An article on our fame-shame culture struck me recently. I’m still looking through it (in the latest issue of Christianity Today – Andy Crouch).
For a long time our society worked off the idea that what was right was what we should do. Our laws governed our land. As other cultures have continued to enter our land, our laws changed. And we even run different laws in different parts of the country, or related to different cultural groups.
So, what really is governing our land. The authority no longer seems to be in the hands of the laws makers, but more in the judgments of those who make the exceptions to the laws.
If the law is not longer the standard, then another “law” must prevail. I would tend to think that the new law, when best administered, is grace. When poorly and inappropriately used, this new law shames people into obedience.
The start of some thoughts.