Why Does God Need Laws?
Posted by Moses on Jul 17, 2007
In an earlier post, I introduced the concept of 8 mental laws of life that govern all of our thinking and are the laws that God uses to govern our lives. Some of you might question that last statement. I’m sure that you are thinking that if God is all powerful, why does God need laws? First, God does need laws. Second, God uses laws to interact with us to provide us with consistency. Imagine if God changed how gravity worked or how an action causes a reaction? How would we function? Would we ever feel confident enough to become all that he wants us to be? I don’t think that we would.
We are all on this great journey to better ourselves. God sets the stage by providing the laws that make life possible. He has also established these 8 mental laws to set the stage for our emotional, intellectual and character development. Without laws that operate in a consistent manner we would focus on just basic survival every day rather than working to become all that we should be.
I understand our need for consistency in laws the govern our lives in a deeply personal way. As a child, my parents did not set firm rules regarding consequences for our actions. So, I never knew what consequences my actions would cause. As a result, my siblings and I grew up with constant fear of what would happen if we broke any rule not just major rules. As adults we are still learning to deal with this fear.
If my parents could cause that type of fear with their limited power, imagine what type of fear God cause in us by acting an inconsistent manner. Instead in gave us a great gift — that he would establish laws to govern how he interacts with us and that he would abide by those laws. It just goes to show you how much he loves us.
What does he ask in return? All he asks for us is to acknowledge and worship him. And even in that he gives us a choice. He doesn’t force us to acknowledge or worship him. Instead he gave us the ability to choose whether or not we would. God’s love and generosity can be overwhelming if you stop to really think about it.
The laws that govern the physical and mental aspects of our lives are gifts from God to allow us to develop and grow in a safe and consistent environment. By limiting himself, he allows us to become all that we can be. I think we should all stop and give thanks.
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“Second, God uses laws to interact with us to provide us with consistency. Imagine if God changed how gravity worked or how an action causes a reaction?”
That’s a very telling point. If the universe was fluid, and major miracles happened around us constantly then it would totally invalidate how we live our lives. We couldn’t plan, we couldn’t evaluate, we couldn’t judge.
And what kind of father would do that to his children?
Thanks for commenting Colin. It’s an amazing amount of love that God shows us by limiting his own power to make us feel safe.