Liberating Planet Earth
by Gary DeMar by Gary DeMar
4 The Liberation of the State 105 pandemoniac. For example, in criminal prosecutions we find as long as five months spent in the selection of a jury; the same murder charge tried five different times; the same issues of search and seizure reviewed over and over again, conceivably as many as twenty-six different times; prosecutions pending a decade or more; accusations routinely sidestepped by an accused who makes the legal machinery the target instead of his-own conduct (p. 3). Where have modern secular humanistic courts failed? Fleming cites Lord Macauley’s rule: the government that attempts more than it ought ends up doing less that it should. Human law has its limits. Human courts have their limits. The law cannot be both infinitely just and infinitely merciful; nor can it achieve both perfect form and perfect substance. These limitations were well understood in the past. But today’s dominant legal theorists, impatient with selective goals, with limited objectives, and with human fallibility, have embarked on a quest for perfection in all aspects of the social order, and, in particular, perfection in legal procedure (p. 4). The requirements of legal perfection, Fleming says, involve the following hypothetical conditions: totally impartial and competent tribunals, unlimited time for the defense, total factuality, total familiarity with the law, the abolition of procedural error, and the denial of the use of disreputable informants, despite the fact, as he notes, that “the strongest protection against organized thievery lies in the fact that thieves sell each other out” (p. 5). The defenders of costless justice have adopted the slogan, “Better to free a hundred guilty men than to convict a single innocent man.” But what about the costs to future victims of the hundred guilty men? The legal perfectionists refuse to count the costs of their hypothetical universe (p. 6). The whole system procrastinates: judges, defense lawyers, prosecutors, appeals courts, even the stenographic corps (p. 71). Speedy justice is no longer a reality. Prisoners appeal constantly to federal courts on the basis of habea cor#M-s: illegal detention because of an unconstitutional act on the part of someone, anyone. In 1940, 89 prisoners convicted in state courts made such an
106 Liber&ing Ptit Earth appeal. In 1970, the figure was 12,000 (p. 27). Thus, concludes Fleming: The consequence of this expansion of fede@ power over state criminal procedure through the creation of fiat prohibitions and rigidly ritualistic rules has been to elevate formalism to constitutional right, to complicate every significant phase of criminal procedure to the point where in some instances the system of criminal law has difEculty functioning and in others it turns loose persons who are patently guilty (p. 97’). Salvation by Law The quest for perfect justice leads inevitably to arbitrary jurisprua%zce and public lawk.nsness. Joseph in Pharaoh’s jail, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Jesus on the cross all testifi to the imperfections in human courts of law. Nevertheless, godly men can live with imperfect justice, just as they live with imperfections in all other spheres of human life, because they know that perfect justice does exist and will be made manifest on the day of judgment. Life is too short to demand perfect justice on earth; better by far to have speedy justice handed down by godly amateurs than to suffer with the clogged courts of messianic humanism. We need not wring our hands in despair because men’s courts, in time and on earth, fail to meet the standards of perfection which will reign supreme in God’s court. We are not saved either by the perfect spirit of the law or the perfect letter of the law. We are surely not saved by impefiect imitations of the spirit and letter of the law. We are not saved by law. Salvation by law is an ancient heresy, and it leads to the triumph of statist theology. Christianity is in total opposition to this doctrine. As R. J. Rushdoony writes in his book, PoZittks of Guilt and Pi~ (Craig Press, 1970): The reality of man apart from Christ is guilt and masochism. And guilt and masochism involve an unshakable inner slavery which governs the total life of the non-Christian. The politics of the anti-Chnstian will thus inescapably be th politics of guilt. In the politics of guilt, man is perpetually drained in his social energy and
- Page 62 and 63: The Covenant of Liberation 55 Creat
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- Page 70 and 71: The Liberation of the Individual 63
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- Page 80 and 81: 6 THE LIBERATION OF THE FAMILY Hono
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- Page 96 and 97: The Liberation of the Church 89 the
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- Page 136 and 137: 10 THE INEVITABILITY OF LIBERATION
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- Page 156 and 157: CONCLUSION All things have been del
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106 Liber&ing Ptit <strong>Earth</strong><br />
appeal. In 1970, the figure was 12,000 (p. 27). Thus, concludes<br />
Fleming:<br />
The consequence of this expansion of fede@ power over state<br />
criminal procedure through the creation of fiat prohibitions and<br />
rigidly ritualistic rules has been to elevate formalism to constitutional<br />
right, to complicate every significant phase of criminal procedure<br />
to the point where in some instances the system of criminal<br />
law has difEculty functioning and in others it turns loose persons<br />
who are patently guilty (p. 97’).<br />
Salvation by Law<br />
The quest for perfect justice leads inevitably to arbitrary jurisprua%zce<br />
and public lawk.nsness. Joseph in Pharaoh’s jail, Daniel in<br />
the lions’ den, and Jesus on the cross all testifi to the imperfections<br />
in human courts of law. Nevertheless, godly men can live<br />
with imperfect justice, just as they live with imperfections in all<br />
other spheres of human life, because they know that perfect justice<br />
does exist and will be made manifest on the day of judgment.<br />
Life is too short to demand perfect justice on earth; better by<br />
far to have speedy justice handed down by godly amateurs than to<br />
suffer with the clogged courts of messianic humanism. We need<br />
not wring our hands in despair because men’s courts, in time and<br />
on earth, fail to meet the standards of perfection which will reign<br />
supreme in God’s court. We are not saved either by the perfect<br />
spirit of the law or the perfect letter of the law. We are surely not<br />
saved by impefiect imitations of the spirit and letter of the law. We<br />
are not saved by law.<br />
Salvation by law is an ancient heresy, and it leads to the<br />
triumph of statist theology. Christianity is in total opposition to<br />
this doctrine. As R. J. Rushdoony writes in his book, PoZittks of<br />
Guilt and Pi~ (Craig Press, 1970):<br />
The reality of man apart from Christ is guilt and masochism.<br />
And guilt and masochism involve an unshakable inner slavery<br />
which governs the total life of the non-Christian. The politics of<br />
the anti-Chnstian will thus inescapably be th politics of guilt. In the<br />
politics of guilt, man is perpetually drained in his social energy and
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