I quite liked your post on Freedom. It reminded me of Isaiah 5:8, about the woe to those who join house to house and field to field.
And your query about: why don't people invite strangers into their home when they are weary from much traveling. That reminded me of the stories of Abraham and Lot, who both welcomed strangers, and they turned out to be angels.
But I confess that I don't see the jump from those above concepts, to the cry against property rights. That seems like a massive logical leap to me.
The old testament spoke about both property rights, and the rights of the poor. The whole land of Israel was parcelled out by lot to the eleven tribes (Levites got tithes instead), yet at the same time, there was allowance for free eating out of anyone's fields (Deut. 23:24-25) as long as they didn't keep any for later.
And beyond this, when it was harvest time, the edges of the fields were not to be taken, and the leftovers after the first run harvest were to be left for the poor to harvest themselves. (Deut. 24:19-22, Lev. 19:9-11)
This seems to me as an example of holding up both property rights and freedom and personal responsibility and generosity to the poor, all at the same time.
What meaning does the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" have without the concept of property?
Wow. Interesting perceptions you have about both my country of birth (New Zealand) and Australia, my adopted home. And you couldn't be further from the mark. Australia and New Zealand fought side by side (with the USA) in World War I and II. Darwin, the northern tip of Australia, was bombed right after Pearl Harbor (as was the city I live in, Townsville in Northern Queensland) and the USA came to our defence then.
There is certainly no bad blood between Australia and New Zealand, we view our respective countries as 'cousins'. Our equivalent of your Memorial Day in the USA is known as ANZAC Day, which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was formed at Gallopoli in WW one
WoW! Hey Randy, First of all, I want you to know that everything changes and everything ends, your time is coming soon. Talk about a slow boat to china, I still haven't reiceived your first write back. I'm sure you have some questions about what I'm doing, whatever happened to Hieke? Okay after she left me, by the way broke my hart, started drinking pretty heavily, anyway about a year and a half after she went back to Germany, her mother call's me and said she was in trouble in Amsterdam, her mom said, she thought, Hieke was using herion so off I go to play hero, nothing farther from the truth, the truth is I wanted to go back, I never felt so free as I did in Germany,I was looking for a way to go back why not play hero at the same time. Ironic that being in Germany felt more free than home, you remember we would party all night long, walk all over town and never see a cop, back home there hiding behind some bushes to catch you smoking some weed, America has become a police nation, they turned it into a business, and business is booming. Anyway I'm back in Germany and by this time Hieke is living in Frankfurt,I get the address and go over there, knock on the door and there she is, only she's not quite the beautiful blonde any more, one side of her head is shaved and the other side is green, she's also very skinny, right behind her is the boyfriend he's maybe 5"5 blonde hair in a mohawk with a long tail in back, Han'si Krautfuck knows better than to say one word to me after he realizes I'm her American husband. Randy you wouldn't believe how ugly this guy was, all I could think was you left me for him, I sure hope he had a hauwitzer in those lederhosen? Heike tells me she doesn't want me there, and why have I come? You know how she is, if she want's to do something it's over. So that was it! It was over.
RSS
I quite liked your post on Freedom. It reminded me of Isaiah 5:8, about the woe to those who join house to house and field to field.
And your query about: why don't people invite strangers into their home when they are weary from much traveling. That reminded me of the stories of Abraham and Lot, who both welcomed strangers, and they turned out to be angels.
But I confess that I don't see the jump from those above concepts, to the cry against property rights. That seems like a massive logical leap to me.
The old testament spoke about both property rights, and the rights of the poor. The whole land of Israel was parcelled out by lot to the eleven tribes (Levites got tithes instead), yet at the same time, there was allowance for free eating out of anyone's fields (Deut. 23:24-25) as long as they didn't keep any for later.
And beyond this, when it was harvest time, the edges of the fields were not to be taken, and the leftovers after the first run harvest were to be left for the poor to harvest themselves. (Deut. 24:19-22, Lev. 19:9-11)
This seems to me as an example of holding up both property rights and freedom and personal responsibility and generosity to the poor, all at the same time.
What meaning does the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" have without the concept of property?
- Chris
There is certainly no bad blood between Australia and New Zealand, we view our respective countries as 'cousins'. Our equivalent of your Memorial Day in the USA is known as ANZAC Day, which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was formed at Gallopoli in WW one