The Bible can be read as a treatise on government, and God's great promise to the Israelites is that the world will operate according to the natural order (rains come in their season) and the people will, working together, be able to cope with it, and with their neighbors (10 overcome 1,000 enemies).
Jesus Christ taught straight from the Torah (Old Testament) that there are really only two Great Commandments: Love God, and Love Your Neighbor.
When asked, "who is my neighbor?" he replied with the story of the Good Samaritan, where a member of the local despised opposition (think Democrat) who rescued a man who had fallen among thieves. The Good Samaritan, unlike everyone else, stopped, helped him, took him to an in and paid for treatment of his injuries. Then He asked, "Who was that man's neighbor?" and was told "The Samaritan." He said "Go you, and do likewise."
That story has a recent parallel in the wish to have one's children judged "on the contend of their character, rather than the color of their skin." This has nothing to do with a slave morality, but is an egalitarian and virtuous morality.
Indeed, one of the fundamental problems with our system of government, according to our founding fathers, is that it relies on having a virtuous and educated voter class. The initial restrictions on voting (age, male, landowners) attempted to address this problem.
Our government is, in my opinion, the best example yet of "Love your neighbor" in action. It recognizes individual rights, abolishes classes of nobility, puts restraints on decision-makers, and specifically includes due process of law and equal protection under the laws, and well as a double handful of provisions designed to foster Committees of Correspondence (freedom of religion, speech, assembly, right to trial, freedom from unreasonable search and seize, provides for the Post Office.) All of these would have been profoundly interesting to members of our early Church, who were persecuted, and made a record of it.
Christianity arose at a time when slavery was prevalent in the whole world, and in Europe and the United States. Slavery was eventually banned, because it was inconsistent with Christian morality. Abolitionists opposed slavery mainly on religious grounds, that is, because slavery is evil.
No.
The Bible can be read as a treatise on government, and God's great promise to the Israelites is that the world will operate according to the natural order (rains come in their season) and the people will, working together, be able to cope with it, and with their neighbors (10 overcome 1,000 enemies).
Jesus Christ taught straight from the Torah (Old Testament) that there are really only two Great Commandments: Love God, and Love Your Neighbor.
When asked, "who is my neighbor?" he replied with the story of the Good Samaritan, where a member of the local despised opposition (think Democrat) who rescued a man who had fallen among thieves. The Good Samaritan, unlike everyone else, stopped, helped him, took him to an in and paid for treatment of his injuries. Then He asked, "Who was that man's neighbor?" and was told "The Samaritan." He said "Go you, and do likewise."
That story has a recent parallel in the wish to have one's children judged "on the contend of their character, rather than the color of their skin." This has nothing to do with a slave morality, but is an egalitarian and virtuous morality.
Indeed, one of the fundamental problems with our system of government, according to our founding fathers, is that it relies on having a virtuous and educated voter class. The initial restrictions on voting (age, male, landowners) attempted to address this problem.
Our government is, in my opinion, the best example yet of "Love your neighbor" in action. It recognizes individual rights, abolishes classes of nobility, puts restraints on decision-makers, and specifically includes due process of law and equal protection under the laws, and well as a double handful of provisions designed to foster Committees of Correspondence (freedom of religion, speech, assembly, right to trial, freedom from unreasonable search and seize, provides for the Post Office.) All of these would have been profoundly interesting to members of our early Church, who were persecuted, and made a record of it.
Christianity arose at a time when slavery was prevalent in the whole world, and in Europe and the United States. Slavery was eventually banned, because it was inconsistent with Christian morality. Abolitionists opposed slavery mainly on religious grounds, that is, because slavery is evil.