Con Artists: Contracts

For the final installment in this series "Con Artists," I am discussing the false message our modern society projects with respect to contracts.  Now, first it is important that I define exactly what I mean when I say "contracts."  In this case, I am referring to contracts as any agreement made between two (or more) people. This could be anywhere from a simple promise to a legally binding contract witnessed by thousands of people.

For a long time, giving someone "your word" meant quite a lot.  Men would fight duels based on an associate questioning his reliability.  A man's good name was worth quite a lot to him.  After all, if your friends cannot trust you to follow through on commitments, how could you possibly be worthy of respect?  Now, this concept is not entirely lost in today's culture.  There are still plenty of people today who put a lot of emphasis on being trustworthy.  I know of several men in my life who have been great examples to me of exactly this, and I am very thankful for them.

But the image which the world gives to us is very different.  Those who are lauded in much of the media today are those who have taken advantage of others' trust to get ahead in life.  There is a whole culture of men like the infamous Bernie Madoff who ignore their obligations and responsibilities in order to pursue their greedy ends.  And while Madoff and his ilk are certainly not rewarded when they are found out, an atmosphere has been created which seems to champion the old adage which says "It's only cheating if you get caught."  As a result, many people nowadays act as though they consider their contracts to be binding inasmuch as they are able to benefit from them.  And it is just this kind of attitude which is wrecking the relationships, both personal and corporate, in the world today.

For Better or for Worse

I am going to jump right in to the most distressing way in which I see this attitude manifest itself.  This has nothing to do with corporate exchanges or business-client connections.  Instead it attacks society at the most important and fundamental level- the family.  I am speaking, of course, or divorce.

I should not have to try to prove that divorce is a bad thing, but I feel as though I must.  The sad thing is that divorce has so pervaded our world today that we really don't even think about it at all.  Perhaps I am the weird one, but it really affects me any time I hear someone talk about their parents' separation or growing up with their step-father.  And I hear these stories relatively often.  But the truth of the matter is that I place such a high value on marriage that hearing about even one such union which has had occasion to be dissolved causes a deep sense of remorse to rise in my spirit.

Yet I don't think I'm the crazy one.  At this point, I am mainly talking about Christian marriages, because of any group of people in the world, we should be the best equipped to produce successful marriages.  From many statistics I've heard, however, it seems as though the statistics on Christian divorce rates are very similar to those of secular families.  This should not be.  Let's meditate on some scripture on the subject for a minute. "'I hate divorce,' says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'because the man who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence.'" (Malachi 2:16, see footnote- the pre-2011 NIV used this translation, which I think gets the point across better) Paul's advice about marriage: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Eph. 5:21, but really you should just go ahead and read the rest of the chapter)  And don't forget what Jesus said about divorce: "But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Matt. 5:32)  Yeah, He basically makes divorce equivalent to breaking one of the Ten Commandments (see Ex. 20:1-17).

So, why has divorce become so accepted?  In secular culture I believe it is because people have begun to view marriage as more of a technicality which lets them sleep with someone without feeling guilty.  This is one of the absolute worst misconceptions of marriage, but it has somehow pervaded our culture.  And because of the flippant attitude with which many people regard marriage, it is no wonder so many divorces occur.  The most disheartening aspect of this whole trend is that too many Christians have bought into it as well.  We need to stand up for marriage, because no one else is going to.

Now, my point in this section is not to give someone an unwarranted sense of guilt (though I'd feel all right if it were warranted).  I realize that divorces do happen for legitimate reasons and that you can't always control the way your life turns.  Still, my convictions on marriage compel me to plead with my readership, especially if you are Christian, to place the utmost emphasis on the sanctity of marriage.

Covenant

I wanted to demonstrate one other way in which the idea of contracts should be especially powerful for the Christian.  I don't know what you thought about when you read the title of this section, but for me, "covenant" is a word which sends chills down my spine just by reading it.  This is one of the most powerful words in the entire Bible.  In fact, the term "testament" which helps divide the Bible into its two main sections, can just as adequately be translated as "covenant."

In Hebrew culture, a covenant was one of the most powerful contracts any person could make with another. I'll hopefully delve more deeply into this topic in a later post.  To "cut" a covenant usually required sacrifices, the spilling of blood from one or both parties involved, and a binding oath.  To read more, read Genesis 15, Gen. 31:36-55, Joshua 8:30-35, etc.  God made a covenant with Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and the entire people of Israel.  The terms and conditions of this covenant are spelled out in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.  But unfortunately, like modern people installing computer software, the people of Israel often neglected to read the "Terms and Conditions," and in the end, they were unable to live up to the law God had made for them, and which they had agreed to uphold.  It was time for humanity to be punished.

But instead of sending His wrath, God decided to change the rules of the game.  He chose to create a New Covenant with humanity.  The sacrifice and blood were provided with the same body, and as a result our Savior Jesus Christ became our new Terms and Conditions.  And I like this New Covenant way better than the old one.  Still, there is a responsibility on my end to uphold my half of the agreement.  ("Half" is a very imprecise term, God did at least 99% of the work.)  This is actually what it means to be a Christian.  Therefore, we Christians should have a very keen idea of just exactly what it means to be in a binding contract.

Here is where I am going to leave off for this week.  But seriously, please consider the implications of your obligations and just how much your "word" is worth to others.  This message is especially for the Christians reading this, because we really have no excuse for how much this misconception has infiltrated our ranks.