Having
been raised in the corral of Catholicism, guilt is a common internal guide for
my behavior as well as a built in parent yelling in my ear DON'T DO THAT!
It has taken me many years for me to be able to choose my own belief system
that will direct my do's and don'ts.
Lent is
one of those Catholic annual segments of time that says we are too fast, to
give up some particular activity of our normal daily life that will cause us to
reflect on the 40 days of fasting in the desert that Christ went through, (preparing
him for the hell that he would eventually fall prey to during His crucifixion.)
This year
it occurred to me that we as a nation could get some benefit from a honest
reflection regarding the state of our society. The current questions could
easily be answered by some biblical and New Testament directives. The
early Jewish reception of the Ten
Commandments into their society not only gave them moral and
spiritual directives, but also gave them a guide for a common way of living
together that works as the basis of law for any group of people. It boggles the
mind that we require a legislative branch of government to justify, passing thousand page laws when the
age old commandments would suffice. Our society would be better served by
the following of those directives, than by the party politics of today’s
society.
To cap
things off, today's politics get into the subject of the government forcing
empathy, love, compassion, and caring for the poor and needy humanitarian
situations when this is not really a government responsibility. Those are
really the responsibility of the individuals within our society.
In the
New Testament, Jesus stated the two most important laws for mankind to follow
are: love God with your whole self and; love your neighbor as yourself.
All that is required for a charitable people is for the individuals to follow
those last two laws. We don't need a government to direct what we as
individuals should choose to do as a course of our own individual guidance
systems.
Believe
in God, the redemption of man through the death and resurrection of Christ, or
not, good is not a result of law, it is however, to be judged upon the
individual. It is the individuals that are the judges of their own society.
God Bless
our people, our President, and our nation.
