Think of it as Yoga for the brain, we are going to stretch a bit.
What Kind of Law Are You Really Breaking?
“Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” — Jesus
Laws are a funny thing. People talk about “the law” like it is one big solid brick, dropped from heaven, stamped by Congress, and signed by a judge with a bad attitude. But that is not how life works. There are many kinds of law, and they do not always agree with each other. That is where the trouble begins.
A simple way to sort them is this. Some laws stand above man: natural law, divine law, moral law. Some are made by man: civil law, state law, constitutional law, positive law, regulatory law. Some are grown over time: common law and customary law. Some show up by force or emergency: imperative law, martial law, imperial law. And some exist between nations: international law.
That sounds neat on paper. Then real life walks in and ruins the diagram.
The real fight in history is usually not whether laws exist. Of course they exist. The real fight is whether human law serves justice or merely serves power. That is where natural law, God’s law, and man’s law start arguing like three lawyers locked in a room with one sandwich.
Take a simple example: speeding.
Now, I like speed. Or at least I used to. I have driven 120, 130, even 140 miles an hour on the public thoroughfares. Not every day, and not now, because I am old enough to enjoy being alive. At those speeds, you learn very quickly that there is a law higher than the highway patrol, and it does not negotiate. Blow a tire at 130 and the physical laws of the universe will turn you into a lesson. That is natural law. You can ignore a speed sign. You cannot ignore physics.
But let us say I drive 110 on the highway. Is that automatically immoral? Not necessarily. Dangerous, maybe. Foolish, often. Illegal, yes. That is man’s law speaking. The state says if the police catch me, my car may be impounded, I may go to jail, and I will surely be introduced to a bill with my name on it. That is enough to persuade most people. Not because they have had a religious awakening, but because aggravation is expensive.
Now ask another question. Is speeding against God’s law? Not exactly in the way murder or theft is. There is no commandment that says, “Thou shalt not do 87 in a 65.” If I get a speeding ticket and refuse to pay it, I can stand before the judge and declare, “Your Honor, I reject man’s law.” He will not be moved to tears. He will likely double the fine. Courts are not impressed by philosophy when the clerk is waiting on payment.
But now let us make it real. Suppose someone is in my car and they are dying. I need to get them to the hospital, and the best chance they have is for me to drive 120 miles an hour and pray the road stays clear. In that case, I break the speed limit without losing one minute of sleep. Why? Because a moral law sits above that traffic statute in that moment. My duty to try to save a life outweighs my duty to keep the needle at 70. I may still get punished. I may still get a ticket. But morally, I would do it again before the engine cooled down.
That is where people get confused. They think legality and morality are twins. Most of the time they are just neighbors. Sometimes friendly. Sometimes not.
Then there are also emergency laws. During hurricanes, governments start changing the rules. Curfews appear. Roads close. Areas become restricted. Suddenly what was open yesterday is forbidden today. That is a different species of law entirely. That is martial law or emergency authority, where normal life is put in a choke collar because the state believes the situation requires it. Break those and they will shoot you.Same roads. Same people. Different law.
And then there is the deeper point. I do not speed in school zones. Not because I fear the ticket, though those are unpleasant enough. I do not speed there because I do not want to hurt anybody. That is not a matter of statute first. That is moral law first. The sign matters, but the child matters more. Same with neighborhoods, crowded streets, blind turns, and places where one bad decision can turn somebody else’s life into a funeral.
So what do most people do? They obey most laws most of the time, not because they are saints, but because the cost of breaking them is higher than the pleasure of ignoring them. Human civilization runs on many noble principles, but one of the most underrated is this: most people do not enjoy unnecessary hassle.
Now we come to taxes, where everybody suddenly becomes a constitutional scholar, a theologian, and a guerrilla accountant after watching two videos and half a podcast.
Taxes are man’s law. You can hate them. You can resent them. You can argue that the government wastes money like a drunk sailor with your wallet. You may even be right. But if you make money, the government expects you to file and pay according to the law. That is the system. You can arrange your life to owe less. You can use deductions. You can use legal structures. You can live simply. You can earn less. You can move. You can plan. There are lawful ways to reduce the bite.
But the fantasy that you can simply declare yourself outside the system because some fellow on YouTube discovered a secret loophole between the Constitution, the gold standard, and maritime law—that usually ends with liens, penalties, and a very unhappy conversation with the IRS.
You may not like Caesar, but Caesar still has a billing department. And that is where the biblical line comes in, plain and hard and irritatingly practical: render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s. That does not mean government is holy. It does not mean every law is just. It does not mean you surrender conscience. It means life contains different claims, different authorities, and different obligations, and wisdom is knowing which is which.
That is the real lesson. Not all laws are equal. Some protect life. Some organize society. Some serve power. Some reflect morality. Some merely reflect whoever had enough muscle to pass them. The hard part of being an adult is learning the difference.
Because sooner or later, every serious person runs into the same question:When the laws start arguing with each other, which one do you obey?
And that is where character begins—right about the time excuses run out.
EPILOGUE: Because someone asked….
I now keep my speed to 85 – 95 max on express lanes, on days and times were there is no one else there. Safety being the priority, and if I get stopped which I haven’t in decades, I will pay the ticket. Does that make me evil, stupid or just normal?
