Relationships and Rules

One of my teachers thought it was basic psychology.  Temperament. The way people are wired.

He believed that certain people need formulae.  Rules.  Guiding Principles.  Roadmaps for the future.

I wonder if he was correct.  I believe in rules.  I believe well formulated rules keep societies functioning, and that people who break those rules need to be brought to heel.  Is that my temperament or is that something else?  "Well formulated rules" might not include a lot of the rules we create and the laws our legislatures and congresspeople create.  In fact, most laws barely seem well formulated at all.  Is that the problem with religious legalism?

Many scholars have come to understand that most of the laws in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy were never -- that is never enforced in the covenant people and tribes.  A few seem well-formulated.  Most are not.

I think this is why the good news of God's forgiveness is perceived as such bad news.  Rules make everything predictable.  A creator who forgives, who redeems the people on the cosmic junk pile and values them once again -- that makes it pretty hard to manage.  Rules keep the train on the rails, the cars on the highways and out of the cornfields.  Forgiveness?

Forgiveness puts us into a different universe.  Yet without rules there can be nothing to forgive.

I have no cheap and easy conclusions to draw.  But I would appreciate any reality based insights you can provide.  Leave a comment and let me know.  Let US know.