18+ General Discussion Forum

=) Hi... Interesting! I didn't expect that anything other than writing would be discussed - but then, i'm new here so i've got much to learn.

In response to Audubon, I do empathize w how he feels abt a set of commandments - religious no less - dictating the way one should live his/her life. I am a Christian, but please don't think me biased for saying this. Believe it or not, even among Christian denominations these days, the 10 commandments has been thrown out on the basis that it being written in an age that is no longer relevant, makes it obsolete.

Yea. I get it abt slavery and all that. I have taken to knowing more and being aware about the realm of politics, world affairs and issues like child labor in India n other atrocities fighting for attention amongst other problems. Sure, stuff like paedophilic rings, sodomy, beheadings, and even the recent rampage killilng at VTech - it gets you down the same as slavery, stoning, judgement in place of compassion, does.

But perhaps we forget tolerance and the importance of context. It's great that we advanced in terms of arriving at a more palatable set of ethics: we cry for the protection of rights, equality, freedom... but really, how different were we from slavery less than a century ago? Are we not still struggling with racism and radicalism as the people in the old Bible days did?

How readers stomach the darkness and evil that humans are capable of possessing, and which is expressed in fantasy stories, is the acknowledgement that in different eras and kingdoms, different laws and mores guide man under greatly different circumstances. Can we, who receive financial stability, shelter, protection, education and freedom almost as a birth right, really say we are higher than our predecessors, just because we are in an 'enlightened' age - so to speak? Of which aspect of ethics can we, as individuals truly say that we had a hand in molding? Aren't we all just partakers of a revelation made by an ancestor or advocate years back?

Yes, thank God we have improved. It is more appropriate to say that we have done so, not due to a detachment from the atrocities of our ancestors - for we have plenty to account for in our modern age - but due to the sacrifices of matyrs, the bitter lessons our ancestors had to learn to help us understand not only why we SHOULD treat everyone equally, etc etc., but what the consequences are if we do not.

In that aspect, the Bible still remains relevant. Though in context, to take some of the commands literally is not appropriate (I know that God is a culturally relevant God, or better expressed as one who is in spite of culture, for culture is man-made - in that, God gives us free will) but the main gist, spirit, moral and concept behind every teaching is still relevant to our living today. The 10 commandments can really be summarized as 'Loving God whole-heartedly, and loving people fervently'. That's a message that still holds true and even grows more relevant in the face of the new problems we seem to create with every solution we seek to find.

A footnote:
- apart from slavery which was mentioned in the bible, there are verses advocating fairness by employers, excellence in slavery, n every few years, there is a celebration whereby all slaves are freed and they can choose to remain under the master's household, but this time, they would be marked with an ear piercing and treated as one of the household.
-- note that till this day, Israel is treated as a trespasser, a nation that has no land and little friends. Funny that other conquerors should receive less condemnation for the act of securing a territory for their race, a natural thing at their time, and the very basis of our nationalities now. But it goes to show why Israelites would be so highly guarded against aliens in their midst, putting those captured through battle under slavery though loyalty is desired.

- Stoning. Judging and putting someone to death is never a pleasant, or ethical task because we all can hardly be morally fit enough to do such a thing -- that is, without authority. Yet most of the nation now have their judicial systems; death sentences, though under debate, are still carried out even in the most liberal of countries, when a man does something that goes against everything we hold dear - mass killings, serial rape n murder, etc etc.. But just because our tolerance of what is harmful to us - we allow pornography on channels and magazines, shrugging our shoulders at how our human need do compel us so - is considerably higher than those of our ancestors, doesn't give us a right to judge them as inhumane.
Behind every judge's decision for the death penalty, ideally, is the duty to the nation to end a deadly influence, that despite the perpertrator's death, still reaches beyond the grave to haunt us. The rampage killing at VTech is a fine example - no matter how swift we are to administer justice, if we could, on criminals like Cho Seung Hui, we can never lockdown on those who will take it upon themselves to copy them. But it is an effort we all make, and still do, to cope with the best we can, in the face of our human ugliness.

Ah... sorry for the length. =) Being concise is something I need to master!

Best regards =)