The Rules About Rules

I was listening to John Cleary's Sunday night religious radio show today, and there was a discussion about religion and sex, following the (UK)Anglican churches decision on women bishops. Lots was being said about various issues then Dr. Michael Horsburgh said this...

"If you want to understand a rule you have to look for the evil that it is expected to redress. So, people see something wrong, they say we need a law against it, so we are to create a rule and you can understand a law, whether we agree with it or not, you can understand the law in the context of the evil it seeks to redress. But, laws and rules last longer than the evils. So some reach their use by date that's why that's why it's actually very important that we understand what the context were originally behind the kinds of rules that we've inherited the because in a new context those rules may not be particularly useful." Dr. Michael Horsburgh

I thought it was genius, could easily be applied to so many church / Xn rules so I had to repost it.