The Subtlety of Sway

Whether you are watching t.v., walking around the mall, or driving down the road, it would not take long to realize that our society is driven by desire. Now of course this should not come as a surprise to anyone, in fact it is a given. For most the motto is something like, more stuff more happiness, whether it be expensive toys, controlling substances, sexual pleasure, or take your pick the common theme is the more the merrier. All of which seem to contradict the tenth commandment’s instructions: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The advertisers of our day have, however, taken a different approach not only encouraging us to desire our neighbor’s things, but explicitly telling us that happiness comes through getting the things my neighbor has. Perhaps a good explanation for this discrepancy is to look at how people view property. Today property is seen as something that can make me happy because it can do this or that from me. On the flip side, the dominion mandate of Genesis shows we do have rights to property, but more importantly we have obligations that come with property. This obligations is called stewardship. Everything we have or desire to have should be used in a manner that reflects God’s glory and is used in a way that can further His Kingdom.

What can we do to reverse this new norm? First, we can ask ourselves each time we desire to have something, “What obligation comes with this thing, and what action or responsibilities does it give me.” This is perhaps just a first step in trying to overcome the power of coveting. I think their is a deeper level of coveting, one which involves people being jealous of the blessings and responsibilities God has given others, and wishing those obligations for themselves. But that is another discussion for another post, or maybe when I here people saying “Oh, I really wish I had the obligations that come with that property.”

Ryan

Tags: Dominion Mandate, Obligation
Posted in Property Law, State of the Culture | 1 Comment »

Throughout the years philosophers have tried to pin the origin and ultimate purpose of property law.  Theories have stated that it is a logical construction for the creation and preservation of social utility and a product of such law, some have argued that property rights stem from one’s labor in that their labor is an extension of themselves.  Still others that property is a natural right inherent in man and the universe.  As Christians the latter has the beginnings of what sounds right, but we must go further.  Scripture lays the framework for property law. From the dominion mandate given to Adam at the dawn of creation we see that all things are God’s and he entrusts them to men. As the psalmist says, “The LORD owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” This is, of course, an artistic expression for ALL things.  It is interesting to note that this is subsequent to the dominion mandate, so while we are charged to go out unto all the earth and subdue it, the ownership is still God’s.  In Legal terms, God has the ultimate title to all things that are.  We are but stewards and our title is inferior to his as the caretaker of a vineyard is to the owner of the vineyard.  So when we pick the words to describe property we should be cognizant of these things and let verbiage exclaim them.  Let us not call our title ownership then, but stewardship.  For though a man’s title to his home be superior to any other man’s, God’s is yet superior.  In using these words may it keep us aware of the order of things and remind us to use the property he has entrusted to us, be it land, money, cars or clothes, as he has called us to use it in His word.  From this responsibility comes rights to property and in following this biblical model we will see that concerns of social utility and the like are met far better in coherence with God’s word than in our attempts to make them the goal.

-Max

Tags: Property Law, Serious Semantics
Posted in Property Law | No Comments »