The Law
Number of lessons: 5; compatible text for study guide: ISBN 1614270570 (you may order the text below). Guide prepared by Robert W. Watson.
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THE LAW by Frederic Bastiat is the definitive work on the nature and purpose of legislative laws. This book explains concisely and clearly that the great aim of the law is to promote the greatest amount of liberty. If a government truly valued liberty, one would think that every student in the country would be given this small volume and be required to read it at least once a year. But since this is not the case in the United States today, this lack indicates liberty and freedom are not very important values in American politics in spite of the lip service paid to such notions by newspaper editors and politicians.
As Bastiat points out, the rights of life, liberty, and property are God-given gifts which preceded the legislation of any laws by human governments. However, since men are sinners and will try to take away these gifts from others, God ordained civil government to be the minister of justice. The central theme of the Bible is the redemption of God’s creation. And part and parcel with any idea of redemption is the satisfying of a judgment and the escaping from bondage. Therefore, God intends for liberty, not slavery, to be the norm for all mankind.
Whether to live your life as you see fit, to raise your own children without outside interference, or to follow your vocation by employing your talents and gifts, true liberty must always be connected with the liberty under a sovereign God, who redeems mankind and his creation. However, instead of guaranteeing liberty, the law in every nation today is used to oppress and to subjugate the citizens. Even though he uses human reason to make his case for liberty, Bastiat nevertheless reflects the biblical viewpoint of law. As a Frenchman, Bastiat saw firsthand what happens to a country that rejects its religious mores and substitutes them for socialism and rationalism. The result is a flawed worldview that insists that society cannot exist without a centralized state.
As the state achieves the status of a god, which provides for the people and has the power of life and death over the citizens, the church and the home become irrelevant in such a society, as we are seeing in the United States today. The trite cliché, “We still live in the freest country in the world,” is wearing thin. The United States has lost its right to be the standard for liberty or morality many years ago. Like the proverbial frog in a pan of water, we who are born in the water cannot tell that the temperature is slowly rising. We must first get out of the pan and then view the situation from the outside.
Bastiat’s The Law helps us to take an objective look at our present enslavement. You as a member of the human race need to thoughtfully read and study this book. Within your hands is a most timely message that can solve just about every social, economic, and political problem that mankind has, except of course the issue of sin in the individual. The only hope for us as human beings, short of the Lord’s return, is for legions of young and old to renounce the socialistic experiments of the past 200 years and to give liberty a chance once again.
THE LAW by Frederic Bastiat is the definitive work on the nature and purpose of legislative laws. This book explains concisely and clearly that the great aim of the law is to promote the greatest amount of liberty. If a government truly valued liberty, one would think that every student in the country would be given this small volume and be required to read it at least once a year. But since this is not the case in the United States today, this lack indicates liberty and freedom are not very important values in American politics in spite of the lip service paid to such notions by newspaper editors and politicians.
As Bastiat points out, the rights of life, liberty, and property are God-given gifts which preceded the legislation of any laws by human governments. However, since men are sinners and will try to take away these gifts from others, God ordained civil government to be the minister of justice. The central theme of the Bible is the redemption of God’s creation. And part and parcel with any idea of redemption is the satisfying of a judgment and the escaping from bondage. Therefore, God intends for liberty, not slavery, to be the norm for all mankind.
Whether to live your life as you see fit, to raise your own children without outside interference, or to follow your vocation by employing your talents and gifts, true liberty must always be connected with the liberty under a sovereign God, who redeems mankind and his creation. However, instead of guaranteeing liberty, the law in every nation today is used to oppress and to subjugate the citizens. Even though he uses human reason to make his case for liberty, Bastiat nevertheless reflects the biblical viewpoint of law. As a Frenchman, Bastiat saw firsthand what happens to a country that rejects its religious mores and substitutes them for socialism and rationalism. The result is a flawed worldview that insists that society cannot exist without a centralized state.
As the state achieves the status of a god, which provides for the people and has the power of life and death over the citizens, the church and the home become irrelevant in such a society, as we are seeing in the United States today. The trite cliché, “We still live in the freest country in the world,” is wearing thin. The United States has lost its right to be the standard for liberty or morality many years ago. Like the proverbial frog in a pan of water, we who are born in the water cannot tell that the temperature is slowly rising. We must first get out of the pan and then view the situation from the outside.
Bastiat’s The Law helps us to take an objective look at our present enslavement. You as a member of the human race need to thoughtfully read and study this book. Within your hands is a most timely message that can solve just about every social, economic, and political problem that mankind has, except of course the issue of sin in the individual. The only hope for us as human beings, short of the Lord’s return, is for legions of young and old to renounce the socialistic experiments of the past 200 years and to give liberty a chance once again.