Newton's Third Law
In case you do not know what Newton's Third Law is
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The crazy part it, if the law is applied to human, then the law becomes "for every action, there is a greater and opposite reaction. That remain true to humans, too. The more we try to tell people they should not do something, the more they will want to fight back with reason why they should.Ever since I have joined the Wesleyan Church, I have been not had a zip of alcohol. It is not that I was even a social drinker before that. I enjoyed a lager here and there before, but I cannot remember even one time I actually finish one of those drinks. The frequency I drink a lager is probably about as often I drink pop. So, giving it up was not hard at all.The same cannot be said about those who drank in the 1700s, during the time of John Wesley. Drunkeness was a norm in society, and the biggest issue was the same man who got drunk also go home and beat their wives. That was the highest priority and most important reason for John Wesley to promote sober living.After John Wesley's time in North America, there was a sweep of the Holy Spirit across the country for around a decade. It was called the Second Awakening. It was spreading like wild flower and lives were being changed. Yet, alcoholism was still a problem.In the 1920s, the Methodist Church along with the Pesbytarians and a few other denominations decided to join force with the women who want to put a stop to the violence that associate with drunkeness. So, there was the Prohibition. Did that purge out the evilness of alcoholism?Not only did the Prohibition failed to root out the violence against women, it gave the mob bigger power, led to bloodbath between rival mobs, and created the dangerous practice of small scale moonshiners.Instead on focusing on the momentum of the Second Awakening to change the lives of people, Christians tried to use their still small number to force the rest to "convert". Like I said, when the people are forced against their desire, they push back just as hard. Have we not notice Jesus never, ever push people to change?Look at where we are at today. Some Chrsitians still think God has given them a mission to "beat" people into submission to change. Not only have we not get "them" to change their minds, they are coming after "us" with the same, if not greater, force.When are we going to learn that we are not going to win people by screaming down at them? We win them over by becoming their friends. John Wesley once faced a mob that want him seriously harmed or dead, but he not only managed to talk down their leader, the same bad-to-the-bone mob leader eventually became one of the most effective preacher of the area.