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Who changed the rules? ::

Short article for a church newsletter or magazine…
Source: Perspective Vo9 No1 © Perspective 2001


Evidently in Queensland it is still constitutional law that every pub must
have a railing outside. Why? So that there’s something for patrons to tie their horses to. Curious that, isn’t it? A hotel even in the centre of downtown Brisbane still, technically by law, must have a railing on the street for people to tie their horses to. No one of course follows that law anymore. Councils don’t enforce it on the development applications for new pubs. Sure there was a time when that sort of law made a lot of sense, like when everyone rode horses, but times have changed. To follow that law nowadays would just be a bit silly because its all out of date/obsolete/unnecessary now.

It seems that the world is full of these sort of old fashion rules that are still technically on the books. Or at least America is full of these old fashioned rules.

For example, in Glendale, California it is still technically against the law for cinemas to show horror movies on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. In Kentucky its required by law that every person must take a bath at least once a year. In Oklahoma it is against the law to hunt whales. Which is pretty curious since modern day Oklahoma is completely surrounded by land. In Providence, Rhode Island, it’s against the law for a store to sell toothbrushes on the Sabbath. In North Dakota, it is still technically legal to shoot an Indian on horseback, provided you are in a covered wagon. In Riverside, California, it is illegal to kiss someone unless you wipe both their lips with rose water. In Michigan it’s illegal to place a skunk inside your boss’s desk. In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket. In Alabama it’s illegal to wear a fake moustache that makes people laugh in church. In Hartford Connecticut, it is illegal for a husband to kiss his wife on Sundays. In Northern Carolina its against the law to plough a cotton field with an elephant. In Atlanta, Georgia, it is illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole. In Idaho it is technically illegal to give a person a box of chocolates that weighs more than 50 pounds. And in Alaska, it is illegal to look at a moose from the window of an airplane.

All these laws, you see, presumably made sense at one time. There was probably a context at some stage that caused them to be written, although for some of them its hard to think of one. Nowadays, you see, the laws are just silly because times have changed and now they are just so out of date.

Friends, that’s the sort of thing that Hebrews 9-10 is all about. It’s a section all about old rules that are now out of date and, therefore, it would be quite silly to keep living by them.

Bryson Smith




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