Art Allard: No plea bargains with the almighty
Guest Column
According to the original state papers, the United States of America was intended to be founded upon civil, human principles described as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” with each requiring the cooperation of the other.
It follows that law was enacted such that political, economic and religious equality be made available to all citizens; that privilege (of any kind) be unrecognized, particularly insofar as class is concerned.
In America, legitimate journalism is properly recognized as the Fourth Estate — that is, as an instrument dedicated to the advancement of liberal democracy.
Since law is the means by which civil, human principles continue, it is noted that law itself exists on a greater and lesser plane.
For America is said, by its original documents, to be “One nation under God.”
Therefore, divine law is of infinitely greater importance than civil (human positive law) in that God, its originator, is supreme, whereas man’s law is merely a weak effort and often at odds with divine law itself.
As taught by the biblical God himself, interference within human (and natural) order occurs according to acceptance of the seven primary failings: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth.
These weaknesses were initially revealed to the Jews and later to Christians, by explaining that love of God and love of man cannot be accomplished while in avoidance of divine law which leads to civil disorder.
By definition, failure to obey divine law is called sin, and failure to obey civil law (if proper) is called crime.
Each failure, of course, describes within the individual the suspension of rational thought and behavior.
And so Karl Menninger, the renowned psychiatrist, in aligning sin and crime, produced “What Ever Became of Sin?”
For just as crime carries with it punishment (but only if prosecuted), so does sin. Punishment for crime is determined by one’s fellow citizens, themselves weak, sinful and corrupt. Sin, however, is determined by the divine judge, who is not weak, sinful, corrupt or unjust.
Further, punishment for crime is temporal, no matter the extent of injury to others. Judgment by God, however, is awful and permanent … unless genuine forgiveness is requested, and retribution, if possible, is made available to the injured.
In Aspen, with an economy dedicated to the material interests of those who overlook the sins of pride, greed, lust and gluttony, who deny eschatological concerns, whose wealth permits avoidance of civil punishment, whose lifestyle causes social havoc and damage to nature (the divine construct), and who deny human love, arrogance and disrespect for civil, social order leaves many in precarious straits.
In denial of a final rendering, they remain vulnerable — for, in the divine court of eternal justice, there is no provision for plea bargaining.
Art Allard is an Aspen resident.
