We have a tendency today to think that the terms “right” and “legal”, and the terms “illegal” and “wrong” are interchangeable. They are not.
In modern western societies which are “democratic”. That is, governed through majority consensus, evidenced by the proliferation of “protests”, elections and pressure groups as a mechanism for establishing that consensus. Legality and illegality get determined not by whether something is objectively right or wrong, but by what society finds acceptable and unacceptable.
We live in such a society, where illegality and legality are determined in this way. So, therefore, as societal norms change, so do laws. This means that, in exactly the same way our laws have changed so that previously illegal actions are now deemed legal, laws will certainly change in the future, making some of today’s illegal actions, legal. AND, some of today’s actions which are currently deemed to be legal, may at some point in the future become illegal.
We would do well to consider this ..
1. If something is legal, this does not necessarily mean it is right. In fact, some currently legal actions are actually morally wrong.
2. If something is illegal, it is not necessarily wrong. Likewise some currently illegal actions are morally right.
When people are more concerned with right and wrong than legal and illegal, they may well find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Others may find themselves in the fortunate position of engaging in actions which are legal, but which are, nevertheless, wrong.
As it was once remarked “I’d rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and fall under God’s judgement”.
What about you?