Howard
Gardner of Harvard wants to scrap the Ten Commandments. He’s not nuts about the
Golden Rule, either. And he’s an equal opportunity iconoclast: he’d also trash
the code of Hammurabi and
Confucius’ Analects. The modern world, Professor Gardner argues, is just too
darn complicated a place for simplistic morality. (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/reinventing-ethics/?ref=global
)
Jesus
readily goes old-school on two important issues of his day: divorce and care
for children. In this the Master stands with all great moral codes. “Whoever divorces his wife and marries
another woman commits adultery against her.” The Volospa, an ancient Norse creed, puts adulterers in Hell. The
Babylonian “List of Sins” includes one who “has approached his neighbor’s
wife.”
“Permit the children to come to Me; do
not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” “Children,”
says a Hindu text, “should be considered as lords of the atmosphere.” Juvenal
decreed that, “great reverence is owed to a child.”
Now,
Dr. Gardner may be right, but he would have to be very, very right indeed. And
probably he’s not.
The
ancient rabbis realized that changing times call for new applications of
changeless truth. That’s why they hammered out the Talmud, a massive commentary
on the specific implications of the Torah. Christian theologians recognized the
same reality and have continued to produce theological works that explore the
specific impact of Scripture’s general revelation.
Great
moral teaching defines boundaries. Then we have to figure out how to act within
them. A society that bats .500 at sustaining marriages and destroys well over
one million babies a year probably would not benefit from laws against divorce
and abortion. Probably what we need is a better understanding of the value of
marriage and of life, and a deeper intention to support one another in both.
When
a thief explains to G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown that right and wrong vary
with time and space the old priest replies that even the fantastic landscapes
of undiscovered worlds would make no difference. “On plains of opal, under
cliffs cut out of pearl, you would still find a notice-board, ‘Thou shalt not
steal.’” Or kill. Or commit adultery.
Rules
Rule,
Doug
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