Is the Drug War a Second Prohibition?
The drug war, so called, has become a fixture in the news cycle as every city, county, federal agent, cop, detective, undercover agent, or agency hack of whatever stripe, has stacked up his career arrest record picking up anybody that has a bit of weed or a little package of naughty powder stuffed under a seat. This is a war alright, but for what precisely are we fighting? More importantly, what Biblical principle are we attempting to enforce?
If there is anything we can understand clearly from Biblical law it is this: that for anything to be a crime punishable by civil penalty it must be a sin. Sin is a violation of God’s law (Romans 7:7 and surrounding scripture make this sparklingly clear). It is God’s law that defines sin for us. Nothing else can. Without the law we would have no knowledge of sin. With God’s law we have a concise and complete definition. God has not asked us to add to His list other ideas we think important. We are not mini-gods who are supposed to be dreaming up a few more good items to forbid or new ways to punish. God has defined all those things as He saw fit. He has not changed the principles for righteousness. Somehow we have allowed this drug war to convince us otherwise.
We ought also to note that not every sin God names is punishable by civil means. Many sins are simply to be repented of by the individual, but not punished by the state. You shall not covet does not carry a jail sentence or a fine under the Law of Moses. A failure to tithe did not merit any civil punishment, though God Himself could choose to go after you. A failure by a farmer to leave food for the gleaners was a sin, but the government could not punish that farmer. Hence, we may learn that we also, our civil governments, ought not punish every behavior we find obnoxious. This lesson is hard learned now because the government views itself as do we, effectively, as the god of our time. We no longer look to the God of the Bible as our living God of law, grace, and life. Rather, we view the civil government in that role. We think that morality and law ought to come from the government without reference to the Creator of the universe. His opinion is outdated, but our opinions are wisdom incarnate in legislatures of sinful men.
As I look through my Bible I find nothing whatever in God’s law forbidding the ownership of any type of plant or mineral. I see that God declared everything He made, “very good” (Genesis 1:31). This being the case I am wondering how it is that the things God declared as very good can be construed by man to be irrevocably evil. Ye olde hemp plant was created good , even very good, but now is so dreaded as a focus of moral evil that if you are found to have one growing wild on your farm the government can seize your land and never give it back. This is somehow construed to be more just than allowing that plant to do whatever God intended it to do in its natural state. If you cultivate this plant that God declared very good, you could spend years in a steel-barred gaol wondering when you might see the light of day. All of this is supposed to be for the enhancement of public morality. Yet, these treatments rudely violate multiple precepts of God’s law. This would be the same law scripture declares to be God’s perfect law, wonderful law, and other complimentary terms which would be mere flattery, except they are true. If we simply assume that God is right, and that He is right about everything, we will come to better behavior everywhere, including in our civil government.
It has been argued that legalizing these plants that God has called very good would surely lead to rampant crime, thefts and murders awash as these sellers of very good plants foist them on unsuspecting humanity. Seemingly, no one has noticed that the actual law of God punishes theft (the thief must re-pay 2-4 times the value of what he stole?Exodus 22:7) and murder (capital punishment?Numbers 35:31). For causes unknown these stripes are deemed insufficient or perhaps unwise. Rather, we are convinced it is of a superior logic to convict our citizens of crimes that are not crimes and give them punishments that are not righteous punishments. Why then, is it these purported malefactors we consider mad? How is it that they are the demons and we are the angels? It is a system run crazy.
This war we are fighting is more a war against the God of heaven than it is a war against violators of His law. As a nation we hate His law. We hate the idea that our Creator defines good and evil and that we do not. Our hearts have risen up to the heavens demanding to be as gods in our own right. We lust for the power to create and enforce law on our self-appointed standards. We will set the measure. We will establish righteous bounds. We will be our own god, while the Maker of all things is shoved to the outskirts of society. Our arrogance must astonish even the angels. Yet, for us, our behavior feels blithely normal. This should scare us all.
Biblical law establishes boundaries for liberty. This is the way God’s law always works. The forbidden behaviors are named. They are the definition of sin. In all else we have liberty from God Himself. This terrifies sinful men. We imagine dark evils unnamed in Scripture and make lists. We forbid what God has not mentioned or even what He calls very good.
It was the Pharisees and scribes who asked Jesus (here we land with both feet in the New Testament),
Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders?
Jesus’ response?
Rightly did Isaiah prophecy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.’ But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.
Those Pharisees we deride as hypocrites? We have become them. We are the hypocrites who neglect the commandments of God (restitution, capital punishment) and hold to the traditions of men. We are the ones.
This drug war is phase two of the unBiblical Prohibition foisted on the nation by religious Progressives early in the last century. The Progressives were religious liberals who thought they could improve society by banning that which God never banned in His law. Their battle against all alcohol was particularly ludicrous when we read in Deuteronomy 14:26 that God’s chosen people (that would be the church according to the New Testament) were to use their tithe money to buy wine or strong drink for their celebrations. In the New Testament the Lord they purportedly were following, used wine in an ordinance of the church, but to aberrant churchmen, serving grape juice, made us believe that wine without alcohol was something other than an oxymoron. The absurdity could make you run straight up the wall but the church latched unto it like a hungry crappie on a minnow. Now, here we are, roughly 40 years into the drug war, with no progress and a litany of lost freedoms and innocent lives ruined as the consequence.
We really do need to stop this madness. Our brethren often express fear that a return to God’s law as the standard for society will be oppressive or cruel. There is an assumption that our own invented statutes will be superior, granting greater liberty. This is a false dream. The laws of man quickly become cruel and are by definition unjust. They do not promote liberty nor do they build up the kingdom of God. They are in fact a hindrance to the progress of His kingdom. Those of us who have supported these unbiblical laws ought to change our direction and repent. We are the Pharisees if we do not. The Pharisees were consumed with special washings of cups and bowls while forgetting the laws God had given them. They held to the traditions of their elders but rejected the Biblical law of liberty. We must end this immoral drug war and return to God’s law as our standard everywhere. Our liberty hangs in the balance.
For Christian Culture,
Don Schanzenbach 2-16-13
Suspender Man™, Don Schanzenbach, has long been an outspoken advocate of recapturing culture for Christ. He holds a MA in applied Biblical studies and a doctorate in applied theological studies in the field of political philosophy and government from New Geneva Seminary. He has been thinking, writing and speaking on Christian culture for two decades.
Amen Don! Unity through the Church would be a great start for Christians. It look like what it boil down to…again…. is another way our government to control its populous.
Amen!
Lex talionis is another aspect of Yahweh’s law that provides part of the solution for America’s unbiblical war on drugs. The following is excerpted from Chapter 27 “Amendment 18: Prohibition: Repealed for Good Reason” of “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective” at http://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/BlvcOnline/biblelaw-constitutionalism-pt27.html:
“…Because Yahweh’s law does not altogether prohibit alcohol or drugs, the answer is not to make them illegal as the Eighteenth Amendment (and church edict) did. Just as Amendment 18 was inept at controlling alcoholic consumption, so are current drug regulations. Responsible use should be promoted by punishing only those who cause harm to another person or his property. For example, instead of attempting to curb drunk driving by prohibiting excessive alcohol consumption, any drunk driver convicted of causing or contributing to the death of an innocent person should be put to death or forced to pay whatever the next of kin requires as ransom for his life. If the injured or disabled party does not die, the convicted felon (instead of an insurance company) should be compelled to pay for medical expenses and financial compensation for lost wages during convalescence. This compensation should be in addition to an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or the required ransom. If the perpetrator cannot pay the required compensation, he is to be indentured until his debt is paid. Lex talionis not only promotes personal responsibility, it eliminates the need for the insurance industry.
“Man’s efforts to control alcohol and drug abusers have been wholly ineffective. When Yahweh’s law is enforced and convicted murderers are put to death, society never suffers from repeat offenders after someone is killed as the result of drunken carelessness. If someone is killed, injured, or disabled as the consequence of another person’s irresponsible use of drugs, the punishment should correspond to the death, injury, or damage to the victim and their property. Today’s ineffective drug and alcohol laws have, in many instances, made criminals out of people who have hurt no one but themselves. This has forced innocent taxpayers to pay for the housing, feeding, and entertaining of people who should never have been imprisoned. Yahweh’s law makes people personally responsible for their actions, and His judgments substantially reduce both premeditated crime and careless disregard for the lives and property of others. A downsized and smaller government is an additional benefit of lex talionis. Federal agencies such as OSHA, the FDA, and the FAA are superfluous under Biblical law….”
Ted, you made the statement that “lex talionis…eliminates the need for the insurance industry.” Can I assume you are referring only to insurance in this scenario, but not insurance in general. Logically, if insurance does not apply in drunk driving cases where an innocent person is hurt or killed, then it should not apply to any auto accident which results in harm to another person. If this line of thought were followed, it would override any legal requirement that drivers, drunk or not, carry minimum auto insurance or any insurance at all.
It used to be that way. I can remember when Pennsylvania passed no-fault legislation requiring everyone to carry a minimum amount of insurance. This took the burden of restitution off the shoulders of the “perpetrator” and loaded it onto everyone else. In essence, this forced innocent parties to pay for someone else’s crime, which is totally unbiblical.
Roger,
Numbers 5: 5 – 7.
The one that causes the damage is to make the restitution, not contract out the liability for the damage to an insurance company.
Having insurance for liability would be a violation His Law’s INTENT, i.e., the requirement of strict liability and, therefore, a violation of that law.
“The intention of the lawmaker constitutes the law.”
Well thought out and very nice to see such common sense. America holds more people in cages then the entire world combined… how is that moral? How is that just? The drug war in itself has failed and if anything government should acknowledge this failure and end it. As with alcohol prohibitions of the past, more crime is created though the war on drugs then anything good is achieved. Parents need to take control of the family again and teach principles to their children they would like to encourage. The state is not a effective lesson teacher. Thank you for thinking outside the box. – Jenna
This is an excellent commentary on a legal system gone mad. The times, they are a’changing, however as more and more states (Colorado, Washington, et al.) seek to nullify these unjust, dictatorial laws handed down from the Feds.
Every crime is a sin, but not every sin is a crime, as you say. I would define a crime as an action by a person that causes harm to another person. No harm, no crime. This is admittedly a libertarian position, but it fits in well with biblical principle.
Unfortunately, there is a vast amount of money to be made by keeping drugs illegal. The love of money is the root of all evil. Everyone from prison administrators to prosecutors to judges to police officers to politicians to bureaucrats, etc., stand to make a very good living out of this issue. Eventually, though, the money will run out or become worthless and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down. God speed the day.
Thanks Roger – Yes the idea of not hurting others does in some ways fit with Biblical principle. However, Biblical law also forbids a few other catagories such as crimes (deeds) that offend God by attacking His nature or His created order. Hence laws against blasphemy or against violations of some holy things. Also, the libertarians never take into account the fact that it hurts others when God’s judgments are set against immoral nations. The judgments of God in time and history, ‘hurt others’ a great deal (see Old Testament prophets). So, Biblical law is more comprehensive than what libertarians usually like. Yet, it is that very law that is the law of liberty.
Thanks for your comments
A very excellent and great article, very biblical.