This boy, now a University Graduate, is very like a son to me. Is he in truth a whole person? I believe that I can answer both ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and be correct with both answers. It depends upon what I mean by ‘whole person’. He had traumatically amputated both legs and his right arm, when he was run over by a train. He calls me ‘his Aussie dad’ and considering him as my son he is just as real a person as any of my other seven children, all of whom have 2 legs and 2 arms! But, if we wanted to be finnaky we could ask have any of them lost their appendix or maybe even ask if they were circumcised! The fact that they were circumcised caused many Jewish males to be considered non-persons and led to the gas chambers of WWII. So they and their relatives might not consider the word ‘finnaky’ as the appropriate one!
To talk about ‘Truth’ – I am bold enough to say that you are a fool if you don’t admit that Jesus has had an enormous effect on the history of many nations in the world. But you may argue as to whether his effect was good or bad but most would agree that Jesus had a very significant effect on many even if not most countries in the world. There is a well known exchange between Pilate and Jesus when Pilate was considering how to judge Jesus – guilty or not as being guilty justifying crucifixion. The short passage as recorded in the Bible reads ‘Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and saying to them, “I find no guilt in him!”, committed Him to be crucified!
Is the world in a mess? – If I may say ‘they’, whoever ‘they’ are, I think that our leaders in many fields have made a mess of the world! War, uneven distribution of wealth, lack of honesty and integrity, climate change distorsions, terrorism, denied basic anatomy, legalized murder and a list as long as your arm could be added without doubling up to the problems we face as humanity in a Universe that we cannot agree upon to whom it belongs! The simple truth is that we are in a ‘hell of a mess’! Many will not like my answer which I talk about. They will argue that it is just ‘my truth’ but I would argue the answer which I am suggesting is Eternal Truth. And the sections of the world which believed it and practiced it, even though imperfectly, were much better off than any group of people are these days! Before you write me off as a religious crank, of which there are plenty, I ask you to consider these facts as true – you might later decide that they are not true, but just for now accept them as true for discussions sake!
A list of things which we are accepting for the moment. 1. Not everybody has the same abilities to logically think things through, and we should be fair to one another. 2. The Bible should only be considered as a ‘for’ or ‘against’ argumentative tool if it has been read in its entirety and in a non-prejudgental way. 3. The Bible is God’s revelation of His plan, culminating in Jesus who is the Incarnate Son of God! 4. Scientific proof in not the only proof available and often is only accepted theory which the future may change. 5. God is the Creator, is a person and understands everything. Thus He as the Creator and being all knowledgeable is able to formulate and dictate what is true truth!
The Proposed Cure – a) God in Religious and Governmental things will be given the Pre-eminence due to Him. b) Where stated as a principle or can be honestly deduced from Biblical Principles these laws shall be considered as the basis for truth! c) all present laws which go against Biblical principles will be changed to fit God’s revealed plan. Major things where this would have an explosive effect are – education at all levels, sexual relations, marriage, roles of responsibility, political honesty, unemployment benefits, work ethics, inter-religion harmony, wealth including wages, privileges, taxes and responsibilities.
Somewhere this needs an honest discussion. You may say that this has already been rejected and it is not worth reconsidering. Do you remember when the appendix was considered a useless vestigial organ in the human, useful only in koalas? As science has found and reported in the following words in Wikipedia ‘Yes, the appendix is directly related to immunological development and function, serving as an important part of the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). Long considered a useless vestigial organ, modern research indicates that the appendix plays a significant role in training the immune system, particularly during early life.” Maybe the baby has been thrown out with the bath water!
Would the plan work? My answer is a yes and a no answer. If with good will and enthusiastically it were applied – YES. Because of human nature and our commitment to seeking to get our own way and being committed to evil rather than good in the majority – NO. So why do I think it worth discussing? Because I think that any answer that rejects the basics of this hasn’t even a ‘snowflake’s chance in hell’! So why do I bother? Because God’s answer, His plan as disclosed in the Bible gives us the answer that He will at any rate. in His sovereignly, work it out! So let us all work ‘you in your small corner and I in mine’, and let us hope that some of the religious mislead, filthy rich and politically naively stupid will read this and learn something worth learning, and look up the Way that He talks about!
Barry Hicks.
Heated Stew 