Merontokkan Stigmatisasi Hukum dalam Gereja

Abstract

Ubi sosietas ibi ius – where there is society, there is law. This axiomatic confidence can be applied also in the church for the church is a society too. But the existence and enforcement of law in the church are often labeled with stigma because Christianity is a charity religion with the emphasis on the internal aspect and not on the external law. Here the church is shown more as a charitable society and not as a juridical society so law must not be enforced except gospel. This shows that there is a dichotomization between the charitable church and the juridical church just because of ignorance. But this construction of diametric perception is not true and must not be established, for without law there is no justice, and without justice, which establishes the minimum of love, charity is impossible. The charity is only possible in the visible ecclesial society, if there is a just juridical atmosphere. This construction of stigmatic conception of law in the church, therefore, must be threshed by reconstructing the true perception of the church as a society, the church law roots in the holy bible, it exists for the service of communion, salus animarum, the salvation of souls is the supreme law, law does not opposite with charity because both are essentially united, the two cannot be in opposition. In addition, the law does not opposite with freedom too because its main task is not to repress or obstruct, but rather to guide, stimulate, promote, protect and safeguard the area of true freedom. Only these perceptions can be a threshing knife of the stigmatization of law in the church.