The Law and The Light

Well, things have really slowed down here in the cornfields. Students have turned in their final papers, and they've headed home, leaving behind only us sad folks who have to grade those final papers. Having always lived in college towns, though, I have to admit that there's something nice about this time of year when nobody is left but locals and some grad students. It's this time of year that gives a little more space for reflecting on the semester that just came to an end.

There is one class that keeps coming up in my thoughts. In this class, we were studying language, something that I'm totally interested in. Specifically, we were discussing the relationship among language, philosophy, and education. I know, it's a pretty big thing to look at with a lot of different angles to be explored.

Well, toward the end of the class, we started discussing different ideas that the class readings had brought up for us, and, in the course of discussion, the topic of hate speech came up. It's a really interesting thing to think about in relation to this class because, when we hear people saying hateful things based on race or ethnicity about other people, we want to make them stop, and we want to think of a way to teach them to not do such things anymore. And it makes us wonder if there's any way that we can stop such thoughtless, mean-spirited language from happening. Of course, we turn to the law as a means of stopping hate speech. That's something that came up in class discussion, as we sort of wondered if there was a way to legislate against hate speech.

But, we were left with a real problem. You can legislate what people say, but you can't change their hearts, what makes them say those things.

Now, I'm usually non-political, but, when it comes to seeing people hurt or suffering injustices, I would love to make rules that make all of that disappear. I don't want to see people suffer the cruelties of racism. I don't want to think about children going to unsafe schools just because there is no other option in their area of town. I don't want to think of how many people live in domestic situations in which one or both partners are physically or emotionally abusive. If I could, I would change all of that. I would create laws that got rid of all of those things, because I know that the fact that these injustices and cruelties exist make all of our lives sadder, even if they aren't things that we personally face.

The problem is that, even if I created a law that spoke to all of these problems, even if I attached to that law the stiffest penalties I could, I wouldn't change the the hearts of people. I wouldn't change the fact that people would still do those things, not because they don't understand the law or the possibility of facing penalties if they break the law, but because their hearts have not been changed.

Because all I've done is give them a new law without addressing the real problem, which is that they have not been transformed by the renewing of their minds, that this change, according to the Bible, is possible only through the transformative work of the Holy Spirit. And, that is not something that can be written into the law because the Holy Spirit, being perfect in nature, is not subject to the law. Things like love and patience, the fruits of the Spirit, have no laws against them because they are, by their very nature, good. And, this goodness brings us light by which we can understand the darkness of our hearts and finally allow the Holy Spirit to bring light to the darkest parts of our being.

Without this light, we truly are in total darkness. As is written in 1 John 2:11, "But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes." This darkness stands in complete contrast to the light which Jesus spoke of when He said,

"When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness" (John 12:44-46).

And this is why we have the Holy Spirit. As Jesus warned in John 12:35, "You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going." But, if our only hope of light was Jesus, we would have no hope of light without His presence in the world; we needed something to guide us in His absence, and that something is the Holy Spirit. It is the light of the Holy Spirit that brings us out of darkness, allows us to see the darkness of our hearts, and brings us into the light of God.

And, it is this light which gives us the ability to love, to love as God loves. To love with a love that is not self-seeking, quick to anger, or rude. And, doesn't that sort of love sound like the only kind of love that would keep us from speaking hatefully of one another? I think this kind of love is the kind of love we need, as we cannot legislate against the darkness of our hearts but can only hope to be redeemed by the One who created love as pure and holy. It is what Wittgenstein refers to as "redeeming love," a love which believes in the power of the resurrection. He writes of the transformative power of this love:

"So this can come about only if you no longer rest your weight on the earth but suspend yourself from heaven. Then everything will be different and it will be 'no wonder' of you can do things you cannot do now. (A man who is suspended looks the same as one who is standing, but the interplay of forces within him is nevertheless quite different, so that he can act quite differently than can a standing man)" (33).

Perhaps it is time to take our weight off the world, to let ourselves be suspended by heaven. Perhaps it is time to let ourselves be transformed so that we truly can be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Perhaps it's time to truly allow God to work through us so that we really can "love one another," so that His love can be made complete in us (1 John 3:12).