Re: [asa] A question on morals (OT and NT)

Dehler, Bernie wrote:
>
> Hi Pete-
>
>
> Suppose a Christian boy is beat-up at school and his bike is destroyed
> by a bully. He says he wants to get even with the kid- eye for eye. He
> plans to destroy the other guys bike as well as hurt him physically.
> His Christian parents tell him it is wrong, per Jesus’ teaching, to
> pay back evil for evil. The boy does it anyway. Is that a sin? Is it
> immoral? You will likely say ‘yes’ I’m guessing.
>
> Now re-work the same scenario with a Jewish family. Since they are
> following the OT, is it s sin? I can’t guess what you’d say. If yes,
> they are being held to an account above that which they have accepted
> from God in the OT. If you say no, then apparently there are different
> levels of morality from the same God?
>
> Maybe your answer will be that people are only accountable for what
> they know, and reject. It just seems strange to me that one can do
> ‘evil for evil’ as a command from God (OT) while another says that the
> practice of ‘evil for evil’ is evil (NT). Christians and Jews have the
> same God but different moral directions.
>
> So can you clarify using these two specific examples? Is the boy from
> the Christian family sinning because they have a higher standard,
> whereas the Jewish boy is not sinning?
>
> …Bernie
>
Bernie

Even in the fundy church of my youth I never remember the old testament
law of the kind you are quoting as being what you must do when a wrong
is committed. Instead it is the maximum one can extract. That is the
point or maybe better the catch in Shakespere's Merchant of Venice. If
you did not study it in school a good summary is at:
http://www.about-shakespeare.com/merchant_of_venice.php

In terms of you example of the Jewish boy. If it or its equivalent
occurred prior to Christ and the boy not only trashed the bullies bike
but also had him beaten up, then he broke the commandment. If he only
trashed the bike then there was no breaking of the commandment but
possibly there was still sin involved, I don't know. If the same
occurred in the present age, I don't know what to say and leave that to
the good Lord.

Dave W

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Mon Nov 2 15:56:51 2009