Worrying trends....

This morning I had to go to the Chemist to purchase some painkillers. Over the course of the day I have been mulling over the latest diktat that requires the chemist staff to ask:

a) Are these for yourself?

&

b) Have you used these before?

I was tempted to ask: "What business is it of yours" and at the same time to point out that what hair I have left is grey and that I hardly qualify to be so immature as to need to be asked. Instead I enquired as to why I could no longer buy these in packs of 48 or 96 as I was able to a few years ago and that now were only available in packs of 24. The answer was, of course, that "Lots of people are abusing the use of them".

But as the day has gone on that answer has worried me. The overwhelming majority of people are surely not overdosing themselves in this way? I know that there is the possibility that someone might buy a pack of 96 and take them all in a bid to kill themselves, but what is to stop someone going to 4 different chemists and buying 96 in total on the same day.

I can't help but think that there are a number of problems with this nannying approach that we are seeing so much of:

1) that the adult population are now being treated as if they are potential suicide cases

2) that the prices of painkillers have gone up as smaller packets seem to cost as much as packs of 96 used too

3) that, if we are not careful, the basis of our law which is that what is not deemed illegal may be done is being changed to a continental model which reverses this and says that only that which is legal may be done. Thus we become over-regulated and freedoms are curtailed.

Christ came to set us free to enjoy the glorious liberty of the children of God. As our Judeo-Christian culture is gradually dismantled we seem to be seeing a move away from Grace to Law. But the Law does not change anyone in and of itself. Laws set boundaries, but have no ability to prevent disobedience. Surely, the Gospels and the New Testament Letters show us that if mankind is to change and become good then change has to come from within and needs to be effected by the Holy Spirit if it is to be lasting. Our political leaders are embracing a model of anthropology that has little understanding of human nature with its capacity for the most sublime acts and the foulest deeds, and thinks that regulation will solve all of society's ills. But the other problem is that as our political leaders jettison our Judeo-Christian Culture they lose the ability to recognise the difference between good and evil and become their own arbiters of the same, thus running the risk of calling that which is evil, good and that which is good, evil.