Law Passed in China that People Must Visit their Aging Parents - Can laws force morality?

[James Nored]

Wow. This Vanity Fair article reports that there are now laws in China requiring people to visit their parents. Laws are rarely effective in forcing people to practice these types of "moral issues." At best, it breeds legalistic, bare minimum compliance. Would it not be better to instill love and care--something that Christianity teaches?

 

The further a country gets away from a moral core, the more that it tries to pass laws to force people to do the right thing. Hence, the proliferation of laws on financial accounting in reaction to the Enron scandals of the last decade and the financial maneuvering in the last financial meltdown. If you have a basically honest society, not concentrated on greed, these types of laws are much less depended upon.

Remember, even the Law/Torah did not have the power to transform people. In Jesus' time, people were using religious excuses to not take care of their parents either.

Jesus say this in Matthew 15:"3b “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5But you say that if a man says to his father and mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ 6 he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition."

 This lack of power of the law--which was good--was why God sent the Spirit into the world, to help us follow God's laws and keep his commands (Ezek. 36). And those who live by the Spirit will always do far more than those who operate and live by grace and the Spirit of God.

Do you think that laws can enforce morality? What is the relationship between civic law and morality?

[James Nored]

Wow, Jackson, great insight--from someone who clearly has experience in that culture. You put your finger on exactly what I was sensing from someone on the outside looking in at China. Thanks for sharing!

[Jackson Haley]

I've done a huge amount of international travel and to my dismay, a good part of it has been China. (Look, I love every people and culture but China is just not my favorite place. Maybe I'm soured on watching EMTs walk away from a dying man becase he's having a heart attack out of his province and he doesn't have a voucher. Maybe I'm soured because I was taunted for trying to help the man. Or maybe, I'm a little repulsed by people just crapping randomly on the street. I'm from Oklahoma, I have poop issues. Or maybe it's that the pollution is so staggeringly bad - everywhere - that I, an experienced mountaineer with perfect lungs feel like I'm choking on acid as soon as I get off the plane. Or maybe it's because I dislike people who cannot fathom the concept of a queue. So take this with a grain of salt.

I've actually asked about this social issue while in China. And here's the answers I most frequently heard:

1) "The previous Generation betrayed us. Screw them." (I'm U.S., Gen X, tell me about it.) But seriously, the generation of the Great Leap and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution were both betrayed and betrayers. The leaders of that generation did not deliver. Capitalism has come at a great cost.

2) Their education system actually sucks too. It's all education to pass a test. And they resent that their elders emphasize traditional regurgitation and conformity over creativity and problem solving. Remember, these kids are pressured to the point of considering suicide. When they get out in the larger world, they realize they have a lot of knowledge but lack a great deal of understanding.

3) The population is overwhelmingly male, young and sexually frustrated and underemployed. Females are rare and demand huge concessions to marry. Basically, you are not getting married unless you have a massive amount going for you. Love? What's that got to do with it? This is pure capitalism supply and demand.

This is not a matter of drifting from a cultural or national moral core. If it was a moral core, it wouldn't be an issue. Truth is, elder care was a practical necessity, not an actual cultural value.

This is the simple matter of a weird raw capitalism as practiced in China. Elders contribute nothing to the economy, and you are only as valuable as what you are currently contributing. They have plenty of people, so why would old people be worth anything?