We see the same problems; we have the same hopes; but we're not going to agree on very much beyond that. That's okay with me, and I suspect it will be with you as well.
We are all free agents....I believe that we choose our own destiny.
I regard the sacred texts of the Abrahamic religions as evidence that humanity is making moral progress because the well-intentioned men who wrote them so long ago must have been citizens of morally immature cultures. They gave some terrible moral guidance and claimed it to be the words of God. The Torah, for example, has God ordering that disobedient children should be killed.
Times change....attitudes and culture shape who we are and what we become. Some can break an uncomfortable mould and establish a new 'norm' for themselves....others can never break free and remain 'prisoners' for the rest of their lives. There are so many unwitting slaves in the world......I don't think anyone has total freedom. Perceptions can be managed in so many different ways by very unscrupulous people.
The Law in Israel of which you spoke is in Deuteronomy 21.....
18 “If a man has a son who is stubborn and rebellious and he does not obey his father or his mother, and they have tried to correct him but he refuses to listen to them, 19 his father and his mother should take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the gate of his city 20 and say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, and he refuses to obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city must stone him to death. So you must remove what is bad from your midst, and all Israel will hear and become afraid."
This is not talking about a child. This is an adult who still lives in the home of his parents.
Are you aware that there were no prisons in Israel? Here we have a good for nothing adult son who has been given many opportunities to change his ways but continues to grieve his parents and has probably caused untold misery to others. Put into today's setting, it may seen harsh, but this drunken man may have been violent, putting the lives of others at risk, not to mention being a financial drain on his parents who had to keep him.
If the parents had no other redress, then what was the solution back then? Was their son's life more important than theirs or the lives of others? Would his conduct corrupt others?
His punishment would then serve as a warning to others.
I see the wisdom of that Law back then.
Jews don't kill their disobedient children, of course. But, how do they know that this command of God should be ignored? My explanation is that Jews are human and have the very same moral intuition (conscience) that you and I have.
Again, times change. As the Jews dispersed into other territories, the governments that ruled those regions had their own laws and punishments. They had prisons too. They then became subject to those laws.
Jesus himself suffered a Roman execution because the Jews, under Roman domination, had no right to execute anyone under the law of the land.
There were some Christians in the forefront of the movement to abolish slavery. But they weren't moved by their Bible which condones slavery; they were moved by troubled consciences just like non-Christians.
Misusing scripture to treat another human being with inhumanity, with no respect or dignity because of the colour of their skin is disgusting in God's sight. He created mankind as one race....the human race. (Acts 10:24-25)
Christendom has been responsible for a lot of misdeeds by interpreting scripture to justify their selfishness. The Bible says that God has kept an account of them. No one gets away with anything. Justice demands an accounting.
Conscience offers moral guidance; it doesn't interfere with free will. We can choose to follow it or not. Obviously, there are countless reasons why people ignore their consciences.
The selfish gene is excusable in unreasoning animals.....but not in humans. I like the way the Bible illustrates this ignoring of conscience.
1 Timothy 4:1-2....
"However, the inspired word clearly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired statements and teachings of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, whose conscience is seared as with a branding iron."
A branding iron renders the scar, insensitive. The more our conscience is ignored, the more insensitive it becomes.
Justification is the branding iron.
I'm optimistic. I think we humans are making moral progress. We're treating each other better today that at any time in our history. Consequently, I don't lose sleep worrying about the problems in the world. My chief concern is my own moral progress. In that regard, your Bible has nothing to offer me; but it seems to be working for you. That's good.
It would be nice, but I do not share your optimism that people in this present world will ever achieve what you suggest. The only peace and security that can ever be achieved by them is to take away all personal freedom. Imagine what that will mean....?
The 'enforcers' are already trained and ready for when this "New World Order" is established. Have you not noticed?
It will be offered as a global solution to world peace, but it will result in exactly the opposite.....this is all recorded in the scriptures. This is our future before God steps in to usher in the real "New World Order"....the Kingdom of God, which will succeed where all human efforts will fail.
This is what I look forward to....that is where my optimism lies.
