Laws of the Land

I haven't been writing very often lately. I apologize. It makes me feel bad when I see I had thirty hits in one day but nobody had a new post to read.

I don't want to forget about what I want to write about, but I also don't have the time to post it right now. So I am going to just start this thread and then come back and write it later.

The thread is going to be about obeying the laws of the land. As you would probably guess, I am not always in favor. I will explain myself though, lest you believe me to be a heretic (I am not, don't worry :)

Alright, so here is the blog:

I just don't think laws are to always be obeyed. I think they are to serve people, not the other way around.

Before people start quoting the Articles of Faith, which I agree with, I want to bring their attention to a few examples. It is clearly the belief of our people that the American Revolution was inspired by God. We broke the law and rebelled against the government of the time.

Also, there are times when people have broken the law in scripture also. Alma the Elder's people broke the laws of their captors when they were in servitude. The law was that they could not pray. So they just prayed in their hearts and not out loud--still breaking the law.

Another example can be the early polygamous leaders. They fled persecution from polygamy during the early days to avoid prosecution and persecution for something they did not believe to be wrong.

So we do believe in obeying the law, insomuch as the law does not go against anything we believe in. If it goes against something we believe in, like prayer, we do not obey.

I had this conversation at work the other day. One of my coworkers was saying that if you are required by your country to commit crimes you are not held accountable to God for those actions. I disagreed. In his example he said that if our government made a law that made it so we had to kill a certain group of people we would not be held accountable if we were part of their ranks and committed the crimes also. I adamantly disagreed. I think we would absolutely be held accountable.

The only purpose of the law is to create safety and order--that is it. I highly value these commodities that the law provide us. In fact, I obey the law in the vast majority of instances just to keep order and safety. But there are times that I do not obey the law. For instance, in Provo, Utah there is an overpass at the mouth of the Provo Canyon. I am always taking a left underneath that overpass. There is a light there that directs the traffic. If you are wanting to take a left to go West and the light is red and there are no cars you are required by law to wait it out. I just can't do that. If I am the first car there, and I KNOW that there are no cars coming and it would be IMPOSSIBLE for a car wreck to happen, I go. Kylee does not appreciate this. But I want the law to serve me, not the other way around.

I do believe in the article of faith. I believe that we are to obey the law, and I do, but there are some things that are ridiculous. I think the danger can be if we become presumptuous and think that we know situations that we really don't we can danger many people. I would have to be incredibly confidant that no cars could hit me, or I couldn't cause others to get hit, by running a light. It is a sticky subject, because we don't want to be run by the law but we also have to acknowledge that the law can help us with situations that we don't know much about. So I break the law very infrequently.