![]() ![]() Rather than being under law, man asserts himself to be the law. If a society has a humanistic or man-centered worldview, which has no real parameters other than what man decides for reasons of utility or because it is pragmatic, the law becomes just a tool. The Declaration states that it is the laws of nature and of nature’s God that are the parameters for this nation. Therefore, we know that the Founders had this perspective or worldview of law as articulated in the Declaration. Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence and in later years he stated that it was the intention of the Founders not to articulate any new theory of government. This, of course, is the perspective of our Founding Fathers as evidenced in the seminal document that created this nation, the Declaration of Independence. If a society has the Biblical worldview that God has established fixed laws which establish the parameters of our nation’s legal and governmental structure, then man’s law will reflect God’s law. The problem with this view is that law becomes only a means to an end-an instrument-and the law can be used for righteous and just ends or goals, or for unrighteous or unjust goals depending on the worldview of those in power. This is called “pragmatic instrumentalism” and is the perspective of law patently or latently taught in most law schools. By studying the cases and the statutes, we were left with the presupposition that law was really only an instrument to be used by those in power to accomplish what they wanted. During law school, one was left to acquire a general sense of the nature and purpose of law, but it was never explicitly addressed. It has been over forty years since I graduated from law school and, to the best of my recollection, the question “What is law?” was never addressed in any of my required courses. ![]()
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