly lie about that person
in a way that will cause him or her harm, such as in a legal proceeding. The
importance of truthful testimony is seen in our modern judicial system, which
punishes as perjury false testimony in a legal matter.
The Tenth Commandment; “You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17;
Colossians 3:5; Romans 13:9). This Commandment calls for us to control any
longing we may have for the belongings of others. This can include a desire for
a neighbor’s physical possessions or a longing for people that form part of our
neighbor’s life. In other words, we are not to desire or set our sights on
anything that rightfully belongs to someone else. This particular Commandment
stands out because it deals with taking control of our inappropriate feelings.[3]
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall
not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other
command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment
of the law.[4]
In his speech Bishop Mattera made on August 7, 2011 to 150
political, business, and military leaders in Rwanda, including the Speaker of
Parliament, entitled How to Frame a Nation with the Law of God. He said ‘’When
laws derive from human conventions and opinions instead of from God’s law, then
a nation is vulnerable to arbitrary fiat law based on the vicissitudes of men.
This can lead to slavery or another legalized holocaust as we saw in World War
II![5] Even God’s laws were the effect of the
failures of the humankind to find a way to live is a life full of good morals.
Till today we still enact laws that always reflect those weakness of living
together in a harmonious society full of good morals. The ultimate law is the
one of loving each other. Our opinions that make up the laws and conventions we
always follow, they will have less impact if we don’t love each other.
Laws are instruments used by the executive power to exercise
their power on people. Without laws the executive power can’t be seen
legitimate in the society. In law class, there is this question that is mostly
asked. Who has the power? Is those with legislative power, the judicial power
or the executive power? The common agreed answer was the one with guns is the
one with the actual power.
Laws have actual influence in times of peace. In times of
conflicts laws have lesser influence to dictate the upcoming events. Laws
should not exist in the first place, because they reflect our failures as human
beings to live together in harmony. Even God was disappointed by humans and he
established commandments to guide us to live together in a harmonious and
peaceful environment but we failed to fully execute that assignment.
Wars, mass killings and genocides, they always leave a mark
in historical records that as humans we failed to live together in harmony.
Even in so-called peaceful times we don’t miss war tensions. Conventions as agreed
mean of preventing and punishing those atrocities also reflects, the failure of
human kind to live in a harmonious society.
When the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had put the Sadducees
to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, who was a lawyer,
asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, master, which is the great
commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment. And the
second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets.[6]
By simply loving each other removes all the commandments or laws, that reminds
us to live in harmony with each other or those that punishes us.
According to Article 12 of CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF
RWANDA on the Right to life; says that; everyone has the right to life. And no
one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his or her life. Additionally, according
to Article 13 on Inviolability of the human person, it provides that; the human
person is sacred and inviolable. And The State has the obligation to have respect
for, protect and defend the human person.[7]
This is the supreme law of the land reminding us that everyone has right to
life, and as a human being he/she is sacred and inviolable and the state has
the obligation to respect, protect and defend. By the way remember that the
state is made up of people. My question is, how did we end up codifying our
initial responsibility as human beings to live together and remind ourselves
that we should live while no one is free to eliminate the other? It is obvious
that we lost the bond of humanity, and our own laws remind us that we actually
did.
Civil laws deal with disputes between two parties, such as
property, and contract disputes, they reflect mistrust, greed and lack of
honesty. On the other hand, criminal laws that deal only with crimes and give
punishment to the person who committed any kind of crime according to the law,
they reflect the fact that we don’t respect each other’s’ lives.
On the global level we also failed to live in harmony with
each other, the example is the both world wars. Global institutions like the
United Nations which initiates international laws like, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) rose from the ashes of World War II. When it
was adopted in 1948, much of the world was still recovering from the deadliest
conflict in history, which claimed more than 60 million lives. In the aftermath
of such unprecedented death and destruction, the world turned to diplomacy to
make sure history would not repeat itself. Nations came together for the first
time to publicly declare the fundamental freedoms that belong to all of us. The
UDHR contains 30 articles outlining our most basic birthrights, including
protection against torture, inhumane treatment, cruel punishment, slavery, and
servitude. The document heralded a new chapter of human history.[8]
World War II was the failure to learn from the mistakes of World War I. Sadly
there is a projection of the World War III.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as an
international law, reflects also our failure to live together in harmony as humanity.
Itself and other laws always show that we totally learn nothing from our
mistakes.
The so-called peace treaties and conventions they only tell
us the story of our failures as humanity. As long as we have laws that guides
our behaviors and imposes us the right way to life with each other, it should
be a reminder that we failed as human beings to respect each other.
Rwanda saw this, and is doing the best it could through
initiatives of promoting mediation and plea bargaining. This is not only
reducing backlogs of cases in courts but also restoring trust among disputed
parties. As my mediation lecture who was also a judge used to say ‘’ the
importance is not who won, the importance is to see if the dispute is resolved
and the relationship is restored. Will we reach at the level where laws don’t
govern us?
[2] https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/why-did-god-have-to-give-his-people-the-10-commandments.html
[3]
Idem
[7]
Official Gazette n° Special of 04/08/2023, CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF
RWANDA, Article 12, Article 13
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