Lawmakers' Foolish Belief in the Cure-All of Law
17 Dec 2005
With his town’s cemeteries full and environmental laws forbidding a new cemetery, the mayor of Biritiba Mirim, a town located on the “green-belt” of Brazil’s rich farmland, has outlawed death. Mayor Roberto Pereira da Silva has demanded residents to “take good care of [their] health in order not to die.” Although he has promised to hold all “infractors…responsible for their acts,” the good mayor has not yet explained how he plans to punish the dead for breaking his law.
Apparently, Mayor da Silva is like many American lawmakers in that he believes manmade laws are the solution to every problem, even the problem of death. If national and international laws were really capable of eradicating all of our problems then the voluminous laws of man would have created a problem-free world long ago. Yet, despite man’s innumerable laws the world’s problems continue unabated. Likewise, despite Mayor da Silva’s outlawing of death the residents of Biritiba Mirim will continue to die until all of them, including the mayor himself, are proven lawbreakers.
“And as it is appointed unto men, once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
Don Walton
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