[CS-FSLUG] Limits on Limits

[Ed Hurst]

"Order from chaos."

One of the greatest compliments I've ever received was when someone said 
that phrase described the work I was doing. It's ironic, too, in that 
chaos is a major element of my personality. That is, I don't care for 
rules that much. For me, rules are generally there to challenge us to 
find new ways to break them.

Of course rules are altogether good, right and necessary. My complaint
is not with the concept of rules, but the realization of them. Too
often rules are foolishly formulated and hatefully implemented. Rules 
must come from love, not love of control. That's nothing but selfishness 
with another face. We justly call it "oppression," and it is wholly 
righteous and holy to fight it. Further, it is not merely the motives of 
rules that earn justified indignation. If the net effect is oppressive, 
they are just as evil. When something isn't working the love of God, 
stop it and do something else. Oppression can be fingered at any part of 
the process.

Even rebellion can be oppressive. Ever hear of the French Revolution? 
Trading one oppression for another can be a greater evil. No, rejection 
of rules is an art, and must be carried out with the inspiration of a 
holy calling. Iconoclasm is not holy in itself. Love and grace are holy, 
and when rules reflect that, they are holy, too. It becomes an issue 
because rules -- either in formulation or implementation -- are too 
often evil. It's the nature of fallen man to seek any excuse for evil.

Rules do not equal order. Order is love, and love is orderly. Even in
fully unconstrained expression, genuine love observes limits. Love 
discriminates; from the realm of what's possible, love selects what is 
good, what is best for the context. Love needs no rules, for rules are 
imposed externally. It is the paradox of our fallen world we must make 
rules, because our love fails. Within this morass, my calling includes 
bringing order by fighting the chaos of bad rules.

-- 
Ed Hurst
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