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Jesus made an effort to make man understand that we need to change ourselves from the inside out.
I come back to my own two major global concerns, which are absolute poverty, and the destruction of the ecosphere. While they are both widely deplored, people don't actually seem to be doing very much about them. There are even people who think that the only cure is more capitalism, which is precisely the system that has caused both problems in the first place. I really think the Church has a leadership role to play here, with some clear doctrine relevant to our times. It needs to find some political (small 'p') conviction, and then pursue that conviction fearlessly and relentlessly. It would be better respected among our younger generations if it did. And we all might even have a habitable planet two hundred years from now.
I agree those are good choices...but not what I had in mind.
I agree the decisions we make are our own whether good or bad. The will of God is for all of us to walk in the unity of love as we treat others the same way we want to be treated in all things that pertain to the moral laws that I listed we are to walk in. Satan will always temp those who are Christ own and again, we make the decision to not fall to those temptations.
Let's just say, I think we can, (and have) improved on them. They were an early first draft at ethics. Take 'Thou shalt not kill'. To which we have since added, for example: unless you are a soldier, engaged in a legitimate war. But only if your target is an opposing soldier, not a civilian. Unless that civilian is a spy. etc, etc.
For precisely the same reason the Jews themselves think the genocide perpetrated on them by the Nazis was wrong. It would be inconsistent to think that genocide done by the Jews acceptable, but to the Jews, unacceptable. In my, subjective, opinion. Either God approves of genocide, or He doesn't. Which do you want?
Our laws are one way in which civilised societies express our natures. And if they don't we are at complete liberty to dissent, and choose another government, at least in democracies.
I really couldn't agree more with you about the con-trick known as 'the prosperity gospel'. It really is nothing but rich pastors parasitically infecting the poor, and sucking away such meagre resources as they have. But it is symptom of two things, it seems to me: the social emphasis placed on wealth by capitalist societies and championed by tea-party neo-liberals, and the credulity that thinks: if the pastor can quote a few Bible verses, everything he says also must be true.
) So, we need to get back to Jesus' pithy observation that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And consider whether our lives are better spent accruing more and more wealth, or just being good to those who need our help.
Can't remember what I said!
Well, it looks like there are some things we can agree on after all.I really couldn't agree more with you about the con-trick known as 'the prosperity gospel'. It really is nothing but rich pastors parasitically infecting the poor, and sucking away such meagre resources as they have. But it is symptom of two things, it seems to me: the social emphasis placed on wealth by capitalist societies and championed by tea-party neo-liberals, and the credulity that thinks: if the pastor can quote a few Bible verses, everything he says also must be true.
I ought to say, I am not against capitalism. On a small scale, between mutually consenting individuals, it works very well. On a large scale however, with many millions or even billions of dollars at stake, it has proven to be a complete disaster, and threatens our very existence as a species. (I sometimes think, if Armageddon ever happens, which climate change and a dearth of resources can only hasten, the only survivors on land will be cockroaches and Mormon preppers. And of the two, I rather think I prefer the cockroaches
Best wishes, 2RM.
Capitalism is, in theory and in basic practice, the best system to get people out of poverty, but is in need of major reform. Likely not going to happen unless we have some sort of “great reset” or something. Lol
You said
Yes!
Hmmm. What do you think I am trying to achieve, here?Well, it looks like there are some things we can agree on after all.
Well, think of it as a benign spiral. Barring catastrophe. When our natures improve, our ethics improve. When our ethics improve, our laws improve. When our laws improve, our social environment improves. When our social environment improves, our natures improve. (As well as our DNA makeup, there is a whole social nurture dimension that helps build our natures). And so on.
Yes. Nature, Nurture.