You will live by some set of rules

Star Parker's latest Townhall column gets right to the point. Two paragraphs in, she offers an excerpt from George Washington's 1796 Farewell Address as the only antidote we need to the problem of sexual harassment in the public sphere:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. ... And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be managed without religion."

Atheists, secular agnostics and other such modern types will no doubt roll their eyes at the employment of the president's statement as contemporary guide for a healthy America.

But the fact is that we will all wind up following some set of rules:

Society, all human life, is guided by rules. The only question before us is: What are the rules that we choose to live by?

Washington's point is crucial. In a free society, one in which we want to minimize government and political control, we must maximize self-governance. Religion, and the morality that emerges from it, provides the rules by which free men and women govern their own behavior. 

Parker says that there are only two alternatives to the rules Washington endorses: trying to live without rules, which, experience shows, leads to utter chaos and the reversion of the human species into just another type of brute creature in the animal kingdom, or rules imposed by the state. The latter is bound to work out nearly as badly as the lack of rules. Human beings, being fraught with foibles and impulses that lead to arbitrary impositions of behavior control, are bound to come up with rules that no one except those with ultimate power will like. As Parker points out, such rules are already leading to the eradication of romance and even natural friendliness in our society.

I've said before that I came to my faith walk kicking and screaming. I'm an old rock and roller from the depths of the countercultural trenches. When presented with the notion that I need to submit - to God or anyone or anything - a snarl would form on my face.

But my perspective is finally widening. I'm in an eight-week Tuesday-evening discussion group based on the materials in Andy Stanley's Starting Point, a book and video series for those either new to Christian faith, or returning to it after a hiatus of whatever length. The third chapter has to do with rules; in fact, that's the title. It makes the point that rules are inherent in any relationship. That's even going to be the case in the stone-cold relationship between the individual and the leviathan state. Now, consider the opposite arrangement: rules established by God because, like a loving parent, He wants to see us do well and live joyfully.

God's rules have the added benefit of being inescapable. People can and do escape from dictatorships. It's even possible to fudge the rules in a representative democracy. But consequences for either heeding or rebelling against God's rules are unavoidable. That's because they are a product of the way the universe is arranged, an arrangement that has to include free will in order for our reciprocation of God's love to be authentic. "Don't let your behavior be driven by lust" is a rule of the same order as "always hold mommy's hand when crossing the street." It's designed to keep you out of danger.

Again, we can see that there is no substitute for Him and His design for this universe. Any other approach falls short sooner or later.

This concludes today's public safety announcement.