As I live my life day to day I always try to put myself into other people's shoes. I drop a coin in a homeless man's jar, maybe tip a bit more at a restuarant or even help an old lady by carrying her groceries.
I laud these efforts, whether they are done by myself or by others. The intent is good and genuine and truely make the world a slightly better place to be.
But what I don't understand is the concept of "Love thy neighbour as you would love yourself." I mean, does my neighbour really want my hands all over...
Call me crazy, but I really don't think loving or caring for someone as much as you do for yourself is a moral teaching, furthermore, I'd say it's impossible for us to do.
Would it be moral for a man with a family to put them into hardship so he could bail out his neighbour from jail (he'd do it for himself...), causing his children to eat poorly and have shoddy clothes? I'd say it's not.
Such examples can be found all over the place. So really, is this a great moral teaching from Jesus Christ? I'd say no. The morality shifts depending on the situation. Thus, it's not a rule, not even a guideline, the good will is there, don't get me wrong, but it's not the correct idea.
But what's interesting here is it highlights one of the great issues I have with religion. The concept of having rules that are impossible to keep. I mean, can anyone really love their neighbour as much as themselves? Can you?
Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Now, I can understand the concept of having an impossible goal. It's something to aspire to. However, when you're told you've sinned (as the above message states) for a totally natural reaction, I have a problem.
And why do they want you to feel bad? So you come back to church to confess and "get right with the Lord". You'd think that if there was a God who designed us, he would have realized that we are sexual beings and that thoughts like this are natural and not make it a sin. Go figure eh.
But isn't that an interesting thought. What about Adam and Eve. More specifically, Adam. While Eve was created from a rib, Adam was created from the dirt in the garden by God. Directly. God created his mind, his intellect and more importantly, his curiosity. It's this aspect that led Adam to taste of the apple.
So, God created something with what has to be percieved as a flaw. He then puts the creation into a situation where the flaw will show itself and then punishes his creation for acting the way he designed him.
Interesting way of looking at it, wouldn't you say? What are your thoughts?
I don't feel that curiosity is a flaw, directly at least. How far could humanity grow without curiosity? Unfortunately, it is a double-edged sword...It's good for intellectual growth, but pretty bad when a snake offers you an apple, apparently.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the situation in Eden, I feel the biggest flaw was...Why even create The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? We're not talking about God's bedroom here, this is a garden specifically planted for Adam to watch over and tend to. I know the idea of actual people being the downfall of everything is popular, but it seems like all this could have been avoided if God had created Home and Garden TV first and have them plan out this plot of land a little better. Probably wouldn't hurt to create some animal control people and get rid of those pesky talking snakes as well.
Perhaps he left it there for an elaborate plan. Maybe he never intended for humans to forever live in Eden. Eden seems almost like a tutorial level to life...Forgive the geeky game reference. You start out, given a task (to tend to the garden), learned about grouping (Eve is created), then you get off the beaten track and die (or in this case, just banished from Eden). Ok so that's a very basic and rough (Some would say a stretch...) comparison.
To elaborate a bit more...Adam is given a job, and his reward is a place to stay and food. So now he will teach that if you work, you are rewarded with essential needs. Adam essentially searches for a companion, and when God made Eve, it's now set that a man should find a woman to live out their lives. When they eat the forbidden apple, they are punished and now have learned that broken rules do not go unpunished. These very basic ideas are now passed down.
Erm, sort of sidetracked there, but still loosely ties in to your post. Perhaps the flaws were on purpose to begin with.
However, as far as the Matthew quote goes, and being condemned for innately being sexual beings? Completely ridiculous.
Damn, sorry for the huge reply which is mostly inane babbling. :p