Choices by Lewis Smedes, Chapter 4 "Respect the Rules," Part One

Posted by Sarah M. White 

"Respect the rules" is a maxim I can totally get behind... as long as it's one of the rules I follow. Haha. If you've been reading along, you already know that I care about how the dishwasher is loaded and that it's important to me that people follow the arrows for grocery pick-up. This chapter went beyond just "rules." All rules are not the same. Rules come from different places and some are more important than others to follow. There are absolute rules that always apply to everyone, and other rules that are relative. Here's my very brief summary of a very interesting, thought-provoking and nuanced exploration of rules. 

In Smedes' intro on rules, he compared living with rules to driving using a map and said that rules "do not take away our freedom nor relieve us of freedom's risks" (45). The map doesn't make decisions for us, it shows us where we are, and sometimes we aren't sure if we've made a wrong turn. 

Smedes' Definition of Moral Rules

1. "A moral rule is a statement that tells us what we ought to do" (45)

2. "A moral rule is an understandable statement" (45) 

3. It is for EVERYONE (46)

4. It "tells us ahead of time what to do" (46)

5. They apply to past actions (46)

Who Makes the Rules?

1. Organizations-- rules that govern organizations are not necessarily aligned with moral rules, but they can be. Examples: rules in hospitals about how procedures are done, rules about returning borrowed materials (47).

2. General Wisdom-- passed on from what previous generations have learned. No penalty for breaking these rules except that things might not work out that well. Example: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise (48).

3. Personal Operational Rules-- Rules that people make for themselves. These rules are relative. Examples: I brush my teeth every night and every morning; Never be alone at night for an unspecified period of time with a member of the opposite sex; Never have more than two drinks (48-49).

4. Government-- The laws of the land. Some of these overlap with moral rules, however, not all immorality is legislated against (49).

5. God and Nature-- Smedes contends that the rules of God ARE the rules of nature because God made it all. His nature, his rules (50).

View on God and Human Nature

I want to delve more into this piece. Smedes' view is that God made people a certain way-- so that they would thrive when they follow the moral law. He says, "[The rules] are not whimsical commands that a hard-driving deity throws down from heaven to make life less fun for his frolicking children. They fit what we are; if we follow them we will function roughly the way our very nature inclines us to function. In short, what we ought to do matches what we are meant to be" (50). For example, "If there is a moral rule that we should not kill another human being, that rule only echoes the moral voice of our own souls" (51). People have taken paths that are destructive, but that isn't a flaw with the design. Moral laws from God are universal and they are understandable. And the final point in this section is that nor everything coming from God is a moral rule. Morality has to do with how we live with each other, and religion has to do with how we live towards God himself. I had a good friend in high school who was a very moral person, but she did not believe in God. All of her choices respected moral law. 

Evaluating a Rule's Importance

This matters a lot. Rules from organizations, rules from God, rules from society. Where they come from affects how much weight we should give to them. He warns against human authority insisting so much on its own rules. "When anyone says, 'These are the rules, period, no question allowed,' it is time to get suspicious" (52). I'm reading A Gentleman in Moscow, and this passage reminded me of people getting spirited away to the Gulag for voicing their dissenting opinions, or even a shadow of a question. 

Wrapping Up

My homework for myself: try to make a Venn diagram showing the overlap of all of these categories of rules!!! It's fascinating. Especially for a person who loves rules. As I mentioned in the Chapter 1 post, learning that I don't have to feel so guilty for breaking certain rules is pretty liberating. I will be doing more thinking about the rules around me-- What kind of rules are they? Where are they coming from? How important are they and why? If you're a person who does not love rules, I encourage you to get this book and read the beginning pages of this chapter. His explanation and analogies for rules as a whole is really good, and I did not do it justice. 

I'm out of time for now, but that's only the first half of the chapter! Tune in next week for how rules rank.