Education & Wisdom Are Frequently Poles Apart
Indeed, I well remember a group of clergy getting aerated at a dinner
table when I leaned in support of restoring capital punishment for
premeditated murder. Their verdict was unanimous: “The answer is in the
10 Commandments: ‘Thou shalt not kill!”; and I happened to be the only
Vegetarian at the table! Most were either Oxford or Cambridge graduates,
yet they failed to see that ‘Thou shalt not kill’ only referred, in
context, to a fellow Israelite. In the same context the Children Of
Israel were not only ‘supposedly’ commanded to kill all ages amongst the
enemy, but as part of their dubious worship to ritually slaughter cattle
wholesale.
Yes indeed, those who reject a concept of an evolving moral and
spiritual progression within the Bible will end up as uncharitable and
intolerant as do some Muslims in seeking to obey their Koran; and the
ones who always suffer most are herbivorous animals! And take it from
me, should any Jews succeed in building another temple on the very site
of the mosque of Omar – something a militant group are increasingly keen
to do - then Heaven help us all; and. not least the animals to be
ritually slaughtered throughout each day. Yet these Israeli Zionists –
strongly supported in prayer by many Christian fundamentalists ‘of much
learning!’ – are seeing this as the fulfilling of biblical prophecy.
These are taking texts out of contexts; and what is more, though we may
have been conditioned to consider Solomon’s original temple to have been
a place of untold beauty, it was ‘in practical terms’ nothing much
better than a smelly slaughterhouse for cattle and birds. Little wonder
that incense was constantly burned!
On another subject, there are various levels and degrees of free
will. But one thing is sure: without the same a life becomes no more
than an automaton, and neither praise nor virtue can be given to such.
Yet, such logic appears to be beyond the grasp of ultra conservative
clerics known as Calvinists with whom I once briefly studied in
Scotland. For myself, I cannot categorize so many pets I’ve known –
never mind humans! – as being void of all choice! Consequently, the
following sermon given by my pen friend and kindred spirit in ‘Down
Under’ has proved a source of blessing. I believe it will be a source of
blessing to you as well!
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