World News Through the Third Lens: Why Read the Bill

Congressman John Conyers: "Why read the bill?

I know this is old news, but it is as relevant as today's headlines, and the Word of God is timeless. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Mark 13:31) In the spirit of this blog, I will keep it brief and simple, trusting that you, the reader will be able to grasp the principle and then apply it.

In May, 2009, Representative John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee addressed the National Press Club concerning the then, proposed Healthcare Reform Bill. When questioned about reading the bill, he remarked, "What good is reading the bill if its a thousand pages and you don't have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?"

Yesterday, July 15, 2009 the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill passed the senate and is awaiting the president's sure signature. This bill is reported to be over 2,000 pages long, doing precious little to correct atrocities at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, while imposing several restrictions on your local/community bank which had precious little to do with the financial meltdown. I suppose that would take 4 days to read and 4 lawyers to tell you what it meant.

Through the Third Lens of Scripture: Jesus said, referring to the then Jewish custom of swearing by things thought to possess various degrees of holiness, and the thus complicated system of swearing oaths which would then carry all sorts of loop holes and escape hatches if only ordinary language was used. While Jesus was not condemning the need to sometimes explain or equivocate, He did leave us with a good principle which should be applied to the making of laws. "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No.' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." (Matthew 5:37)

14th Century English logician, theologian and Franciscan friar, William of Occam, developed a principle that came to be known as Occam's Razor. In essence it said that "entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity." The popular interpretation of that came to be, over the years, that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. While there may be exceptions to that principle, I will leave you to ponder how Jesus' statement and Occam's razor might apply to our political system, and perhaps even to your relational life. God bless!