AnthonyFlood.com
Philosophy against Misosophy
Jesus Is an Anarchist
James Redford
14. Woe to Lawyers!
In Jesus's day, as well as in modern times, lawyers have had quite a system worked out for themselves. Not only are lawyers the ones that write the laws, but they are also the ones who become rich in prosecuting and defending people from those very laws that they or their colleagues have written in the first place.
As well, most politicians, especially in modern times, are also lawyers. Thus, throughout history there has existed a grotesque system whereby the very people responsible for the laws have a perverse incentive in making sure that they are as arcane, unintelligible, Byzantine and numerous as possible – hence, always insuring a healthy demand for their services.
This fact was certainly not lost on Jesus, and He made a point to warn lawyers that they are putting their very souls at stake in their chosen profession. Thus:
Matthew 23:13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (NIV)
Luke 11:46,52: And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. [...] [verse 52:] "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."
This is not to say that all lawyers throughout history are unrighteous. There has existed and does exist a few principled lawyers who entered their profession in order to defend righteous people from the unjust laws that their colleagues are responsible for – but they are and have been quite a minority indeed.
The simple fact of the matter is that most lawyers are simply in it for the money, and generally have shown little to no interest in rolling back or defending against unjust laws if doing so negatively affects their bottom line.
Even the ones that often appear on the surface to be fighting against bad laws are usually being paid quite handsomely in doing so (think ACLU), or are loyal opposition and have already been bought and paid for to purposely lose the case in order to generate bad legal precedent in the case law, etc., etc.
So a "Christian lawyer" is not an absolute contradiction in terms, it's just exceedingly rare – and to the extent that such rare individuals do exist God has undoubtedly blessed them for their work in protecting His children against this Satanic world system.
But in the main, how true indeed Jesus was being when He warned lawyers that they were jeopardizing their very souls in practicing the profession that they have chosen! Woe to lawyers indeed!
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15. Jesus on Government Courts: Avoid Them!