God Rules

I went to Target on Tuesday to get a refund for an ink cartridge for my Epson printer.  It was defective.  For some strange reason, when I installed the cartridge, the printer refused to recognize it.  They should send I.D. with them.  I tried several fixes, such as shaking the cartridge, and re-installing it.  It didn’t work.  I quickly went out and bought another, with the intent of returning the defective cartridge another day.  Tuesday was that day.

So I marched into the Target and walked up to the customer service counter and when the clerk asked if she could help me, I responded, “Yes, I’d like to return this ink cartridge.  It is defective.  The computer refuses to recognize it.”

“I’m sorry.  We can’t give you a refund on an ink cartridge when it’s been opened.”

I said, “How can you tell it’s defective unless you open the package?”

She said, “Oh yeah, that’s kind of weird, isn’t it?  But I can only give you store credit.”

So I took my store credit and bought some dog food.  I saw the manager while going for the dog food and mentioned that not allowing people to receive refunds on open ink cartridges when they have a receipt and everything seemed kind of silly since you couldn’t tell if an ink cartridge was defective or not without opening the package.  He agreed, but said that he didn’t make the policy and that he was terribly sorry.

Rules can be like that.  Sometimes a rule, which has a good reason, can be stupid when it is enforced uniformly.  I understand that a person could, conceivably, purchase an ink cartridge, print a shit load of documents, then take the receipt and the empty cartridge back to the store and demand a refund.  But really, how often is that likely to happen?  Whatever money is saved by this policy is lost through a loss of good will with honest customers who get pissed off at the policy.  Sometimes rules can be stupid.

Take, for example, the case of the Lockerbie bomber recently released from prison.  As you know, the one and only person convicted of being involved with that atrocity has been in prison in Scotland.  He was released from prison because he is dying of cancer, soon.  When the news got out that he was being released, Americans were up in arms.  They decried it as an insult to the families of the victims.  Why?  Because the guy is going to die outside of prison?  This guy is not going off to live it up.  He is seriously ill.  He is not, I promise you, having a good time.  What would be the point of keeping him in prison?  Well, it’s a deterrent.  Really?  Do you really think that prospective terrorists are thinking that they won’t bomb that airplane because if they should so happen to get a terminal illness they won’t be released from prison?  Keeping this man in prison won’t bring back any of the victims.

From a purely practical point of view, it must be costing a bunch of money keeping him in prison.  I mean, there’s all that medical expense.  Because you can’t just keep him in a cell and let him die.  Basic human rights demand that he receive medical treatment, and that kind of medical treatment is expensive.  Sending him back home to Libya lets the Libyans pay for it.

If you think there is an issue of justice, I would have to ask you what you think justice is.  Most anti-religious people seem to believe that religion is irrational.  I would have to agree.  It seems so at times.  But how rational is justice?  Justice is, after all, an abstract idea.  If there is no God, then it would seem there is no good reason for clinging to an outmoded idea of right and wrong, of justice and injustice.  And one would have to ask on what principal the justice that demands this dying man remain in prison is based.  We believe in justice.  But we also believe in compassion.  Although I would still argue that compassion is not really as much an issue as economics.

Yes, rigid rules really wreak havoc with our reality.  In the Gospel According to Mark, Jesus is forced to deal with temple officials who object to his followers breaking with long standing traditions.

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

He summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.

“From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.

Now it is important to remember that Mark is being written for gentiles, so part of this is explaining just what the Jewish laws were.  Gentiles wouldn’t really care so much about the Jewish rules, however.  So it would appear that the point of this story is to point out that following any rule should never conflict with sharing the love of the creator.  God, according to Jesus, is not so much interested in the outward adherence to some code of conduct as S/He is in our connection to the divine spirit of love.

With rules comes judgment.  And when we sit in judgment on others, we place ourselves in a superior position.  You can’t judge someone unless you are better than that person.  Saint Paul said that we make void the word of God by our traditions.  Many of the same people who decry the release of the Lockerbie bomber also claim to be Christians.  Yet, being Christians and believing in God, you would think they would be willing to leave judgment and justice up to the Lord.  We are often like children.  We want our parents to punish our sibs when they do something wrong, but we want them to ignore our own lapses in judgment.  Banks want a government bailout, but they want to charge us 30% interest.

Perhaps Mark is telling us that we spend way too much time looking at and judging the actions of others and pay little attention to our own actions.  All rules, religious or otherwise, exist for a reason.  Every rule the Jews followed made good sense at one time.  But when rules stand in the way of simple humanity, they need to be examined and, from time to time, bent to fit the situation.

Of course, we like rules.  When we have rules, we don’t have to think.  We just look things up in the rule book.  We like simple answers.  We like things to be black and white.  Because sometimes, when things aren’t black and white, we make mistakes.  Sometimes a guilty person goes free, or gets off too easy.  But then, even when we follow rules we make mistakes.  It is estimated that at least 7% of all people on death row are innocent.  Suppose I make a rule that I will exercise every single day.  That’s great.  I’ll get strong and stay fit.  On the other hand, working out while injured or sick would be just plain stupid—and counterproductive.

The message of Jesus was that God is love.  Nothing is more important than love.  All laws and rules should flow out of love for one another.  Jesus left us with two rules only.  We should love God, and love one another.  Two rules, both rules of love.  Jesus was clear.  Following rules does not lead you to God.  Love leads you to God.  Maybe religion is irrational, but our secular humanist rules are irrational also.  I know that given the choice between justice and love, I’ll take love every time.