Item: Arizona transportation officials failed...
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Item: "Arizona transportation officials failed Thursday to convince the federal government to lift a $5.3 million fine that the state faces because Arizona motorists consistently violated the 55-mph speed limit in fiscal 1984." -- January 31, 1986.
Arizona was accused of consistently violating the speed-limit law in 1984 because 56.3 percent of the vehicle-miles traveled exceeded the 55-mph limit.
Apparently too many people found it just too tough to stick to the 55-mph limit while driving in that warm Arizona sun through the beautiful, vast expanses of the desert valleys. And so a conservative law-and-order Republican administration slaps a fine on the conservative law-and-order Republican state of Arizona. After all, the law is the law.
Where are the Christians in Arizona? Aren't there enough Christians who (of course) obey the law, thereby lowering the average of those who speed to an acceptable level? (Which is, by federal standards, 50 percent -- "one out of two is okay," says Uncle Sam.)
Yes, Christians care about the law. No, it isn't a big deal for Christians. It's a matter of focus. It's a matter of emphasis.
In the new sphere of life which Paul entered by faith -- in Christ -- the law no longer had positive significance. If this is true for Paul, then it is equally true for Shirley and Bill and Tom and Peggy. Really.
Arizona was accused of consistently violating the speed-limit law in 1984 because 56.3 percent of the vehicle-miles traveled exceeded the 55-mph limit.
Apparently too many people found it just too tough to stick to the 55-mph limit while driving in that warm Arizona sun through the beautiful, vast expanses of the desert valleys. And so a conservative law-and-order Republican administration slaps a fine on the conservative law-and-order Republican state of Arizona. After all, the law is the law.
Where are the Christians in Arizona? Aren't there enough Christians who (of course) obey the law, thereby lowering the average of those who speed to an acceptable level? (Which is, by federal standards, 50 percent -- "one out of two is okay," says Uncle Sam.)
Yes, Christians care about the law. No, it isn't a big deal for Christians. It's a matter of focus. It's a matter of emphasis.
In the new sphere of life which Paul entered by faith -- in Christ -- the law no longer had positive significance. If this is true for Paul, then it is equally true for Shirley and Bill and Tom and Peggy. Really.
