*** SHOW NOTES (not fully edited or a transcript) ***

Lead:

How do you respond when someone says, “You can’t legislate morality!?”

Intro:

My theology prof, Kevin Lewis, is also a practicing attorney — and he loves to say

If you’ve been injured in a philosophy accident, I can help. ~ Kevin Lewis, JD

Here’s how this connects to our program today.

In today’s Bible segment we’re going to continue hearing the exhortations for Christian living that we started into yesterday. It will get to the nature of relationship among believers, but where we’ll begin is Paul’s discussion of a Christian’s relationship with civil government. So, as Christian ambassadors, this is as good a time as any to tackle a colloquialism that we hear out of the mouths of both non-Christians and Christians alike:

You can’t legislate morality!

As you will see, every one of us has been injured in a philosophy accident. And here’s where I could put on the radio voice and say, “It’s okay, I’m a professional. I’m here to help.” But alas, I’m just a truth-seeker like you.

With any luck, though, our All Our Minds time together today will illuminate that little phrase and equip you to go help others who have been injured, too.

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Bible:

Passage: Romans 13-14
Translation: NLT (New Living Translation)
Verses: 37
Words: ~809

All Our Minds:

The point today is simply to say, “What’s behind someone saying ‘you can’t legislate morality’ and how should we respond. It’s not to argue whether or not you can make someone moral by passing a law (no) or if law influences behavior in some cases (yes), so let me cut to the chase with an argument.

Law embodies someone’s values — the distinction of what is right or wrong to do.
Morality is someone’s values — the distinction of what is right or wrong to do.
Therefore, law embodies morality.

Did you catch that? We agree that murder is wrong, and there’s a law against it. To be sure, some laws are procedural like, say, how to get a business license, but show me ANY society that doesn’t also have laws against property crime or theft or assault or a zillion other things.

The point is this: If you have ever voted, you have legislated morality. Or more accurately, if you live in a society where someone has made a law, even if you didn’t vote or get to make that law, that society has legislated morality.

So when you’re dialoging with someone who says, “You can’t legislate morality,” what are they saying?

They could be saying that “by passing laws, we can’t stop someone from murdering someone else.” That’s not what we’re talking about today. But what they probably mean (at least in my experience) is, “It’s not right for you to pass a law that I don’t agree with.”

Assuming you want to dialogue with this person, you’ve got a two-part problem:

Part one is to challenge the assumption that laws are neutral. They are not. So you’ll have to first establish that at least some laws are expressions of morality.
The second step is to then connect the fact that laws embody morality to the what they’re saying. You could state it, but often questions are a better approach. “So you're saying it's okay to legislate the morality that you want or agree with, but it’s not okay if I want to legislate the morality that I want?”

The bottom line

Let’s be clear: The problems with saying “You can’t legislate morality” are that it’s illogical and it fails the truth-test of experiential relevance. Nobody can actually live that way. Or put another way, it’s a philosophy accident waiting to happen.

I realize today’s thought only equips you to point out their falsehood, and there’s more to conversation and relationship than that. Sometimes half of wisdom is knowing either when not to say something or what to simply not say. Don't win an argument and lose the war.

Remember this: As the soul is to the body, Christians are to the world. And we've all been given first a ministry of reconciliation.

Wisdom:

Passage: Psalm 109
Translation: NLT (New Living Translation)
Verses: 31
Words: ~509

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

Thank you for supporting this ministry should you choose to use the Amazon affiliate links below.

(1) E. Tod Twist, Barry John D., “The Remnant,” in Study Like a Pro: Explore Difficult Passages from Every Book of the Bible, ed. John D. Barry and Rebecca Van Noord (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014). (link)

Today’s translation: NLT - New Living Translation

Not cited today, but one of my faves! —> Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008).

#924: Romans 13-14 | "You can't legislate morality!" | Psalm 109