Part 177. Uncertain, provisional, fluid

When I commenced my law degree course my lecturers encouraged me to read law reports. Law reports contain details of cases and judgments in full.  The more I studied reports it brought home to me how uncertain the law, certainly case law, is. As you read a judgment it becomes clear that opinions are being formed concerning the relevance or weight to be given to earlier decisions. Conclusions are arrived at through this process and these inform the decision reached.  It is all subjective.  I do wonder if some judges decide at the outset the decision they wish to make and work backwards, as it were, to find earlier decisions which can be embraced or shaped to justify the decision?  Surely not....

The body of law known as the Common Law is far from being certain. The system of binding precedent is worked around with consumate ease by the judiciary.  The law is not certain, final and inflexible.  It is uncertain, provisional and fluid.

Turning to the bible, i start from the premis that it is not the inerrant word of God to be read literally. Nor is it God inspired. It is written by individuals inspired by their human understanding of God.  The bible is a body of text written over many years and is a record of how understanding has developed.  A bible may sit on a shelf, but open its pages and read from it the uncertainty and fluidity in the text. Read it and draw your own inferences and conclusions. Ignore the gatekeepers who seek to censor your thinking. 

Just as the Common Law has developed over the centuries so has our understanding of God. We refer to the past for guidance but are not controlled by it. Our faith is not based on a literal interpretation of words in a book but on our interpretation of their import set in the context of the present. Our faith is  defined by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews 11.1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.