In one of the oldest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher breaks a planetary law—stepping in a flower bed, if I recall correctly—and is sentenced to death. Crusher and the Enterprise are eventually judged favorably by the mysterious “God” and allowed to leave.

Fortunately for Wil Wheaton’s payroll, Wesley Crusher is allowed to live beyond the ninth episode. I would suspect that the character would have a resulting aversion for flower beds and an incentive to study the laws of the planet he visits. As well he should.

We, too, are convicted by the Law in a theological sense. Each sin carries with it a penalty that we deserve. The first half of Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” Profane the Lord’s name lately? Turned down opportunities to gladly hear and learn His Word? Disrespect one’s parents or in-laws? Hate? Lust? Covet? Spiritual death is at our door with even the most “minor” of these. It’s a serious matter.

When we’ve broken the Law and are made aware of it, the action prescribed by God is to repent, to acknowledge what we’ve done is wrong, and struggle not to do it again.

Unfortunately that’s not what happens all the time. We do terrible things with the Law. We say Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, or the latter half of 1 Corinthians 14 are repressive or no longer relevant. We’ll take the unity of faith prescribed in Ephesians 4:11-14 and apply psychobabble such as “there is unity in our diversity.”

If one can dismiss entire sections of the Bible as irrelevant or reinterpret terms to mean something different, why stop at Paul? Why not Genesis 1 and 2? Why not all the signs and miracles of Jesus, as Thomas Jefferson did? The road to disbelief is paved and greased with Biblical “errancy”. Satan is ever happy to ask, “Did God really say…” (Genesis 3:1)

Even though we are absolved of the pending condemnation of our sin, there are still consequences, seen and unseen. Maybe denying a chunk of the Law doesn’t shake one’s faith in the risen Christ (depends on the chunk, I suppose). As good works benefit our neighbor, our not-so-good works do harm. Sometimes we husbands don’t love our wives as we should. People can speak when they should be listening. We do not use the bodies God gave us properly. Our disunity allows people to believe whatever they want instead of what God wants, to their detriment. God’s wisdom has a human component beyond the second table of the Ten Commandments.

We not only follow the Law because God hates sin, but we also do it to avoid harm to our neighbor. We need to acknowledge when we’ve run counter to God’s wisdom and turn back. If we don’t see our sin, we may convince ourselves that we are “good people” and not need Christ. That would be the worst reaction of all to the Law.