James, thanks for you comment. I do not consider myself an expert on theology despite some extensive reading. However, I was mainly referring to the increasing description of God in the Tanakh from one who punishes to one of mercy. I didn't make any Old vs New Testament comparison, though the evangelists extensively quote the prophets, particularly Isaiah, and so my point holds for both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. Whatever the historical evolution, my point was simply that belief in a God of mercy helps society to be forward looking as to the opportunities before it.
Quite interesting. I believe that Hunter Biden has admitted various failures in multiple ways, including failures that harmed others. He has clearly said on many occasions that he was a drug addict. He admitted fathering a child out of wedlock. Earlier this year he was willing to plead guilty to certain crimes until a judge quashed the agreement made with procesutors. He offered to testify under oath about his business dealings to a public Congressional hearing, but Rep. Comer refused that offer. What more do you want from Hunter Biden?
Your description of the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament is simply false. This is a common misunderstanding and the early Christian s saw themselves as worshiping the God of the Jews and worshiped by praying and singing the psalms. Be that as it may forgiveness is the flip side of repentance and as the Lord’s prayer says you cannot receive forgiveness unless you forgive others. The big problem in modern society is a failure to be willing to forgive and one’s failure to forgive means one will not be forgiven!
An excellent line of thinking. And I have been lucky, in the way you describe. But I myself have been wondering similar things with respect to those in positions of wealth and power. It raises the question of "When what you have a right to do the right thing to do? " it seems to me that those to whom more has been given, more should be expected. However the operant norm seems to be that those to whom more is given even more must be given. Perhaps some kind of public rating - like YELP- is needed once one has reached a certain level of pubic stature/wealth .. certainly sports figures get covered in the sports pages but the business pages seem seem absent of any similar coverage.
James, thanks for you comment. I do not consider myself an expert on theology despite some extensive reading. However, I was mainly referring to the increasing description of God in the Tanakh from one who punishes to one of mercy. I didn't make any Old vs New Testament comparison, though the evangelists extensively quote the prophets, particularly Isaiah, and so my point holds for both the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. Whatever the historical evolution, my point was simply that belief in a God of mercy helps society to be forward looking as to the opportunities before it.
Lots of people pointing out problems. Anyone discussing peaceful solutions?
For the past two years we have been trying to find solutions to our biggest problem: THE CORRUPTION OF THE SYSTEMS THAT GOVERN OUR LIVES.
Is it solvable? Yes of course. All problems that do not defy the laws of physics are solvable.
This took us 2 years to write this. How to fix corrupt government in 3 simple steps:
https://open.substack.com/pub/joshketry/p/how-to-fix-corrupt-government-in?r=7oa9d&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
thanks gene for this column
Quite interesting. I believe that Hunter Biden has admitted various failures in multiple ways, including failures that harmed others. He has clearly said on many occasions that he was a drug addict. He admitted fathering a child out of wedlock. Earlier this year he was willing to plead guilty to certain crimes until a judge quashed the agreement made with procesutors. He offered to testify under oath about his business dealings to a public Congressional hearing, but Rep. Comer refused that offer. What more do you want from Hunter Biden?
Your description of the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament is simply false. This is a common misunderstanding and the early Christian s saw themselves as worshiping the God of the Jews and worshiped by praying and singing the psalms. Be that as it may forgiveness is the flip side of repentance and as the Lord’s prayer says you cannot receive forgiveness unless you forgive others. The big problem in modern society is a failure to be willing to forgive and one’s failure to forgive means one will not be forgiven!
Gene
An excellent line of thinking. And I have been lucky, in the way you describe. But I myself have been wondering similar things with respect to those in positions of wealth and power. It raises the question of "When what you have a right to do the right thing to do? " it seems to me that those to whom more has been given, more should be expected. However the operant norm seems to be that those to whom more is given even more must be given. Perhaps some kind of public rating - like YELP- is needed once one has reached a certain level of pubic stature/wealth .. certainly sports figures get covered in the sports pages but the business pages seem seem absent of any similar coverage.
John Tropman