Am I listening to the latest cable news show? This sounds like the last dozen news feeds that popped up on my phone. This could not be more relevant. Hosea wrote quoting God Himself, “Even though I gave them all my laws, they act as if those laws don’t apply to them.” (Hosea 8:12) I like the way the NASB puts it. “Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My law, they are regarded as a strange thing.” Applicability of law and double standards of the law is front page news. I hardly know where to begin. Israel was the only nation on the face of the earth who was given their laws, might I say constitution, directly by God Himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Other nations, including the USA may derive their laws in part from these commandments, but Israel, as a nation, is unique in the history of the world regarding the origin of their law. Yet they acted as if the very law given specifically to them did not apply to them. This is unbelievable. If these laws didn’t apply to them, then to whom did they apply?
Let’s talk about double standards. Pundits speak of a two-tiered justice system. This is when at the courthouse the law being applied on the first floor is different than the law being applied on the second floor. People on both sides of the political aisle argue that when they are caught doing something wrong that the law that is applied to them is different from the law applied to their political opponent. It is also argued by the common man that the laws that are applied to them are not the same as the laws applied to the politician. It is also argued by a certain race of people that the justice system uses a different set of standards for them than the standards used for other races of people. In essence everyone is arguing that the justice system is not fair, equitable, and equally applied. But most feel like they deserve to be exempted from being prosecuted for breaking a law because somehow that law doesn’t apply to them. This drives me crazy.
I spoke to a lawyer friend of mine yesterday and asked him how the legal business was going. He litigates civil cases. He replied that he was busier than ever because it seems everyone has a lawsuit. People are “sue crazy.” But think about it. Why are so many people being sued? It is because the one being sued either thinks they are falsely accused or that a certain law does not apply to them. I thought, “Why can’t people just do the right thing?” If you break it, you own it. If you run the red light, admit it and pay the fine. If you violate a contract, admit it and make it right. If you defame someone, admit it and seek forgiveness. But don’t argue that the traffic laws, the covenant laws, and the defamation laws don’t apply to you.
Is it just me or does it seem that in the arena of politics laws get applied these days based on which party is the prosecutor and which is the defendant? It shouldn’t matter who sits in the attorney general’s seat or who serves on the Supreme Court. We are more outraged when someone else does wrong than when we do the same thing. I say their crime is inexcusable while I say that you just don’t understand why I had to do the same thing. Let me mention one that makes my blood boil. Congress has a fund, created with my tax dollars, that is used to pay off those bringing lawsuits for sexual misconduct. So, a congressman or congresswoman can sexually harass a staffer and instead of being charged with a crime and prosecuted like I would be if I did that to an employee or parishioner can dip into a fund that contains my money to pay the staffer to keep quiet about it, and even have them sign a non-disclosure agreement. Every member of Congress knows this is happening, but they cannot get enough votes to eliminate this practice. The very body of men and women who make laws that I must abide by gives themselves an exception to those very same laws. “They act as if those laws do not apply to them.”
The fact that someone else who did what you did and was not prosecuted is not a defense for what you did. However, this fact is the basis for a new charge of indictment of a system where justice is administered on some basis other than application of the law. A system that is two-tiered should be indicted for corruption. The solution is not to let you go just because someone who did what you did was let go. The solution is to stop letting people go who violate the law regardless of who they are. The Supreme Judge of the Universe is watching all of this, and He will convene His court one day.