Law and Order

Tonight I was watching an episode of Law and Order when a thought stuck me. Before I get into the thought, however, let me set the scene a little.

First of all, I believe Law and Order to be the last TV series written for those of us older than 10. It is about the only series which actually requires more than 3 seconds of thought to even attempt a solution to the crime. And it is one of the last "gory" kinds of shows that does not believe it necessary to show guts oozing, blood spurting, and heads being blown-apart with slow motion bullets. Law and Order leaves some things to that old-fashioned thing ... what was it called ... I remember ... the imagination.

What I saw tonight was an episode in which a deranged young man had taken a hostage and was holding her at knife point in a store. A police negotiator was unable to gain any headway with him so he exited the scene informing the Detectives in charge the criminal wanted a lawyer immediately or he would kill the hostage.

There were no defense lawyers on scene so the police asked if the Assistant District Attorney on scene would try to talk him into surrendering. She agreed. In gaining his surrender she failed to notify him she was in fact an Assistant District Attorney. He eventually surrendered after confessing, but his real defense attorney tried to get dismissal of the charges claiming the D.A. had mislead the poor boy by not informing him she was not his lawyer and that she was in fact a prosecutor.

She did commit an ethical violation and a violation of the commandment which says, "thou shalt not bear false witness." In the process of investigation charges were brought against the A.D.A., for violation of the ethical code of the State Bar of New York. She was found guilty on these charges. It appears that civil courts still maintain that withholding the whole truth, telling half-truths, intentionally misleading our "neighbor" - in this case a criminal - is in fact an ethical violation and a crime punishable under the law.

O.K., back to my thought. American Law is enmeshed with the Biblical law given to Moses known as the Ten Commandments.  In those commandments are such things as don't murder, don't commit adultery, (still valid in some states) but more pertinent to my story, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against they neighbor." People sometimes still have to say "so help me God," when they testify in court. And right here is where my thought blossomed. Lying in an American Court is an accountable ethical violation designed to insure the integrity of our system of Justice.

Isn't it so that the system of worship espoused in the Bible is also based on an accountable system of ethical standards designed to insure the integrity of our contact with God? Jesus said "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Mat 5:17)

My question, then, is this: How it is that so many preachers believe the "ends justify the means" when it comes to supposedly "winning lost souls" for Christ? Osteen tells his audience they can be saved by repeating a prayer at the end of his "motivational speech" in his "Church." Schuller has convinced thousands they are saved all the while hiding from them the fact that hell does exist, thereby hiding the possibility of spending eternity there is real. These kinds of people believe nothing is achieved by telling people the whole story of the Gospel. Couldn't it be said that even what we consider inconsequential little things, which may mislead the lost into something about which they do not know the whole truth,  are ethical violations of God's law? I think so.

But, hey what do I know. I'm not a lawyer nor a preacher. I just think it wrong to tell someone they can be assured of their salvation and know they are on their way to heaven because they repeated a prayer sometime, somewhere, without informing them that scripture says insurance of salvation is evident through a changed life, not just saying they "accept Christ as savior." (Is 43:11) Moreover, whatever happened to telling the lost about the concept of "repentance." (Mk 2:17)

Maybe those who withhold vital information don't understand God's ethical  law. They should watch Law and Order.  They might actually learn something.